Oh Look, NYC Corrections Officers Union Blocking Reforms, Investigations at Rikers Island

Another piece of anecdotal evidence of how law
enforcement unions stymie reforms aimed at reducing official
violence, this one via New York City’s Correction Officers’
Benevolent Association and
The New York Times:

With brutality by guards at the Rikers Island jail complex
rising at an alarming rate, the chief investigator for the New York
City Correction Department stood before a roomful of senior
officers and union leaders in the summer of 2012 and outlined her
plans to crack down on abuse and send more cases to
prosecutors.

The presentation infuriated one main in particular, Norman
Seabrook, the powerful president of the Correction Officers’
Benevolent Association, who believed the incidents should be
handled internally. For the next two years he did everything in his
power to get rid of the investigator, Florence Finkle. He helped
scuttle some of her investigations, got one of her top people
transferred, called for her resignation and denounced her on his
weekly radio show.

In August, he finally got his wish: Ms. Finkle was forced out,
replaced by a former senior Police Department official-a childhood
friend of Mr. Seabrook’s.

Read the whole New York Times profile of Seabrook’s
power
here.

Bill de Blasio says he won’t let this stand. LOL J/K. For guys
like de Blasio social justice means backing the unions and not
something like making sure scoundrels aren’t tolerated in the
prison system. It’s such an uphill battle sometimes.

My exposure to Norman Seabrook comes from hearing corrections
officers union commercials on WABC during the Mets broadcasts.
They’re pretty loathesome, I can’t find any online but the copy of
the one I heard claims corrections officers are what keeps
criminals from raping and killing your relatives. The spots end
with the line “Without
us, how safe would you really be?” It’s a disturbing question
if the listener is an inmate of the New York City corrections
system. And even for law-abiding residents of New York City the
answer to Seabrook’s question isn’t so clear cut. Depending how
widespread the abuse Seabrook is covering up is, it could be
leading to increased recidivism and hardened ex-cons.