FOP Lodge 5 supplemental college scholarship selection process

FOP Lodge 5 offers supplemental college scholarships

Education has always been important to me. During my nearly three-decade career as a member of the Philadelphia Police Department, I was able to attend college, obtaining both an Associates Degree at the Community College of Philadelphia and a Bachelor's Degree from Saint Joseph's University.

That dedication to education extended to my career. I have always maintained and continue to feel that continuing and advanced education is important for police officers. My last decade as an active officer was spent as a teacher with the PPD's Advanced Training Unit.

I have been honored to serve on the Scholarship Committee for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #5 for all three years since the program was first instituted. The four-person committee met earlier this week to select the seven scholarship winners for this year.

Each year, the FOP awards $10,000 spread across seven college scholarships, two in the amount of $2,500 and five in the amount of $1,000 each.

These scholarships go to high school students who will be entering college in the fall. The applicants all have FOP Lodge #5 relatives either active, retired, or deceased.

The quality of the applicants was strong in Year One back in 2016, and the selection process was difficult. The number of applicants has risen each year since, growing from about a dozen and a half in that first year to two dozen last year, and then this year with more than 40 applying. The quality of those applicants has not dropped off.

Needless to say, it was not an easy task to whittle down these tremendous students. But that is the job, and I take that job seriously. It is my opinion from sitting in on the selection meeting that the other members of the committee take it seriously as well.

When we go through the application packages, we have little clue as to the race, or the religious or ethnic background of those applicants. Our only hint as to sex is usually their first name. These things are never a consideration in the evaluation process.

The applicants were all asked to supply an application form with some basic information. They were also advised to include high school grade transcripts, extra-curricular activities (both school and other), college acceptance letters, and recommendations from teachers and other influencers.

They are also asked to write a brief essay describing themselves, what they hope to get out of their college experience, and how they hope to help their community in the future.

The vast majority of the applicants have great transcripts. They are mostly 'A' students with a history of academic success that has continued to the present.

That successful academic profile often becomes the first step in separating the applicants for me. The discipline that it takes for a young person to succeed in their school work when faced with so many distractions in today's modern world is impressive when found.

Unfortunately, some applicants provide nothing more than the basic application. That is unfortunate, as an incomplete or "lesser" overall package is going to likely be a separator as well.

The best applicants for me, those who make it down to my final grouping, have it all: strong academic transcripts, community/activity involvement, adult recommendations, and an interesting essay.

Even then, I still went to the committee selection meeting having a dozen kids who I had difficulty separating from one another. I had gotten my personal selections down to a 'top group' of four, and then a secondary group made up of another eight students.

That is where the committee discussion process comes in to play. We all begin to compare our names and notes, and start to kick around some of the "positives" that we found raised some of those applicants above the others.

It is fairly amazing to me, at least over these first three years, how the committee members have frequently found many of the same names rising to the top of our individual lists. Getting to the seven overall scholarship winners is pretty much a process of finding those kids who stood out to all of us.

Safe injection sites and the 'War on Drugs'

Heroin operation taken down in Delaware, May 2016

There has been a great deal of controversy in recent weeks here in my hometown of Philadelphia regarding a proposal by some local politicians to open so-called safe injection sites.

The position of Mayor Jim Kenney and others is that such sites would help combat the exploding opioid crisis.

This would be accomplished by providing a safe place for drug abusers, but also by providing them with counseling.

Kenney was quoted by Aubrey Whelan for Philly.com just last week:

“We don’t want dying on the street and we want to have a place to administer Narcan if necessary. We also want an opportunity to speak to people about their future and getting their lives straight. They can’t do that under a train bridge or on a train track.”

Almost immediately, various members of Philadelphia City Council tried to apply the brakes. Per a piece by Claudia Vargas and Holly Otterbein for Philly.com, those concerns were summed up by Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez: “There’s no plan,” Sánchez said, adding that the city’s official presentation on the proposal looked “like an intern gave it to them.”

I have a number of problems with the idea. Concerns over exactly where any facilities would be located, issues involving liability for the city involving death and injuries at the facilities, and many others.

However, perhaps my biggest problem with the idea is even more basic and controversial. This is especially so coming from me, as I spent most of the last three decades as a Philadelphia Police Officer, Detective, and Sergeant. That included a decade in the Training Bureau teaching officers, supervisors, and commanders.

My biggest problem is that the city would be basically endorsing and supporting folks who are breaking the law. Possession and use of illicit drugs such as heroin is a crime. Addiction is not a valid defense.

Now that statement is factual, so my problem may not seem immediately apparent. Until I reveal why I feel that it is a problem. It's a problem because the city is supporting an illegal activity. But it is an activity that I do not believe should be illegal in the first place.

That's right - I do not support laws against the sale, possession, or consumption of narcotics. And if you do, I want to hear the reasons. The real reasons.

Those reasons cannot have to do with health concerns for the individuals involved in that usage, or their families, or for the community. Not unless you also support criminalizing the use of tobacco products and alcohol.

The cost of alcohol addiction to the U.S. economy has been estimated at nearly $250 billion annually. This includes lost productivity, health care expenses, law and other justice costs, and motor vehicle crashes.

More than 40% of that cost, over $100 billion, is drained from government. In other words, you and I pay for it with our taxes. Another $3.5 billion in costs is incurred by individual states, who of course also get their money from we the taxpayers.

Even with all of the education regarding tobacco abuse and the decline in its use over recent decades, its use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in America today.

Three decades as a Philly Cop come to a close

Career-spanning photos displayed
during January retirement party

This past Friday, January 19, was my last official day on the payroll of the Philadelphia Police Department. After nearly three decades, I hung up my badge and gun, riding off into the sunset of retirement.

I come from a Philly Cop family. My brother, Mike, remains on the job as a Sergeant with the Central Detective Division. For a few years way back in the early 1990's we were partners working a police wagon.

Our father, Matthew Veasey Jr (I'm the third), had been a Philly Cop himself for three decades from 1960 through 1989. He passed away back in August knowing that my retirement was coming up. If you combine his and my own service, the calendar year of 2019 will be the first in a half-century without a Matthew Veasey serving in uniform.

We also have a pair of cousins on the job. John Bernard is a Detective and Bob Veasey is a police officer. So even though I'm now out, the family influence remains within the Philly law enforcement ranks.

Trying to write about all of the experiences that I had, all of the people who made a difference, in one piece would be an exercise in futility. There were so many, I could write a book. Maybe some day I will do just that. I certainly understand how so many cops have written books and scripts in the past. There are that many amazing, wild, and touching stories.

But I will take a few paragraphs to glance back at my career as both a general reminder, and as a sample of where a career in the police profession can take you.

I started out by taking the written exam in December 1989. I had just turned 28 years old, and had been working in the banking profession for the previous decade since my graduation from high school.

This wasn't my first time taking the police test. I took it previously way back in 1980 as an 18-year old. At that time, I passed the written test as well as all of the subsequent exams and checks. 

Unfortunately, for one of the few times in history, not only was the PPD not hiring, they were actually laying off officers. I remained on a hiring list for two years while that layoff and city hiring slowdown continued. My list eventually expired, and by that point I was settled in to my job with First Pennsylvania Bank. 

By the time that 1989 testing opportunity came around, I had moved over to Fidelity Bank. Though I was making better money in a more responsible position, I still wasn't seeing much of an interesting future for myself in the banking profession.

In those days, the city actually gave you a booklet to study for the written test. I studied hard, and it paid off. When the results came out, I had finished high. By the end of January 1990, I was attending the orientation session at the old Academy facility on State Road.

Over the next few months there were numerous tests: psychological, psychiatric, lie detector. There was a background check in which neighbors and family members were contacted about my conduct and character.

I passed everything with flying colors, and entered the Philadelphia Police Academy as a member of Class 289 on April 23, 1990. The next five months were like being back in high school. Classroom work, homework, and studying. There was regular physical training that got me into the best shape of my life.

The Veasey Boys, early 90's
wagon crew in the 6th District

In mid-September of 1990 our class graduated. I was assigned to the 6th District, the same place as my brother, who had graduated the previous year. The 6th served an extremely diverse area in those days, stretching from Broad Street down to the Delaware River, and from South Street up to Poplar Street.

While there are districts with far worse violent crime situations, few could rival the 6th District for the variety of assignments and citizen interactions. You went from a job in the drug-infested Richard Allen Homes projects on one call to the wealthy inhabitants of Society Hill for the next. 

There was a thriving gay community, the burgeoning club scene along Delaware Avenue, and the boardwalk atmosphere of South Street. The entire downtown area was a hodgepodge of residents, visitors, workers, and transients. It was a great place to learn how to interact with people from all walks of life, and from all socio-economic backgrounds.

We had great cops in my squad, many of whom stayed together for much of the more than six years that I was in the district. One of those cops was my brother, Mike. He and I would spend much of the early 1990's as partners working a patrol wagon together.

My brother passed the Sergeant test and moved on, and for a couple of years I worked mostly on a solo patrol car, though I still occasionally worked a wagon with other partners.

My Experience at the 2017 NFL Draft in Philadelphia

Working the 2017 NFL Draft in Philadelphia

To say that the 2017 NFL Draft, held in my hometown of Philadelphia over the last three days, was a major success would be an understatement.

I got to experience this signature event of the National Football League up close and in person as a Sergeant with the Philadelphia Police Department. It was just the latest in a number of high profile events that I've had the pleasure to enjoy while on-duty during my career.

Assigned to take charge of a group of police officers, we spent both days on the south side of the 2400 block of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

It was a slight surprise to me when my group actually took that position and found that we were at the very front lines of the stage and seating arena area. It turned out to be an exciting and rewarding assignment.

The crowd was massive, but Philly-friendly and cooperative. As far as their interactions with myself and my officers, I couldn't have asked for a more positive reception. Everyone was friendly to us and appreciative of our efforts, and quite a few let us know that fact.

One thing that none of us knew, from the top brass on down to rookie police officers, was exactly what kind of crowd we would be met with. It was the first time that the NFL had put on their annual Draft of college players in that big of a show.

Philly can be notorious at times for our fan reactions, especially where Eagles fans are concerned. You also had to add in the factor that this was a free event. Would the crowd turn surly at any point? Sometimes it only takes a few bad apples to spoil things for the whole bunch. If any officials held any concerns of a worst-case scenario, those never materialized. In fact, just the opposite.

Even when faced with moments involving the hated, rival Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, or Washington Redskins, the Philly faithful responded with spirited but controlled reactions.

The biggest target of the 'Boo Birds' over the first couple of days was easily the Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell. Yet even with the Commish, I witnessed first-hand a somewhat different reaction from the crowds.

2014 MPO SET TO BEGIN

A new teaching year is beginning for myself and my fellow members of the Philadelphia Police Department's Advanced Training Unit, with a handful of new courses to be presented and refreshers coming on a few more.

Each year, the Municipal Police Officer's Education & Training Commission (MPOETC) develops four courses as mandated classroom training for all of Pennsylvania's law enforcement officers.

In Philly, it is the ATU's job to present those courses to the vast majority of the city's 6,000+ officers, detectives and supervisors. The ATU also provides fee-based training to 'outside' jurisdictions such as the police from SEPTA, the university police at Temple and Penn, and a few other agencies and municipalities.

Each MPOETC course is presented as a half-day of training, making for two full state-mandated days in the classroom for each officer. Every single year, the 15 or so members of the ATU staff will provide instruction to roughly 25,000 attendees in a couple of thousand sessions.

However, for 2014, that number will expand, because every two years all officers are also required to receive recertification training in CPR and First Aid. The CPR training is a full day. The First Aid training is a half day, and the PPD always takes advantage of the other half day to present some type of additional training.

Arizona Correct, Philly Wrong in Ilegal Immigration Battle

The ultra liberal, Democratic Party controlled City of Philadelphia is solidly in the corner of illegal immigrants as one of America's leading sanctuary cities

Deemed as such because they basically offer themselves as a sanctuary or place of refuge to illegals, it is Philly's stated policy that they will in no way assist in any types of investigations of immigration status. Philadelphia police have been specifically instructed to disregard a person's immigration status.

This is entirely amusing when you consider that the word "illegal" is right there in the terminology that properly defines these individuals. What Philadelphia is in fact saying is that "we don't care if you are breaking the law, you're welcome here to our town!"

Wonder why tens of millions have flocked from our city, businesses have shuttered up and moved away, and our crime rates have soared in the recent decades? Philly's policy on illegal immigration is yet another of many examples of how the liberal Democrats have driven the city into the ground, and continue to do so and get away with it.

On the other hand, Arizona has stood up and said "we're not going to take it anymore" in their border state that is on the front lines for the illegal immigration battle.

Pensions Not the Problem

Last night the local Fox News affiliate here in Philadelphia chose to devote a large portion of their 10:00pm news program spotlighting what they call "The Pension Problem" in Philadelphia, New Jersey and other places. In calling pensions the problem, Fox misled the public and missed an opportunity to highlight the truth for tax-payers.

Once again, the local news media, this time Fox in particular, cow-towed to liberal politicians and let them off the hook for a mess that they singularly have created. But not only that, they also portrayed hard-working city and state employees as the problem, seemed to be trying to pit tax-payers against pensioners, and never once keyed on the real problem.

That real problem? Out of control spending on issues, services, and frankly outright budgetary 'pork' over decades and decades as well as regular, intentional under-funding of employee pensions. All of that going on with little to no outcry from media watchdogs.

Fox missed an opportunity when they once again identified the real problems improperly in stating that "Pensions are at the heart of budget troubles in the state of New Jersey and in the city of Philadelphia."

Pensions are not the problem, politicians are the problem. Politicians who spend money that the city's citizens simply do not have and never did have on programs that make them feel and look better.

No, I am not going to take any time whatsoever to point out any particular program or project that I feel falls into this category. I will make one simple statement, however. If any fiscal conservative individual had been put in charge, this would not have happened.

Make the Animals Serve Their Full Prison Sentences

As pretty much everyone already knows, four police officers were shot and killed early on Sunday morning in Lakewood, Washington.

Tina Griswold, Ronald Owens, Mark Renninger, and Greg Richards were not responding to a robbery call, not patrolling a dangerous part of town, not involved in a fight with a crazed criminal. They were just sitting in a cafe, catching up on paperwork.

The animal who walked into that cafe and gunned those small town heroes down in cold blood in a targeted assassination should never have been on the streets to begin with. He should never have had the opportunity to murder. The animal, and there is no other word that properly describes this particular being, had already been caged, on numerous occassions.

In August, September, and November of 1989, this animal was sentenced to more than 13 years on numerous counts of burglary, theft, and robbery. That was after having probation revoked already. He was only 17 years old. In February of 1990 it was 20 more years for burglary and theft, and then in November he gained a 6-year sentence for firearm possession.

By the time this animal had reached 18 years of age, it had already accumulated more than a century of sentencing time. During one particular hearing the judge had it shackled, claiming the animal had threatened him. There was no way, no way, that this animal should ever have been back out on the streets. No way that this caged animal should have been able to hurt anyone again. At least not anyone who wasn't behind bars themselves.

But then in May of 2000, after this animal had been safely locked up away from the rest of us for over a decade, his total sentence time was commuted to just over 47 years by then Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

The effect of Huckabee's commutation was that it made the animal eligible for parole that very day. Just two months later a parole board granted, and the animal was released on August 1st, 2000.

Freedom of Speech

Does the U.S. Constitution protect your right to say anything you want, whenever you want, anywhere you want? Some people think that it indeed does, or that if it doesn't allow that, it should.

Most understand that while we are free to speak our minds most times, there are limits. You can't just yell "fire" in a crowded movie house, to use an old example.

There is actually no universally accepted definition of 'Freedom of Speech' that is applied within the United States of America. The idea is not clearly defined even within the Constitution itself. Issues relating to free speech have been debated and the courts have ruled on these issues almost since the Bill of Rights was added.

That 'Bill of Rights', for those who may require a brief civics lesson, are the first ten 'amendments' to the originally approved U.S. Constitution.

The very first amendment reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

As explained in "The Heritage Guide to the Constitution":

"The Founding generation undoubtedly believed deeply in the freedom of speech and of the press, but then, as now, these general terms were understood quite differently by different people. Many people did not think about their precise meanings until a concrete controversy arose, and when a controversy did arise, the analysis was often influenced by people's political interests as much as by their honest constitutional understanding."

Pandemics Are Nothing to Sneeze At

For some people it's probably a big joke. 'Swine Flu', it just has a funny name, right? For others it's probably a case of wondering what all the fuss is about, since we are talking about a few dozen cases in the United States, and all of those are down around the border with Mexico, which has the real problem.

So what's the big deal? Why all the headline stories in the newspaper and on television? And what's with all those empty stadiums this past weekend for all the big soccer matches down there south of the border?

Well glad that you asked, because the topic of handling a pandemic, at least from a law enforcement perspective, is being addressed this year in one of the Philly police MPOETC courses that I am teaching.

The course, titled 'Crisis & Emergency Management', is a scenario-based course in which the police officers of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are presented with four unusual situations. Officers are asked to place themselves in the scenario, and are guided as to how they should be expected to respond. They are also given information on some of the resources that would be coming to help in the situation from the government and other entities.

One of the scenarios, in fact the final one that they are being presented, is a pandemic flu outbreak. How timely, huh? I can't tell you how many times that I have gotten that look in class. You know the one, the "You gotta be kidding me, this will never happen" look.

Well as today's headlines are beginning to relate, pandemic outbreaks are not only things that happened in the distant past or the subjects of science fiction, but they are very real threats to our society and our world, and we need to be prepared and informed.

Nigger: Just a Word, or Something More?

A Philadelphia Police Officer is in some hot water today thanks to racial comments he made while escorting a college student journalist.

It brings to the fore a legitimate question: are words such as 'nigger', 'spic', 'gook', 'harp', 'nip', 'chink', 'fag' or 'gook' simply that, words, or are they more?

I've heard this argument made any number of times, that these are just words, and if people are going to keep getting offended by words like 'nigger' then they are setting themselves up for a lifetime of taking offense.

True enough in that any discussion on this issue, be it in the local newspapers, at the office water cooler, in an interview room at a police facility, on the internet, or in the halls of Congress or the United Nations is not going to change people's habits. It is not going to stop people from using these words, either in their most benign sense or their most derogatory.

I have also heard the argument as a question why, for instance, black people are so offended by the word 'nigger' when uttered by a white man or anyone from any other race, and yet are willing to toss it around with ease amongst one another?

Grass-Roots Support for Philly's Embattled Cops

On Halloween morning in 2007, police officer Chuck Cassidy of the city's 35th district pulled up to a local Dunkin' Donuts to perform a routine security check and perhaps grab a fresh cup of joe to begin his work day. The bright sunshine of the morning combined with the lesser light inside the shop made it impossible for him to see inside the establishment.

Little did he know as he pulled open the door to that innocent coffee and donut shop, one that he had entered many times before, that it would be the last door he would ever open. Inside was an armed robber who turned and fired a gunshot into Cassidy before the officer ever knew what hit him.

Thus began the most deadly string of murders of Philly's Finest in decades. Just seven months after Cassidy's murder, in May of 2008, Sergeant Steve Liczbinski responded to a robbery in progress taking place at a bank branch inside a supermarket of his 24th police district. It would be the final call of his career, as Liczbinski was also gunned down in cold blood by the robbers.

Philly cops and their supporters mourned the loss of these two popular officers throughout the summer of 2008. Little did they know it was not over yet. Not nearly. In early September the city's police were again driven to shock when officer Isabel 'Izzie' Nazario was killed. She and her partner were involved in a vehicular pursuit of a stolen car, though not in direct pursuit, when the driver suddenly emerged from a blind intersection and slammed into their cruiser at full speed.

The loss of a third officer in less than a year seemed like dirt being rubbed into an already open wound. Then the unthinkable happened. Just a couple of weeks later, still in September, officer Pat McDonald pulled over a vehicle for a simple traffic violation, something that many of the city's police officers do every single day, something that I did hundreds of times. Only this would be Pat's final car stop. This time the driver was a wanted man, and he decided to shoot and kill Pat McDonald rather than risk returning to jail.

It was official, Philly's cops were under siege.

Judicial Misconduct at Broad & Champlost

Philadelphia Judge Craig M. Washington is either the single stupidest person in the history of the American judicial system or he is the most callous, ignorant and disrespectful.

There is no middle ground for the actions that Washington took yesterday at the 35th police district here in the former 'City of Brotherly Love' which can no longer claim that moniker with any credibility whatsoever.

The latest in a string of murders of Philly cops happened just days ago when young, bright and talented police officer John Pawlowski of that very 35th district was gunned down in cold blood on our increasingly violent streets. Police officers with badges, guns, vests, and with fellow officers just a radio call away (or closer in Pawlowski's case) are not safe, so you the average citizen most certainly are not safe.

It was under these circumstances that Mr. Washington, whom to recognize with the title 'Judge' would be a severe travesty of that institution, marched into the very home of the 35th district on Tuesday morning.

Numb...Again

Another Philadelphia police officer lies dead this morning. He was only 25 years old. His young wife is now a widow as she carries their first and only child in her womb, a child that won't be born until the coming summer is almost over. A child that will never know it's father, never even get to meet him.

He is John Pawlowski of the PPD's 35th district, and he is the 7th Philly cop to be killed in the line of duty in the past 33 months. I remember a time when it seemed that we lost a brother or sister officer every few years. Now we don't even get six months, and often it's been much less.

There was a time when it made me sad and angry. But the wave of murders of our officers over the past couple years has simply left me numb. I can't even watch the stories on TV anymore beyond the headlines to get the basic facts. I am well aware that the danger is part of the job for which we have all signed up, but I want it to just all stop, even if just for a couple years.

Part of the problem for cops is that we do a job that few others could ever possibly relate to, but we can all relate to one another. No matter what our current responsibilities in this career that we have chosen, we were all John Pawlowski at some point.

Islamism Series: al Qaeda's Black Death

When most people think of attacks or attempted attacks by Muslim radicals against the United States, Israel, England, and others who they perceive as their enemies we think of bombs and guns.

The radical Muslim group Hamas continues to bombard Israel with rockets from Gaza, prolonging a conflict that the Israelis tried to halt days ago.

But it is not just these 'conventional' weapons that we need to be concerned with when addressing the problems of Radical Islam.

The British tabloid 'The Sun' recently published a report that al Qaeda members in Algeria had been killed during experiments with a strain of the bubonic plague.

A report in the Washington Times stated that a U.S. intelligence official dismissed that claim, but did say that the terror group had to close a base of operations in the African nation after an experiment with 'unconventional weapons went awry' killing at least 40 al Qaeda operatives. The experiment was believed to likely be either biological or chemical in nature.

Intelligence officials estimate that Muslim terror groups have been pursuing biological and chemical weapons for at least a decade.

The Times article goes on to quote a 2005 U.S. commission report that the al Qaeda bio/chem weapons program "was extensive, well organized, and operated two years before" the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States.

Philly Residency Part of Larger Problem

In May of 2006, an ordinance was introduced in the city council of Philadelphia addressing modifications to the city's residency requirement.

For decades the policy in Philadelphia was that in order to be employed by the city you needed to live in the city for a year prior to employment.

What council proposed was that city employment opportunities be opened to anyone living outside, but that any such person who accepted a position had to move into town within six months.

Many of the comments in the summary of the ordinance either directly state or imply some of the reasons that such a measure was believed to be needed. Among them that Philly had lost half a million residents since 1950, and that the current residency requirement had 'helped foster stable neighborhoods and economic opportunities for its residents...'

The summary also stated that a new approach would 'encourage people to move into the city...'

This is such pie-in-the-sky, ridiculous thinking that it almost defies belief and makes one wonder if the authors and sponsors of the bill actually believe it. There is absolutely no correlation between the city residency requirement and the loss of a half million citizens since 1950.

The current residency requirement has not fostered 'stable neighborhoods' in any way. All you need to have done is lived in the city for the past few decades to know that there are very few 'stable neighborhoods'.

Goodbye, Tim Simpson

I didn't find out until about five minutes ago. Last night, I went to bed at around 11pm, so I missed the news at that time. Just waking up this morning, I poured myself the first cup of coffee of the day, and fired up the computer. Then a local news anchor said those words on TV:

"Our top story, the Philadelphia Police Department is again in mourning this morning..."

My head whipped around to the TV screen. Sergeant Tim Simpson of the 24th district was dead, killed in a horrific car crash at approximately 10:45pm last night. He was killed at Aramingo & Allegheny while responding to a robbery call, possibly by a drunk driver who was speeding.

This is the second officer killed in an auto accident in the last few months, with Izzy Nazario killed back in the late summer. It is the fourth Philly cop killed this calendar year, the fifth in the last year, the sixth on-duty in two and a half years stretching back to Gary Skerski's murder in spring of 2006.

With Walter Barclay's death from wounds that he received decades ago in a shooting, it marks the seventh Philly cop to die of an on-duty incident in that time period.

My stomach flips again, and I say a prayer for the officer, his family and friends, his co-workers, and all police officers. It's beyond ridiculous now. We got almost, almost, a two month break this time. We deserve years without such tragedy at this point.

No Hijab on the-Job

The Philadelphia Police Department has a series of dozens of what are known as 'Directives' which govern nearly every facet of a police officer's work. From their uniforms to their firearms, from the proper procedures for obtaining warrants to the proper procedures for recording daily work assignments.

Every single person who signs up to become a Philadelphia police officer is aware of these directions, qualifications, and restrictions.

The uniform serves a couple of specific purposes. Not only does it identify each wearer as a police officer, but it also engenders respect.

It's formality let's those who come in contact with an officer know that they are dealing with someone who represents their municipality in an official capacity.

The uniformity shows that all those wearing the particular uniform are parts working together as one entity in carrying out their respective individual duties.

The Philadelphia Police Department is a para-military unit, which means that they are a group of civilians organized in a military fashion. Much of the uniformity, weaponry, and tactics of being a police officer are drawn from the military services.

Today, the uniform of the Philadelphia Police officer is under assault by a handful of special interest and religious groups. A female officer from North Philly's 35th District, publicly identified in the local media as officer Kim Webb, claims that she became a Muslim after being hired for the police job. Webb states that her faith requires her to wear a 'hijab' at all times in public, and so now wants to wear this garment along with the rest of her police uniform.

This article of clothing is completely religious in character, and has nothing to do with her police job, and is nowhere to be found on the list of proper uniform items in the PPD. Bottom line, P/O Webb is not allowed to wear the item while in uniform.

The Church and the Death Penalty

It might seem to some that a topic as fraught with controversy as the death penalty might not be the best topic for this 'Sunday Sermon' series that I have going as a regular feature here at the website.

However, these are not normal times, and these times have resulted not only in my own personal re-evaluation of the issue, but also have resulted in my own increased research into the topic.

These 'times' that I am speaking about involve the murder of four on-duty uniformed Philadelphia police officers within the past calendar year, including last week's cold-blooded assassination of P/O Pat McDonald. This follows on the heels of another similar murder of P/O Gary Skerski just 2 1/2 years ago.

Gary was the only one of these recently murdered officers whom I knew personally. He was alternately gruff and gregarious, but if you knew him well enough to be taken into his inner confidences it was usually the humor that you were exposed to: Gary was quite simply a very funny guy.

He also was a man who cared a great deal about supporting his family, and although his career had taken him to a relatively safe position in community relations, he would go back onto the often hard streets, making overtime as a part of the 'Safe Streets' effort to lower the drug trade in Philadelphia. While working this detail one night, Gary was gunned down by an armed robber.

When Gary Skerski was murdered, I lost someone whom I had laughed with, ate meals with, even worked a few shifts on the same details and in the same vehicles with. For some reason though, throughout the entirety of my police career, even through most of these recent murders, I maintained my status as one of the few police officers who were not in support of the death penalty.

I believe that these are personal, individual decisions that each of us has to make, coming to peace with the decision in our own hearts and minds.

The One That Got Away

It was just after 1:00 AM in the freezing cold early morning hours of Friday, January 30th, 1970. To put in perspective how long ago it was, just three weeks earlier the Beatles had performed together in the studio for the final time, and it was just 3 weeks since a new soap opera 'All My Children' had made its debut on television.

The remnant of a previous snowfall still coated the ground as rookie Philadelphia police officer Fred Cione pushed his red patrol car around the corner and into the 1700 block of west Oxford Street in the city's 23rd district.

My wife, the former Debbie Marshall Howe, grew up just two doors from Fred's family on Huntingdon Street in the city's Kensington section. As a 14-year old budding adolescent at that time, she already recognized that Freddie, a single Vietnam vet, was 'really handsome' and 'built'.

As this handsome 25-year old rookie cop drove onto Oxford Street that night he came upon three men and found something suspicious about them, or their behavior, or just the fact of them being on the streets in that location on that kind of night.

What we do know for sure is that Freddie got out and approached the three, and that one of them opened fire on him with three gunshots, one of which went into this chest and another into his gut. The men ran off, and Freddie was left to die like a dog in a North Philly gutter. That was almost three full decades ago.