Spurred by 2 Deaths
Kelly Weighs Vests For Auxiliary Cops

By REUVEN BLAU

After the fatal shooting of two unarmed Auxiliary Police Officers earlier this month, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly formed a committee to review the recruitment, selection, training and supervision policies of the department's volunteer force.

RAYMOND W. KELLY: 'Seriously considering' vests.

Mr. Kelly said March 20 that the NYPD is "very seriously" considering giving its approximately 4,400 auxiliary cops the same bulletproof vests as regular officers. "If the committee feels we should go that way, then we'll go that way," he testified at a City Council concerning the NYPD's preliminary $3.9 billion budget. "We are going to look at it very seriously."

Two Killed in Pursuit

Auxiliary Officers Nicholas Pekearo, 28, and Yevgeniy Marshalik, 19, were fatally shot March 14 by an assailant they had attempted to apprehend after he killed a man working in a restaurant in Greenwich Village.

Officer Pekearo was wearing his own bulletproof vest.

"There are no guarantees in wearing a bulletproof vest," Mr. Kelly said. "Unfortunately, the vest was only able to stop one round."

HIRAM MONSERRATE: 'Can't put price on lives.'

Two former cops, Queens City Councilman Hiram Monserrate and Brooklyn State Sen. Eric Adams, urged the NYPD to supply the volunteers with vests right away. The proposal would cost more than $3 million.

"You can't put a cost on human lives," Mr. Monserrate told reporters gathered on the steps of City Hall on March 22. Right before the press conference, Mr. Monserrate said he met with Commissioner Kelly to discuss the issue. "I'm confident that at some point very soon we will have a positive announcement," Mr. Monserrate asserted.

The proposal, however, may be complicated by the high turnover rate in the auxiliary force.

"We will make certain that they have the right type of equipment, and if we're going to give them vests, we want to make sure that we're not giving them hand-me-downs," Mr. Kelly told reporters after the Council hearing. "Having said that, whether or not we can give them a measured vest is another issue. There's significant turnover in the ranks of the auxiliary force."

Pepper Spray, Too?

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang SEEKING ADDED PROTECTION: Queens City Councilman Hiram Monserrate (left) and Brooklyn State Sen. Eric Adams March 22 urged the NYPD to supply the city's approximately 4,400 Auxiliary Police Officers with bulletproof vests immediately. The former cops donated their old vests and called on other retirees to help out the volunteer officers in the meantime as well.

Mr. Monserrate said the NYPD was reviewing a plan that would require the volunteers to return their vests before leaving. Sources indicated that the committee was also discussing a plan to supply the volunteers with a deterrent chemical agent like pepper spray.

While the committee reviews the situation, Mr. Adams said that he will reach out to retired officers to ask them to donate their old vests to Auxiliary cops. "We hope that they never need it," the former NYPD Captain remarked after handing over his old vest to a volunteer officer.

Thanks, But No Thanks

John Hyland, president of the Auxiliary Police Benevolent Association, thanked the former officers for their donated vests, but said the idea may not be practical. "That's very nice," he said during a March 23 phone interview. "But it's a used vest and the problem with used vests is a hygiene problem. It's just like me giving somebody else my underwear; it's just not done."

Mr. Hyland, who attended the committee's first meeting last week, said that he hopes the NYPD agrees to update the volunteer force's 150 outdated vehicles. "Even on a good day, there is a shortage of vehicles," he remarked.

The initial conference primarily dealt with the issue of supplying bulletproof vests. "I will say that it's going to happen, and probably a lot sooner than we anticipate," he said. "The Commissioner is 100 percent on board with it."

'Shouldn't Go Without'

Mr. Adams noted that cops are prohibited from going out on patrol without wearing their bulletproof vests. "Why would we send an Auxiliary officer out there without a vest?" he asked incredulously.

Mr. Kelly told the Council that it's a "legitimate" issue. "Sometimes it takes a tragedy to surface issues that are right in front of us and we didn't necessarily see," he testified.

Last November, the NYPD announced that all fulltime officers would soon be outfitted with new, uniquely designed bulletproof vests, which better protect officers' necks and torsos and are more comfortable to wear.

The Police Commissioner noted that on Nov. 28, 2005, Detective Dillon Stewart was fatally shot by a motorist he tried to pull over for running a red light in East Flatbush. "The fatal bullet passed through a space where the panels of his bullet-resistant vest did not quite come together," Mr. Kelly told reporters at 1 Police Plaza.

The new vests have to be specially fitted for each officer, which will take two years and cost $18 million. Last week, Mr. Kelly testified that 5,000 of the new vests have been handed out and an additional 4,000 have been ordered. The department plans to have all 18,000 vests distributed by June 2008.

Committee Members

As for the Auxiliary review committee, it will include high-ranking NYPD officials as well as Mr. Hyland. The other members are: Nicholas Estavillo, Chief of Patrol; Charles DeRienzo, Deputy Commissioner, Training; Michael Farrell, Deputy Commissioner, Strategic Initiatives; Rafael Pineiro, Chief of Personnel; Joanne Jaffe, Chief of Housing; Douglas Zeigler, Chief of Community Affairs; Assistant Chiefs Raymond Diaz and Joseph Fox; and Deputy Inspector Angelo Maroulis.