Schoolcraft v. The City Of New York et al

Filing 206

LETTER MOTION for Local Rule 37.2 Conference addressed to Judge Robert W. Sweet from Suzanna Publicker Mettham dated December 18, 2013. Document filed by Christopher Broschart(Tax Id. 915354 in his official capacity), Christopher Broschart(Tax Id. 915354 Individually), Timothy Caughey(Tax Id. 885374 Individually), Timothy Caughey(Tax Id. 885374 in his official capacity), Kurt Duncan(Shield No. 2483, Individually), Kurt Duncan(Shield No. 2483 in his official capacity), William Gough(Tax Id. 919124, Individually), William Gough(Tax Id. 919124, in his Official Capacity), Thomas Hanley(Tax Id. 879761, in his Official Capacity), Thomas Hanley(Tax Id. 879761, Individually), Elise Hanlon(in her official capacity as a lieutenant with the New York City Fire Department), Elise Hanlon(individually), Shantel James(Shield No. 3004 in his official capacity), Shantel James(Shield No. 3004 Individually), Theodore Lauterborn(Tax Id. 897840 in his official capacity), Theodore Lauterborn(Tax Id. 897840, Individually), Michael Marino, Michael Marino, Steven Mauriello(Tax Id. 895117, Individually), Steven Mauriello(Tax Id. 895117 in his official capacity), Gerald Nelson(Assistant Chief Patrol Borough Brooklyn North, Tax Id. 912370 in his official capacity), Gerald Nelson(Assistant Chief Patrol Borough Brooklyn North, Tax Id. 912370, Individually), Robert W. O'Hare(Tax Id. 916960, Individually), Robert W. O'Hare(Tax Id. 916960, in his Official Capacity), Frederick Sawyer(Shield No. 2576 in his official capacity), Frederick Sawyer(Shield No. 2576, Individually), The City Of New York, Timothy Trainer(Tax Id. 899922, in his Official Capacity), Timothy Trainer(Tax Id. 899922, Individually), Richard Wall, Sondra Wilson(Shield No. 5172, in her Official Capacity), Sondra Wilson(Shield No. 5172, Individually). (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order, # 2 Exhibit A, # 3 Exhibit B, # 4 Exhibit C, # 5 Exhibit D, # 6 Exhibit E, # 7 Exhibit F, # 8 Exhibit G, # 9 Exhibit H, # 10 Exhibit I)(Mettham, Suzanna)

EXHIBIT I

Decem ber 1 7 , 2 01 3

The Schoolcraft Dilemma
Posted: 11/12/2012 11:21 am

Whistle-blower cop Adrian Schoolcraft and his father Larry want to bring the world down. In the process, their supporters fear they
are losing focus and hurting themselves.
Last Saturday, Larry Schoolcraft called this reporter to say that Adrian -- who came to prominence after police forcibly took him
from his apartment to Jamaica Hospital, where he was held in a psychiatric ward for six days against his will -- has fired the lawyer
who has represented Adrian since the hospital incident.
"He doesn't tell us anything. He makes deals behind our backs," Larry Schoolcraft, said of Manhattan attorney Jon Norinsberg, who
has filed a $50 million federal lawsuit for Adrian against the city. "We need a leader. We need an architect."
Norinsberg said: "The father wants us to go after Kelly [Police Commissioner Ray Kelly], Bloomberg [Mayor Michael Bloomberg]
the FBI, everyone under the sun. We've had a complete communications breakdown."
"This comes completely out of the blue. Adrian has stayed in my house and we've never had a bad word. Until I hear otherwise from
Adrian, I'm still representing him."
Norinsberg added that the Schoolcrafts' behavior has become increasingly bizarre. "They have disappeared three times in the last
six months. We literally had to have [Frank] Serpico involved to track them down."
Norinsberg has handled the case in the traditional legal manner -- through the courts, a process that can take years, even decades
to resolve.
His lawsuit charges that Adrian's forced hospitalization was NYPD retaliation for his allegations that supervisors at the 81st precinct
in Brooklyn, where he worked, ordered cops to downgrade crime statistics from felonies to misdemeanors so that city would
appear safer than it actually was.
Hospitalizing him, the suit alleges, was part of an NYPD plan to harass, intimidate him and make him appear unstable to undercut
his allegations.
The NYPD subsequently confirmed Adrian's allegations: specifically that commanders in the 81st precinct did doctor crime
statistics. The department has transferred and/or brought departmental charges against five 81st precinct supervisors, including the
precinct's commanding officer, a deputy inspector.
Meanwhile criminologists John Eterno and Eli Silverman have alleged that downgrading of crimes is not confined to the 81st
precinct but is city-wide, an allegation first made by the heads of the heads of the Patrolmen's and Sergeants' unions in 2004.
Amidst a growing furor, Kelly, in January, 2011, announced the appointment of three former federal prosecutors to serve as
members of a Crime Reporting Review Committee.
"The integrity of our crime reporting system is of the utmost importance to the Department," Kelly said in a well-publicized news
release. "It is essential not only for maintaining the confidence of the people we serve, but reliable crime statistics are necessary for
the effective planning and evaluation of crime reduction strategies."
Kelly said the committee would complete its work over the next three to six months.
That was nearly two years ago. The department is yet to release any crime commission statement or report. Nor has Kelly
responded to questions about the report or explained the reasons for the delay. Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne did not
respond to an email on the matter from NYPD Confidential over the weekend.
Meanwhile, other Schoolcraft allies have expressed concerns that the Schoolcrafts may be alienating the very people they need to
hold the police department accountable for their actions against Adrian and the issues his case has raised.
Nobody denies that whistleblowers can be difficult. Anyone who singlehandedly takes on a gigantic organization like the NYPD, as
Adrian has, comes under tremendous psychological and emotional pressures.
Father and son have left the city and moved upstate. Larry Schoolcraft said they feared for their safety in New York. They now have

no income. They live in a house with four dogs, a cat and an electric heater. People in contact with them say they are sometimes at
odds with each other.
Serpico -- who in the early 1970s exposed the department's pervasive and systemic corruption and who since has become an
iconic figure and inspiration for people like Adrian -- said in a telephone interview: "The department wants to undermine all that they
stand for by painting them as malcontents, nuts, psychos. The danger for Adrian is that his message may be lost and the
department let off the hook."
That is exactly the situation Serpico faced 42 years ago. Former New York Times city editor Arthur Gelb recently wrote in the
Times that then Mayor John Lindsay had called the Times' publisher, urging the Times to ignore Serpico's allegations against the
police department and calling him "bizarre." The Times' police bureau chief, David Burnham, knew better. The Times' reporting of
Serpico's claims on its front page led Lindsay to appoint the Knapp Commission on police corruption. As a result, the NYPD's
systemic and pervasive corruption was ended. Corruption, of course, still exists, though on a far reduced scale.
Larry Schoolcraft says he and Adrian want a more media-driven, public airing than is now occurring.
Last week Larry called to say that Adrian was preparing to replace Norinsberg with attorneys from the New York Civil Liberties
Union. Chris Dunn, the NYCLU's associate legal director declined comment.
Larry Schoolcraft added that he had arranged a meeting with NYCLU attorneys, a reporter from the Village Voice, another from the
Times and the Times' general counsel.
A person familiar with that claim said, "Larry tried to set up a meeting like that a month or so ago. Nobody was interested."
EXPLOITING THE DEAD. Leave it to politicians and public officials to plug themselves and their causes, even at a funeral.
Speaking at the funeral of police officer Artur Kasprzak , who was electrocuted in his home while saving his family during Hurricane
Sandy, Police Commissioner Kelly stated that Kasprzak had been "fighting terrorism" -- a cause nearest and dearest to Kelly.
For all Kasprzak's virtues, he was a beat cop in the First Precinct, who was fighting street crime, not terrorism.
Meanwhile Mayor Bloomberg, who like Kelly, invited himself to the funeral, said of Kasprzak: "Officers like him are the reason this is
the safest big city in America."
That claim is nearest and dearest to Bloomberg. The fact that it is totally and irrevocably false hasn't stopped Mayor Mike from
trumpeting it any chance he gets.
Poor Mayor Mike. Hurricane Sandy seems not only to have demoralized but to have unhinged him.
Besides telling President Obama to stay away from New York and making himself appear an insensitive clod over the New York
City Marathon, he is now having trouble getting his lines right.
His press office put out, as Bloomberg's "as prepared" remarks, this closing line from his eulogy of Kasprzak: "May God bless Artur
Kasprzak and everyone he loved. And may God bless and protect the NYPD."
Either someone switched the words of the speech in front of him or Mayor Mike misread them because what he actually said was:
"And may God bless and protect the FDNY."
With editing from Donald Forst