“Scared Straight” was an Oscar-winning documentary from 1978, filmed inside East Jersey State Prison – then known as Rahway State Prison.
The film depicted a group of young offenders and their court-ordered meeting with convicts living in the prison. Over the course of the film, the group of inmates, all serving life sentences and calling themselves the “Lifers,” transformed the swaggering and self-confident criminals-in-the-making into frightened teenagers with an entirely new outlook on their futures.
The Lifers accomplished this by pulling no punches. In a brutally candid meeting, the Lifers berated and terrified the youths in an attempt to scare them out of pursuing a life of crime.
It was groundbreaking, and it was highly effective.
This past weekend, one of the prime movers behind the program and the film, died. Former Woodbridge police Chief Anthony W. O’Brien passed away at the age of 87.
Chief O'Brien joined the Woodbridge Police Department in 1957 and was appointed deputy chief in 1972. In 1974, he was appointed chief and served as chief until his retirement in 1991.
Along with Judge George Nicola and correctional officials at the prison, O’Brien helped created the Lifers Program from which the original "Scared Straight" was filmed.
The film inspired sequels and a television series. The original "Scared Straight” film can be found on YouTube. It stands the test of time.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
The Last Gasp of Carbon Motors
We thought that we had heard the last of Carbon Motors, about which we have blogged previously, when the company went belly-up last year after the US Department of Energy rejected its request for a $310-million loan.
But there remains one final nail to be put in the coffin, and that nail is an auction of the company’s assets – including the operational but not street-legal prototype of the E7 police car, the only one ever built. The car is going to auction on January 23, according to Indianapolis-based Key Auctioneers.
The E7 was to be a purpose-built police car, rather than being a modified regular production car. The company claimed that it surveyed thousands of law enforcement officers and incorporated their ideas into the design, including cutaway seats that accommodate police officers' bulky gear, rear-hinged rear doors for safer suspect insertion, a rear compartment that could be washed out with a hose, and a twin turbo-charged six cylinder diesel engine intended to take the E7 to a top speed of over 150 mph while delivering fuel efficiency 40% greater than existing police cruisers.
The company further claimed to have received upwards of 20,000 commitments to buy the car once production began, from agencies in every state and from dozens of foreign countries. Production was to take place in a former Visteon plant in Connorsville, Indiana.
But now, the sole E7 will be offered at auction along with other Carbon Motors assets, including intellectual property, computers and a trade show booth. Since the company listed $21.7 million in liabilities in its Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, it seems unlikely that the sale of the E7 and the other assets will pay off the full amount. This despite the company’s attorney stating that the car is being marketed to "very well moneyed car enthusiasts" such as comedian Jay Leno.
If someone as visible as Jay Leno ends up with the car then we will certainly be seeing it again... but not on patrol.
But there remains one final nail to be put in the coffin, and that nail is an auction of the company’s assets – including the operational but not street-legal prototype of the E7 police car, the only one ever built. The car is going to auction on January 23, according to Indianapolis-based Key Auctioneers.
The E7 was to be a purpose-built police car, rather than being a modified regular production car. The company claimed that it surveyed thousands of law enforcement officers and incorporated their ideas into the design, including cutaway seats that accommodate police officers' bulky gear, rear-hinged rear doors for safer suspect insertion, a rear compartment that could be washed out with a hose, and a twin turbo-charged six cylinder diesel engine intended to take the E7 to a top speed of over 150 mph while delivering fuel efficiency 40% greater than existing police cruisers.
The company further claimed to have received upwards of 20,000 commitments to buy the car once production began, from agencies in every state and from dozens of foreign countries. Production was to take place in a former Visteon plant in Connorsville, Indiana.
But now, the sole E7 will be offered at auction along with other Carbon Motors assets, including intellectual property, computers and a trade show booth. Since the company listed $21.7 million in liabilities in its Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, it seems unlikely that the sale of the E7 and the other assets will pay off the full amount. This despite the company’s attorney stating that the car is being marketed to "very well moneyed car enthusiasts" such as comedian Jay Leno.
If someone as visible as Jay Leno ends up with the car then we will certainly be seeing it again... but not on patrol.
Friday, December 27, 2013
DUI-Yi-Yi
The national news outlets picked up this story from our local newspaper.
Late on a December Monday night, less than ten miles from our office, a woman was charged with DUI, and she called a friend to come pick her up at the police station.
Upon arrival, the friend was charged with DUI because she too was half in the bag.
So another friend was called. Yup, he earned a DUI of his own once he arrived.
Finally, a sober adult was located to drive the trio of tipplers home.
Based on this statistical sample, three out of four drivers are drunk!
Late on a December Monday night, less than ten miles from our office, a woman was charged with DUI, and she called a friend to come pick her up at the police station.
Upon arrival, the friend was charged with DUI because she too was half in the bag.
So another friend was called. Yup, he earned a DUI of his own once he arrived.
Finally, a sober adult was located to drive the trio of tipplers home.
Based on this statistical sample, three out of four drivers are drunk!
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Charged with Theft
It had to happen. The owner of a modern electric car has been charged with theft for plugging in his car at a school while there for a tennis match. He plugged in to an accessible outlet, but not one that was authorized for electric car recharging.
What has made this particular case news, however, is not that the owner was charged with theft nor that he had to pay a fine. Rather, it is the fact that the value of the electricity taken has been estimated to be four to five cents, and that the car owner was arrested and held for more than 12 hours.
Police in the community where this happened are taking some heat, being accused of overreach. So too is the school district for positioning itself as a crime victim. And the car owner himself has been portrayed as being difficult and argumentative. But while arrest and confinement may seem excessive for taking a nickel’s worth of anything, this is new territory. Prior thefts of electricity have generally been far more egregious – bypassing meters, running unauthorized cables, that sort of thing. Unauthorized charging of an electric car may be small potatoes by comparison, but, as the arresting officer commented, “Theft is theft.”
Although this case may break some new ground, it reminds us of a comparable case some years ago, in which a driver was taking gasoline from gas stations after hours simply by draining what little was left in the pump hoses. We no longer remember the outcome, but at the time, theft was theft.
What has made this particular case news, however, is not that the owner was charged with theft nor that he had to pay a fine. Rather, it is the fact that the value of the electricity taken has been estimated to be four to five cents, and that the car owner was arrested and held for more than 12 hours.
Police in the community where this happened are taking some heat, being accused of overreach. So too is the school district for positioning itself as a crime victim. And the car owner himself has been portrayed as being difficult and argumentative. But while arrest and confinement may seem excessive for taking a nickel’s worth of anything, this is new territory. Prior thefts of electricity have generally been far more egregious – bypassing meters, running unauthorized cables, that sort of thing. Unauthorized charging of an electric car may be small potatoes by comparison, but, as the arresting officer commented, “Theft is theft.”
Although this case may break some new ground, it reminds us of a comparable case some years ago, in which a driver was taking gasoline from gas stations after hours simply by draining what little was left in the pump hoses. We no longer remember the outcome, but at the time, theft was theft.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Woman of the Year
In many municipalities it is the town clerk who orders the badges,
and among those with whom we have dealt in this capacity is Ceil Covino,
the clerk for the town of Clinton. The Clinton town offices are less
than two miles from our own and so we have not only conducted business with
her but we have done so in person.
It was no surprise to us when she was named New Jersey's Outstanding Municipal Clerk of the Year by the state Municipal Clerks Association. She is very deserving of this award.
Perhaps you are not impressed. She is not the CEO of a multinational corporation nor has she developed the latest internet sensation. But being a municipal clerk means being able to juggle a vast array of business matters while dealing with the residents, the governing body, and the public safety agencies. Ceil Covino does all this efficiently, effectively, and with a sunny attitude.
There are more than 500 municipalities in New Jersey, so being recognized by your municipal peers is no small honor.
Photo courtesy of the Hunterdon County Democrat
It was no surprise to us when she was named New Jersey's Outstanding Municipal Clerk of the Year by the state Municipal Clerks Association. She is very deserving of this award.
Perhaps you are not impressed. She is not the CEO of a multinational corporation nor has she developed the latest internet sensation. But being a municipal clerk means being able to juggle a vast array of business matters while dealing with the residents, the governing body, and the public safety agencies. Ceil Covino does all this efficiently, effectively, and with a sunny attitude.
There are more than 500 municipalities in New Jersey, so being recognized by your municipal peers is no small honor.
Photo courtesy of the Hunterdon County Democrat
Monday, November 11, 2013
Counseling for Law Enforcement
In the news today is a report concerning an officer in Ohio who, it appears, committed suicide.
This on the same day that we had been discussing commemorative badges with an agency seeking to remember an officer who also had committed suicide.
In recent years there have been a number of news items on the high rate of suicide in the law enforcement community, particularly among corrections officers. It has been reported that law enforcement officers are four times more likely to commit suicide than to be killed in the line of duty.
Four times more likely to commit suicide than to be killed in the line of duty. That’s a chilling statistic.
To help reduce the suicide rate, corrections departments are today focusing on mental health issues, beginning at the recruitment stage, and corrections officers are being offered more counseling options today than were available in prior years.
Counseling has also become available through the police departments and through the unions. It is no small matter; suicide among law enforcement officers far too often either leaves behind young spouses and children, or, in the most tragic of cases, causes young family members perish also.
Cop2Cop is among the programs created to address these concerns. A 24-hour hotline for officers and their families, New Jersey’s Cop2Cop program was established in 2000 and was the first of its kind in the nation. The Cop2Cop hotline is answered by retired law enforcement volunteers and clinicians with a deep understanding of officers' concerns, problems and family issues, and who are trained in critical stress management.
The Cop2Cop hotline is available exclusively for law enforcement officers and their families to help deal with any immediate need. It can be a crisis. It can be just a simple question. It doesn’t matter.
Cop2Cop was developed in response to a rash of police suicides in the late 1990s. Despite the program’s successes, suicide rates remain unacceptably high. Support, counseling and referral programs such as Cop2Cop are as important as they have ever been.
The number for Cop2Cop is 1-866-COP-2COP (1-866-267-2267).
Monday, November 4, 2013
A Five-Finger Two-Fer
An hour after being charged and released on the first caper he was taken into custody for the second.
The second charge will carry just a bit more weight thanks to this crook’s brilliance. Because he assaulted store security while attempting to flee, he has been charged with robbery.
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