User:InMooseWeTrust/Anthony Bologna
| Anthony V. Bologna | |
|---|---|
| NYPD | |
| Born 1954 | |
| Years of service | 1982 - current |
| Rank |  Sergeant (1989) Lieutenant (1996) Captain (1998) Deputy Inspector (2006)[1] |
| |
|---|---|
| Residence | Staten Island |
| Title | Borough Executive, Patrol Borough Manhattan South |
| Term | 2010 - Present |
Anthony Bologna (born 1954) is a New York City police officer. He was the commanding officer of the Manhattan South's First Precinct for five years before transferring to Patrol Borough Manhattan South with the rank of Deputy Inspector in 2010.[1][2] He was identified as the officer seen in videos pepper-spraying protesters during the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011.[3]
Career[edit | edit source]
Bologna attended City College of New York with the intention of become a teacher, however during that time the city was facing bankruptcy and was laying off teachers. He started working part-time in a deli in Port Richmond, Staten Island, eventually buying out the owner. By 1982 the city was recovering economically and was in the process of admitting 3,000 cadets into the Police Academy. Bologna, following the encouragement of police officers who frequented his deli, took the entrance exam and joined the New York City Police Department (NYPD) at the age of 27.[1]
Initially assigned to the Seventh Precinct in the Lower East Side, Bologna went on to serve in the Street Narcotic Enforcement Unit in the Seventh and then the Ninth Precincts, also in the East Side. In 1988 he continued his work in narcotics enforcement after transferring to the department's Organized Crime Control Bureau, which he described as "at a more interesting level" than the narcotics enforcement street scene. In 1989, having attained the rank of sergeant, Bologna was assigned to the 76th and then 72nd Precincts in Brooklyn. A posting to the Brooklyn South Task Force followed, and there Bologna was on duty during the boycott of Korean grocery stores by black activists in 1990 and the Crown Heights riots in 1992.[1]
In 1993 Bologna joined the Chief of Patrol’s office as an internal investigator. In an interview in 2005 he described his experiences as "...[opening] my eyes to the darker side of police work", going on to say "You read in the papers about cops doing things that you can't believe because you think everybody's like you. But a department this large can't really be completely free of it. If you don’t find anything wrong, you’re in real trouble because you're not looking". After promotion to lieutenant in 1996 and detective the following year, Bologna was appointed head of squad in the 30th Precinct in Washington Heights, two years after a corruption scandal known as "The Dirty 30". After promotion to captain in 1998 Bologna returned to Manhattan's South Borough Command. Appointed as acting commanding officer in 2000 of the command’s Task Force, he was in charge of the unit that responded to special situations such as demonstrations. Full appointment to the position occurred the following year. [1]
On May 30, 2005, Bologna was named commanding officer of the First Precinct,[1] a position he held until May 4, 2010. Upon leaving as commanding officer Bologna stated in an interview that he was proud of reducing crime in his precinct, saying that: "I'm leaving on a good note — every year crime has gone down". Local residents were reported to have been pleased with his tenure, with the president of the First Precinct Community Council quoted as saying "He's done a wonderful job. Whenever residents came and asked for his help, he always helped out". Bologna then assumed the position of borough executive in Manhattan South.[2] Although there was speculation that a spike in murders and shootings city-wide led to the move, one of 40 high-level departmental transfers at the time,[4] a NYPD spokesman referred to it as "a routine transfer".[2]
Bologna earned a B.S. from John Jay College in 1990, and later completed a law enforcement professional's program at the FBI National Academy. He served in the United States Coast Guard Reserve with a rank of chief petty officer and is a native and resident of Staten Island, New York.[1]
Pepper-spray incidents[edit | edit source]
On September 24, 2011, during the Occupy Wall Street protests, videos and photos showed a NYPD officer releasing a burst of pepper-spray at four women within a police-netting area. The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, stated that the police had used the pepper spray "appropriately" and "after individuals confronted officers and tried to prevent them from deploying a mesh barrier".[5]
Later, another video was released which showed the same officer, now identified as Anthony Bologna, using his pepper-spray while walking through a "chaotic" street scene along East 12th Street.[3] In this incident, shortly after the first with the women, Bologna was reported to have deployed his pepper-spray at a videographer.[6] Following media attention and the wide dissemination of the videos, described as having gone "viral",[7] NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced that Internal Affairs and the Civilian Complaint Review Board would investigate, but that he was skeptical the videos were a complete record of the events.[6] District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. also started an investigation.[8]
Roy Richter, representing Bologna as president of the NYPD Captains Endowment Association[9], said that Bologna would cooperate with the probes, and defended his actions as appropriate.[8] Richter also stated that Bologna's personal details, including the name of the school his children attend, was posted online by the activist group Anonymous, behavior that he described as "egregious and over the line".[10]
In response to the incident, playing on Bologna's name, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show mocked him in a skit aired on September 29 on Comedy Central.[11]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Amateau, Albert (June 24, 2005). New captain busted pushers, gangsters and cops. Downtown Express.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Shapiro, Julie (May 4, 2010). Commanding Officer Leaves First Precinct After Five Years of Service. DNAinfo.com.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Al Baker and Joseph Goldstein (September 28, 2011). Officer's Pepper-Spraying of Protesters Is Under Investigation. The New York Times.
- ↑ Rocco Parascandola and Joe Kemp (May 2, 2010). Spike in murders rattles NYPD, Commissioner Raymond Kelly shifts commanding officers across the city. The Daily News.
- ↑ Goldstein, Joseph (September 25, 2011). Videos Show Police Using Pepper Spray at Protest on the Financial System. The New York Times.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Christina Boyle and John Doyle (September 29, 2011). Pepper-spray videos spark furor as NYPD launches probe of Wall Street protest incidents. The Daily News.
- ↑ Harris, Paul (October 1, 2011). Occupy Wall Street protesters march against police brutality. The Guardian.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 DA, NYPD probe officer's pepper spray use. United Press International (September 29, 2011).
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Long, Colleen (October 1, 2011). Wall St. Protest Shuts Half of Brooklyn Bridge. Associated Press.
- ↑ Democracy on the Lurch - Wall Street Pepper Spray Incident. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (2011-09-29). (2:06 - 6:16)