Detective Investigators' Head Denied Parking Permit; Suspects Retaliation for Pay Fight

The president of the Detective Investigators Association has filed an improper practice petition against the city with the Board of Collective Bargaining because his official-business parking permit was not renewed this year.

JOHN FLEMING: Questions why permit wasn't renewed.

John Fleming, the union's president, said he now spends $100 per week on parking while traveling to all five boroughs to meet with his members in the District Attorney's Offices and the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor (OSNP). "We had arbitration last year," he said. "I can't say for sure it's payback."

'An Easy Way to Screw With Us'

Mr. Fleming is the only Investigator in the 302-person union on full release from work. "They have pretty much crippled us," he said. "It's a very easy way to screw around with the union."

On April 7, 2008, Chief Leon Schwartzman of OSNP informed Mr. Fleming that he would not be assigned a parking permit and that there would be no discussion of the matter, according to the complaint filed with the board. Mr. Fleming contended he needs the parking permit as much as other uniformed union leaders because he is required to represent his members at shooting incidents. "Without an office, I have to rely so much on the vehicle," he said.

Beyond Mr. Fleming's loss of his placard, he is at odds with the city over the design of the 2008 vehicle identification cards issued to Detective Investigators. The placards issued to union members in 2007 clearly stated, "Police Vehicle Identification." The current version lacks those words, as well as the official District Attorney seal. Mr. Fleming said the new placards were making identification harder for his members.

"My members do not drive around in marked vehicles, nor do their unmarked vehicles contain lights or sirens," he wrote to Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly in April. "Many of these vehicles are just leased vehicles utilized for specific operations. In the field these placards are used to quickly identify an officer, and at times are used while making a car stop."

Language for NYPD Only

Paul J. Browne, chief spokesman for the Police Department, said the placards issued by the department had not changed, but that only members of the NYPD receive placards that bear the department's name. "Just like the FBI gets some, they don't say NYPD on them, because they aren't NYPD," he said. "They are going to be accurate to the agency they are for."

Internal Affairs Bureau Chief Charles V. Campisi wrote back to Mr. Fleming that the permits were valid and consistent with other permits issued by the department. Mr. Fleming said his members' permits should be consistent with NYPD placards because Investigators are considered police officers.

The union's contention that its members are police officers was at the heart of the contract dispute that was resolved when an Office of Collective Bargaining arbitrator ruled this spring that the Detective Investigators Association should not be included in the city's uniformed wage pattern, despite a state classification of uniformed status.

'Always Grouped With Civilians'

"There is no argument that the DIA has historically been grouped with the civilian pattern since its inclusion in city bargaining," ruled Gayle Gavin. Four previous panels arrived at the same result.

While Mr. Fleming continues to contend his members, many of whom are retired NYPD cops, are police officers, Ms. Gavin saw differences. "While Investigators share a similarity in duties with the Detectives and clearly have for decades, there remains much that distinguishes them," Ms. Gavin stated in her decision. Job requirements and career paths for each position are "markedly different" than those for NYPD Detectives, she added.

Mr. Fleming said there have been nine situations where his members had difficulty with the new placards. In New Rochelle, an Investigator's placard was confiscated. "They were changed so drastically my people have had problems," he said. In addition, he contended, because Mayor Bloomberg has spoken publicly about reducing placards, Investigators are afraid to speak out. "It's a situation where they feel they are lucky to have a placard," the union leader said.

Some members of the union were caught with bogus NYPD permits, according to a letter from the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters, S. Andrew Schaffer. "The unauthorized use of the NYPD logo on these parking permits violates these statutes, is confusing and misleading to the public, and constitutes a misappropriation of the goodwill developed by the city," Mr. Schaffer wrote.

Mr. Fleming wants to sit down with the NYPD to attempt to come to an agreement. "We are waiting for the Police Department to get back to us," he said, referring to a July letter he sent to Mr. Schaffer.