Port Authority cop suicide underscores need for Cop2Cop, other services.

MONDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2010 19:11 JERRY DEMARCO

EDITORIAL: "It takes courage to help others. It takes more courage to ask for help." That motto, from New Jersey's Cop2Cop program, took on added meaning this weekend when a 30-year-old Port Authority police officer from Westwood shot and killed himself after a pre-dawn argument with his wife.


It's now 10 years that Cop2Cop has been helping New Jersey law enforcement officers and their families. And the unique suicide hotline couldn't be more relevant -- or necessary.

With money becoming tighter everywhere, media and some politicians in New Jersey have painted dollar signs as targets on the backs of law enforcement officers. There have been massive layoffs -- and with those, increased overtime and fewer allowances for the personal needs of the officers still employed... as if the stress of the job wasn't enough.

One fact that can't be ignored: Police are four times as likely to die at their own hands than to be killed in the line of duty.

The leading trouble indicator tends to be family/marital problems, followed by alcohol abuse, trauma following a shooting or other stressful incident, feelings of loneliness and being misunderstood, physical afflictions – including shakes, tremors, panic attacks, or nightmares, and anxiety or depression.

With the added stressors in today’s economy, attention clearly must be paid.

"The average citizen, with the exception of those exposed to combat areas and situations, will never understand the stresses of police work," New Milford Police Chief Frank Papapietro said, expressing his department's condolences to the Port Authority officer's family and loved ones of Teaneck Police Officer John Abraham, killed early this morning when his car hit a utility pole outside headquarters.

"How many DOA's can you process, how many mangled bodies can you see, how many dysfunctional families can you mediate, how many times can you defend yourself from assaults, and how much sleep deprivation can you endure before your body and mind begin to fail you at an early age?" the chief asked. "Additionally, we are now being told that we are overpaid and the reason fro the poor condition of the State's economy.

"To those who believe stress isn't a reality in police work because nothing happens in suburbia, I advise you to stay in your bubble," Papapietro said, "because reality would be beyond your comprehension. If we are all that stands between a civilized society and absolute anarchy, the civilized society better start appreciating the thin blue line."

Cop2Cop, which operates 24/7 out of UMDNJ in Piscataway, was the first program of its kind in the United states to focus on suicide prevention and mental health support for law enforcement officers when it was launched in 2000.

Its hotline is answered "by retired cop volunteers and cop clinicians who have a deep understanding of officers' concerns, problems and family issues," according to its website.

Team members are trained in what is known as "critical incident stress management." They will respond directly to calls and conduct sessions after critical incidents to get to the heart of the trouble. They also make referrals to those looking for deeper confidential help.

In a little over a decade, the hotline has prevented hundreds of police suicides. That's saying a lot.

“If you are feeling depressed, helpless, overwhelmed, weak, withdrawn, suicidal, emotionally and physically exhausted from a traumatic incident or highly stressful situation, emotionally challenged or financially drained,” the web site says, “reach out for assistance."

The free CONFIDENTIAL helpline: 1-866-COP-2COP.

Chief of Police going to jail.

MOUNT HOLLY -- Former Bordentown City police chief Phil Castagna was found guilty today of conspiring with his ex-con buddy to have his estranged wife killed in a firebombing.

Facing 10 to 20 years when sentenced on Dec. 3, Castagna heard the judge revoke his $350,000 cash bail, was handcuffed and taken away to the Burlington County jail seconds after the jury came in with the guilty verdict

He was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and violating a court order to stay away from his ex, Joyce Leopold, whose home in Burlington Township was singed by a firebomb that didn’t cause serious damage on Independence Day in 2003.

The first trial of Castagna, 48, ended last year with the jury unable to make a decision on the attempted murder charge filed after the ex-chief’s buddy the convicted burglary, Gary Hall, admitted to cops that he had toss the bomb on orders from the police chief.

A s came out at the trials, authorities convinced Hall to wear a wire in a bid to get a clear admission of guilt from the former law officer, but Castagna is heard telling Hall only “accomplish the mission,’’ which two jurors at the first trial didn’t think was incriminating enough to convict, leading to the mistrial.

Assistant Prosecutor Michael Luciano, who lost to famed defense lawyer Robin Lord at the first trial, won praise from Prosecutor Robert Bernardi today for his handling of the second trial and for winning the conviction.

State Police Whistleblower wins!!!!

By Trentonian Staff

TRENTON — A New Jersey trooper won $240,000 Tuesday and could get more in punitive damages Wednesday for being relegated to the state police museum after he blew the whistle, charging state police were using uncertified handlers to train K-9 dogs.

A Mercer County trial jury deliberated two days after a week-long trial before returning the unanimous verdict in favor of Sgt. Michael Daniele against New Jersey State Police in the Conscientous Employee Protection Act case. He’ll get $240,000 in compensatory damages.

His lawyer, George T. Daggett, said Sgt. Daniele had been training coordinator for the NJSP K9 Unit at Fort Dix in January 2006 when he complained to his superiors that non-certified trainers were being used to train the dogs.

“He went to them and he said, ‘This is wrong!’” Daggett said. “‘What’s going on?’”

Daniele was transferred to the State Police Museum at headquarters in Ewing and has received no raises in rank -— “he should be a lieutenant now,” Daggett said — and has been denied overtime for the past four years.

The punitive damages deliberations today are expected to focus on those matters, he said.

“They fabricated a reason to transfer him, and they sent him to the museum,” Daggett said.

Asked what the reason was, Daggett said, “They said he received a phone call from the K-9 unit in Ewing Township, and they wanted to know if the dogs were being properly trained. And he said, ‘No, they’re not.’

“And state police said he violated the chain of command. But as the training coordinator, he dealt with these outside agencies all the time.”

The transfer came in March 2006. Daniele filed the case in 2007.

Daggett said his client can’t wait to get out of the museum. “He’s tired of looking at old motorcycles and police cars,” Daggett said.

Punitive damages would “send a message to the state police that you don’t punish a good and decent worker who wants nothing but the best for the state police,” Daggett said. “It would send them a message.”

A grievance would be filed that Daniele hasn’t been promoted in four years.

“And we’re hoping after this verdict that the state police will see that they’re wrong and correct the situation,” Daggett said. “He’s got seven more years before his mandatory retirement. He’s 48.”

Lee Moore, spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office which is prosecuting the case, said there would be no comment on the whistle-blower case, as the matter is not completely resolved.

Daniele also had no comment last night. A state police spokesman said Daniele is a 24-year veteran who came on board in June of 1986 as a member of the 104th NJSP training class.

Correction's corruption.

A high-ranking, Trenton-based Department of Corrections official may soon see what life is like on the other side of the prison bars. He was caught on audio and video by the FBI soliciting and accepting thousands of dollars in bribes from two subordinates, federal officials announced yesterday.

Between May and early October, Lydell B. Sherrer allegedly accepted $9,000 in cash payments and handed over official corrections documents during meetings at the Crystal Diner in Lawrence and the Americana Diner in East Windsor.

Sherrer, a 51-year-old Neptune resident, was taken into custody Tuesday morning at the Hyatt Regency in West Windsor, moments after accepting $2,000 cash handed over by one of the two employees who had turned FBI informant, authorities said.

“There is no place in government for shakedowns, and those who believe bribes are how business is done in New Jersey will learn the consequence of their corruption,” U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement.

Sherrer, the department’s Assistant Commissioner for the Division of Programs and Community Services, initiated negotiations with both employees, according to a criminal complaint. Both reported his actions, prompting an FBI sting operation. Their identities are being kept confidential.

For one employee had learned he would be laid off June 30, Sherrer allegedly offered to either return the worker to a similar job or secure a well-paid position with a department contractor for $10,000. An employee who found he was going to be demoted was approached by Sherrer within days, who said that for $6,500 Sherrer would serve as a silent advocate during private meetings and negotiations about a potential discrimination lawsuit, according to the complaint.

Sherrer had no illusions about what he was doing, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael Ward. “It should not go unnoticed that Sherrer, during the course of several meetings with multiple cooperating witnesses, set his price and openly acknowledged the quid pro quo that could be expected by those meeting his price, be it the promise of a new job or favorable influence with settlement of a lawsuit,” he said.

The FBI was listening as Sherrer talked with the laid-off employee on the phone Sept. 8. “We discussed me getting a position based on quid pro quo, right?” the employee asked. “Yes,” Sherrer answered, according to the complaint. Sherrer was also recorded asking the same person if he had any “green” for him, but was told he would not get any more money until the former employee got a job.

“Defendant Sherrer responded, ‘You know something, that sounds more than fair and (pause) nooo, that’s more than fair, that’s what we agreed to,’” the complaint reads. Sherrer is a 28-year veteran of the corrections department, whose 2009 salary was listed as $131,000 in public records. In 2009, Sherrer had been a deputy commissioner reporting directly to the head of the department. He last completed ethics training on March 31, authorities said.

If convicted, Sherrer faces a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the two counts of of soliciting and receiving bribes in connection with his official duties. Fishman thanked FBI special agents from the bureau’s Trenton Resident Agency with developing the investigation.

Say it ain't so.

Plainfield cop arrested in Bloomfield for drunken driving, assaulting police officer


BLOOMFIELD — An off-duty Plainfield police officer was arrested in Bloomfield early Saturday on suspicion of driving drunk and assaulting a police officer, according to Plainfield police director Martin Hellwig.

Officer Martesse Gilliam, 25, was charged with driving while intoxicated, aggravated assault on an officer, obstructing the administration of law and failure to disperse, Hellwig said. He did not have further details about the incident. Bloomfield police officials did not return repeated phone calls for more information about Gilliam’s arrest.

The son of Plainfield police Lt. Michael Gilliam, Martesse Gilliam has been on the force for a little more than a year, Hellwig said, noting he had been impressed by the young man’s performance at the police academy.

Martesse Gilliam has been employed at Gilliam’s Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Dunellen, which is operated by his father, Hellwig said.

Martesse Gilliam has been suspended without pay until the criminal charges are resolved, Hellwig said. Reached by phone, Lt. Michael Gilliam declined to comment, except to say that his son would fight the charges in court.

For his part, Hellwig said he was upset by the news.

“I was concerned about the well-being of the Bloomfield police officer,” Hellwig said of his reaction to the arrest. “It’s certainly embarrassing for the police division.”

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