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NEWS > 16 July 2007

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Three SPs to be Quizzed in DG
Suspended Director General (DG) of Home Guard Narayan Mishra's diary that was recovered from his home during the Saturday raid has revealed names of several senior police officials as the administration gears up to quiz at least three Superintendents of Police (SPs) who seem to have close contacts with the DG.

Besides the three SPs, two of whom are currently posted in the northern parts of the state while one in the southern Bihar, the Special Vigilance Unit (SVU) investigating corruption charges against Mishra is also keeping a close tab on at least a dozen other senior police offi... Read more

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Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
16 July 2007
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Questions arise over police in

By the time lifelong Quogue resident Douglass Greeff penned the memo to the mayor last summer, his father and teenage daughter, Greeff said, were among the victims of a "police state" in the exclusive seaside village.

Ernest Greeff, 82, was shocked to find he had been stalked in his car "for no apparent reason," while Hillary Greeff, 13, was "interrogated by police on her bike" while on her way to the beach, according to the memo.

"We live in Quogue, not a city with rampant crime," Greeff, 51, a corporate executive who splits his time between homes in the village and Manhattan, wrote the mayor.

In the coming weeks, Greeff and other residents met with Mayor George Motz and police officials to discuss what all sides agree were several summers' worth of widespread complaints of overzealousness, particularly in the enforcement of traffic statutes, against the village's 21-member police force.

Suit publicizes concerns

It all came to a boil last week in a $4-million civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court by village resident Barbara Williams, who alleged that she was falsely arrested in January 2006 for driving while intoxicated after crashing her car in front of her home. The charges were dropped earlier this year.

The case raises many of the concerns that Quogue residents have raised for several summers. The lawsuit, not the first against police in the village, comes amid hushed talk of joint federal probes into the mayor's alleged stock-trading improprieties.

All too quickly, Quogue has joined a growing list of other small Long Island police forces embroiled in controversy. Greenport residents voted to dissolve their small department in the early '90s, and Westhampton Beach, Ocean Beach, Lloyd Harbor and Southampton Town each faced major controversies involving alleged corruption or inefficiency in the ranks.

"It's sad because it's a beautiful village, but so many people have been victims of the police officers," said Williams, 54,who filed the suit against the incorporated village and two of its officers. The village has declined to comment on the suit.

The mayor said the complaints against officers were discussed with residents last year and that so far this summer, problems have not resurfaced.

"The trustees and I worked very hard to make them user friendly, and that's the way they are," Motz said. "Anything else is old news."

Yet many locals these days still refer to Montauk Highway at dark as "The Dead Zone" where cops wait to pounce on anyone doing 27 in a 25-mph zone. And they still wince at the long lines outside the part-time village court every Monday.

"When I pull out of my driveway, I don't like the fact that my blood pressure goes up 10 points because I'm like, where are they?" said Dick Prior, 68, a retired auto parts trader who has met with Motz and the police chief, who both promised swift change.

A changing community

Led by Greeff, Prior and other residents at one point informally banded together as The Committee To Reform the Quoque Police and even floated the idea of forcing a ballot initiative to dissolve the agency.

"We would like to believe it is going to get better," Prior said.

What everyone seems to agree on is that Quogue, where the average home is priced at $1.9 million, is changing.

A summer retreat of well-heeled renters since the turn of the century -- Liz Taylor and Richard Burton are listed in one prominent social history -- nearly three-quarters of Quogue's 1,300 homes are seasonal, according to census figures, which also show 175 families moved in between 1995 and 2000.

Police Chief Robert B. Coughlan said there was a time when officers would drive villagers to the train station, which no longer exists.

Now village officers, traditionally protective of their hidden enclave, watch the stream of headlights on Montauk Highway pass at a higher clip. Coughlan said he does not know who is moving in to the new oceanfront palaces on Dune Road.

Crime is low -- there are about 300 arrests a year, most of them for burglaries, though arrests for driving while intoxicated are rising, Coughlan said.

"You may have some old-time residents" who want that special treatment," Coughlan said. "We have no control. Society has changed. And the village has grown."

"One of the nice things about Quogue," said Motz, "is that it's a beautiful community and a nice place to live and that's because the police are doing their job."

Motz declined to discuss the probe of him by the U.S. attorney and the Securities and Exchange Commission, but said: "I think people in the village are very sympathetic to the case and realize I am dealing with it and realize it has nothing to do with the village."

Another touchy gripe shared by some villagers and spelled out in Williams' suit is that the mayor is married to the village justice, Kittric Motz. While not in violation of law -- both jobs are elected positions -- the marriage of civic roles goes against common sense, the critics say.

Kittric Motz, whose tenure precedes her husband's, was re-elected in an uncontested race earlier this year.

Still, even those who complain about the arms of the law say they like the order they impose. And not everyone in the village complains about police.

"I used to live here 30 years ago. It hasn't changed in 30 years," said Doug Brown, 37, who moved back to the village recently. "When it comes to police, I want one on every corner."

And like everyone in Quogue, Brown added, he loves his privacy.
 

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