Where's the tangible proof you're succeeding in eliminating corruption at Hallandale Beach City Hall, Mr. Scott? My email to Broward Inspector General John. W. Scott and his staff: "Hallandale Beach is still a mess and STILL corrupt. The rules & laws that are largely followed elsewhere are NOT followed here, no matter how self-evident"; Are we on our own as far as prosecuting public corruption goes? It sure seems that way

October 24, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.

Below is my email of last Thursday to Broward Inspector General John W. Scott.

It's an email that I have been thinking seriously about writing and sending for weeks, after talking to friends and other very-concerned residents of Hallandale Beach who are very frustrated that they do NOT see any evidence of his investigation on HB City Hall having any effect on the words and behavior coming out of City Hall.
Nobody-but-nobody has been punished, indicted or prosecuted in the year that the Broward IG's office has been up-and-running.

If you are wondering why I felt compelled to send it to him, perhaps this quick reminder will jog your memory a bit.
I didn't include it in the letter because he already knows all of it from previous letters.

Here are just some of the things that I know for a stone-cold fact:
a.) After having witnessed all the rampant corruption and entrenched anti-democratic, anti-taxpayer practices that I have at Hallandale Beach City Hall over the past nine years under Mayor Joy Cooper, she shows absolutely no signs of changing her spots; 

b.) After being physically prevented by City of Hallandale Beach employees from attending a PUBLIC meeting at City Hall regarding bidding on a city project -at the direction of former City Manager Mark A. Antonio and his staff, who were upstairs at the meeting, a meeting with no citizens present, that was mysteriously postponed as soon as I got close to the room with the help of Commissioner Keith London 15-20 minutes later, which led to the meeting ending abruptly and Antonio storming-off towards his office and yelling at Comm. London, and, perhaps, me. No explanation given for why the meeting ended just as soon as I got ready to come into the room; 

c.) After being threatened with arrest for photographing and videotaping a PUBLIC meeting of the city's Planning & Zoning Advisory Board at the city's Cultural Center -while Mike Good was City Manager- from 50-75 feet away from the proceedings, and one of only two citizens present in the near-completely empty room, a PUBLIC meeting that was ALREADY being broadcast LIVE at the time, and two Dept. heads present (Richard Cannone and Christy Dominguez) just sat in their chairs and said and did NOTHING to stop the illegal threats against me and the state's Sunshine Laws by two members of the Advisory Board; 

d.) After witnessing dozens of times over several years an elected city official (William "Bill" Julian) continually breaking their oath of office to uphold and obey the laws and Constitution of the State of Florida, by directly using their position of office to accrue a benefit for which he was not otherwise legally entitled to -illegally parking his vehicle in the officially-designated Handicapped Parking and Handicapped Access Parking spaces at the city's North Beach when there was only ONE of each present on the the city's surface parking lot, while Julian ate and drank with his friends for hours.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/stone-cold-fact-bill-julian-serial.html

Over the many years that Bill Julian consciously chose to break both the spirit and letter of the law, to say nothing of breaking his oath as an elected official to uphold it, hundreds of HB employees saw his behavior and conduct, including lots of Hallandale Beach Police officers. But what happened? 
Nothing.

There are so many more examples, but then I've already written about them here, too, haven't I?

I won't be contacting Mr. Scott again because I've already seen dogs chase their tail before, and I do not plan on replicating that behavior myself.
As for myopic and sleepwalking Broward State's Attorney Mike Satz and his staff... more on them soon, I promise.

------

October 25, 2012

Dear Mr. Scott:

Just wanted to let you know that despite whatever it is that you and your staff of agents are doing, it's NOT working.
Things in Hallandale Beach are still as crooked and corrupt as ever.

Elected officials and their pals here still fully expect to get away with breaking the law -city, state, federal- and having nothing meaningful happen to them.
Now there's the real measure of the Broward State Attorney's office.

To cite but one obvious example I have previously shared with you, 

http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-city-of-hallandale-beachs-rules-are.html in the rest of the United States, it's illegal for political campaign signs urging someone's election or defeat to appear on non-profit or religious/church property for reasons that are fairly obvious to any intelligent person.
It can lead to IRS investigations and that can even lead to changes in the offending party's institutional non-profit status.
But not in Hallandale Beach.

Here, people who have actually sworn an oath to uphold the law, and who know what's right and wrong, consciously do what they like, the wrong thing, because they dare anyone to catch them or do anything about it if they are caught.
They are forever playing the percentages, Mr. Scott, because they don't believe that you and your agents can do anything to stop them from doing whatever they like, laws or no laws.
See those photos from October 3rd on my link above?

I went by there yesterday afternoon at 3:53 p.m. -below- absolutely nothing had changed. 

© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

And dozens and dozens of city Code Compliance vehicles go past this location every week.

I hate to be the one to tell you, but since nobody else will, Mr. Scott, everyone I know here who is well-informed wonders what you and your staff are actually doing, because we certainly AREN'T seeing any positive results or any change of ethical culture at City Hall with you and your agents on the scene -somewhere- nor are we seeing any actual arrests or indictments after all the suspicious and egregious things that have happened here over the years.

I really hoped for the best for your Office, otherwise I'd have never gone to all those early morning Broward Ethics Comm. meetings in downtown Ft. Lauderdale more than two years ago, where I was often THE only citizen present in the audience, but I have to tell you, honestly, the high grade that you gave yourself and your office in the Sun-Sentinel recently, seems inflated from where the put-upon citizen taxpayers of Hallandale Beach sit.

Nothing has changed here.

Perhaps A.G. Bondi's office needs to think outside-the-box to deal with the pervasive corruption problems here, and hold court at the city's Cultural Center for a week, say, after the November 6th election, and let citizens who know something come by and tell soon-to-be-shocked state investigators what they know in private, because quite frankly, it does NOT seem like your office is doing everything that it can and should be doing.

I really hoped for the best, I really did, but I'm seeing something much less than satisfactory right now, Mr. Scott, and simply put, this town can NOT wait for you or Mr. Satz's sleepwalking crew at SAO to finally wake-up and see what's right in front of US.

People talk to me just about everyday -serious, hard-working people- about moving away from Hallandale Beach because they are so dismayed and disgusted with how pervasively corrupt and incompetently-run City Hall is, with all of the many things that happen on the sly, the down low and with a wink of an eye.

And they are moving out, too.

To cite but one recent example I shared with you on Tuesday, known friends of elected officials trying to use city property for campaigning purposes, even though it's already illegal under city ordinances.

They create the ruse of "voter education" taking place at a city facility as a pretext for their elected official friends to then come by later to campaign there.

In that case, it was originally supposed to be Comm. Anthony A. Sanders and former Comm. Bill Julian who were supposed to swing by Foster Park Wednesday night, two candidates, who, along with Mayor Joy Cooper, had their campaign yard signs illegally and prominently erected on city property for many WEEKS -in multiple locations- until I publicly complained about it 

As you already know.

In case after case, these three individuals know the rules and laws, Mr. Scott - and they consciously choose to break them week-after-week.

Unfortunately, the HB Police Dept. is hardly in a position to be an oasis of ethics or sanity from this corrupt culture, given that this city, under Mayor Cooper, actually pushed to have a street named for a recent former Police Chief, Thomas Magill.
A Police Chief who illegally used enormous city resources and funds in his efforts to try to frame and prosecute two completely innocent people.

Both of whom happened to be HB Police officers.

That Police Chief, Thomas Magill, was never punished by the city or Mr. Satz's Broward State Attorney's Office. 

Really.

Magill acted like nothing happened, even as the city's taxpayers had to pay hundreds of thousand of dollars to settle lawsuit claims and attorney's fees because of Magill's egregious (criminal) conduct, after two separate Broward juries unanimously ruled against him.

Both juries came to a unanimous decision in under 15 minutes, Mr. Scott.
What does that tell you?

© 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.
Above, from yesterday afternoon: one of the many un-manned HBPD patrol cars that are used as scarecrows around town, as if criminals don't already know they're un-manned from their recon. In this particular case, this un-manned Police car is near an un-manned Security Guard gate.

Twice blessed!

Not surprisingly, despite the large amount of tax dollars and city resources involved, Mayor Cooper and the City Commission have never publicly admitted what really happened while they were in charge in an oversight capacity, or disclosed the total amount of taxpayer dollars used to support Magill's defense and paid out to two innocent people because of his truly abominable conduct.

Conduct for which he was never punished.

That's where I live, Mr. Scott.

Welcome to my world.

DBS, Nine-year resident of Hallandale Beach

http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog

What's worse? The galling audacity of the feckless Sun-Sentinel giving free space to thoroughly-mendacious Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper, 16 weeks before the election, or her stridently self-serving lies re Red-Light cameras in Hallandale Beach, which she and her Rubber Stamp Crew rammed thru to gain more revenue for the city? American Traffic Solutions could NOT be any happier for the free plug, and will no doubt have a campaign check to Cooper on its way soon -if it's not there already; @MayorCooper

West-bound Hallandale Beach Blvd. & N.W. 9th Terrace, Hallandale Beach, with the so-called Red-Light camera warning sign posted a block farther east of the camera on the corner of N.W. 9th Terrace, which, as it happens, is also a popular area for dangerous U-turns. It's right around here somewhere... 

In what way, exactly, is the red-light camera warning sign "visible" from this distance? September 25, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier 

Or visible from this distance? August 19, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier 

Or from this distance in the right-hand lane? September 25, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier 

Where did it go? Shouldn't we see it by now? September 11, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier 

Oh, there you are, red-light camera warning sign, intentionally placed right between two trees!

You only see the sign above because of the reflection of my camera's flash, since it's pitch-black there at night.

You'd almost say they were hiding it, yes?

Looking west on W. Hallandale Beach Blvd. & N.W 10th Terrace, Hallandale Beach, April 24, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier 

As if the summer hadn't already been hot enough and embarrassing enough for residents of Hallandale Beach, who have once again had to watch in complete dismay as their city was once again involved in being on the wrong side of an ethical issue, due to the city's own longstanding incompetence and failure to pay close attention to either a written contract or to what its taxpayer citizens said and demanded.

And as usual, Mayor Joy Cooper thinks she knows better than everyone else, and as we've seen so many times before to our own chagrin, nobody-but-nobody in South Florida government and public policy believes and swallows her own mendacious lies like Joy Cooper does.
It's like she even has to lick the mixing spoon, so thoroughly does she fall for her own self-delusions and serving lies.
So, can you believe it's happened yet again?

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Red-light cameras save lives, fund essential research
5:40 p.m. EDT, July 22, 2012
By Joy Cooper
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/fl-guest-cooper-cameras-mon0723-20120722,0,6873108.story


What's worse? 
The galling audacity of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in giving free space to thoroughly mendacious Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper 16 weeks before an election to spread her unique brand of un-reality, which shows complete contempt for the truth, or the degree of her stridently self-serving lies re the issue of Red-Light cameras in Hallandale Beach, which she and her Rubber Stamp Crew at the time rammed thru in order to to gain more revenue for the city, NOT because of safety, as anyone who is even slightly-objective and paying even the barest of attention to the proceedings would know, given how very poorly Cooper and her puppets articulated their point of view?

The Sun-Sentinel won't admit it publicly anytime soon, but trust me, it just got rolled and played like a country bumpkin by a consumate con-woman in Joy Cooper, who won't acknowledge any truth but the truth in her own mind, regardless of what the national, state or county law is, and regardless of what the law requires.

That personal disconnect of her's from both the reality and the law that the rest of us have to obey and deal with explains a good part of old-fashioned dislike and contempt in with Cooper is held by the portion of this city's populace that is well-informed and actively engaged, which includes myself as it happens.

That's a pretty telling statement, alright, and yet the South Florida news media as presently constructed continues to fail to ask how it could be that Cooper is both so consistently on the wrong side of both the facts, the law and history, and yet remains in office.
Cooper is the conundrum that won't go away on her own accord, but they ignore what's right in front of them.

To me, someone like Susan Candiotti or Ike Seamans in the Miami TV news of the 1970's and '80's, before they went national with CNN and NBC News respectively from Channel 10/WPLG and Channel 4/WTVJ, would've positively jumped at the chance to put together a news report or two within a short period of time that pinned the tail of responsibility and failure on this donkey, with common sense facts and wit and a few lacerating-but-fair questions with a microphone pointed Cooper's way.

Yes, nobody in elective office in South Florida has profited more from the sleepwalking state of the South Florida press corps more than Joy Cooper.
Their absence is her wish come true, day-after-day. 

It's really too bad for the rest of South Florida who doesn't live here and who doesn't know the true facts, that there wasn't anyone from any of the local Miami TV stations or newspapers

consistently attending all or even most of those HB meetings on Red-Light cameras.

Someone in the press corps actually paying attention to the facts and reality, since then they could've seen everything for themselves, including what the citizens here were overwhelmingly saying and thinking.

Yes, but then that was back when both newspapers largely liked to pretend that HB didn't exist, and didn't send reporters here for large parts of a year.

In the Herald's case, nearly a year-and-a-half as I recall

Not so very different from now, actually, esp. when something of note is going on in Hollywood on a Wednesday.

Yes, it's hard for me to not think about how much better it would be if one of the TV stations had actually sent a film crew and actually caught then-Police Chief Magill on film caught up in the fanciful story that he had to spin for the mayor and city manager's benefit.

So much so that he actually got tripped-up weaving his lies about traffic statistics & anecdotes re north-bound U.S.-1 and Hallandale Beach Blvd., the media's new cause-celebre at the time because of how much in fines was coming into City Hall.

Magill lied about an accident with a fatality that happened elsewhere -near City Hall- in order to make it seem as though it happened there, in order to justify the city's placement of the camera.

You remember, the warning sign erected behind the bus shelter, on the far side of

the sidewalk, so that passing drivers couldn't really see it?

Right before the entrance to The Knife?

That's the one!

But Chief Magill got caught lying, alright, and I and many of you out there reading this witnessed it, and in any case, it's on the city's videotape.

http://hallandalebeachblog.

blogspot.com/2011/02/now-as-
before-facts-seldom-if-ever.html

Yes, nobody from the South Florida news media was really the least bit interested in hearing what the citizens of this community had to say, which was that it was done, plain and simple, to raise revenue, at the behest of Cooper and the City Manager.

Yet another attempt by her to use the city as a prop to score points and chits with her League of Cities pals who have never set foot in this city, and who have no earthly idea how disastrous a mayor she has been for this community for ten years.

The South Florida news media could've cared less about any of that! 

If they'd shown up and been properly prepared, they'd know that the City of Hallandale Beach City Manager and Police Chief Magill were so disinterested in having an honest exchange and fair discussion of the issue that they refused to even reveal to citizens basic info, like where the highest percentage of speeding tickets in the city were issued, and where were the intersections with the highest number of accidents, since logically, IF you believe in cameras, that's where the cameras should go if safety was really the number one concern.

But the city refused because they knew the information would NOT support their faulty theory or its carefully chosen location of cameras.

Even in committing their fraud, they were unconvincing because the facts simply don't support what they say, and nobody lied more than Joy Cooper.

When the city commissioned a survey/poll by mail with a Kansas-based company, with very poorly-written and frankly, LOADED questions, the Red-Llight cameras came back as THE number-one complaint,

Guess who pretended that the #1 problem citied by her own citizens wasn't really a problem?

Guess who had the nerve on the one hand to pat herself on the back for voting to have the survey done, and then ignore the #1 problem citizens cite?

Yes, Joy Cooper, in her typically thin-skinned, confrontational and oblivious way, which I'm sure that American Traffic Solutions won't forget now that she's running for re-election against the only person on the dais with any integrity who fought against the inside con job by her and city employees -Comm. Keith London.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/09/hallandale_beach_residents_tak.html

In here piece, you'll also notice how Cooper completely neglects to mention the huge amounts of money the city initially made, which is THE only reason that the South Florida news media paid any attention in the first place, since that was the last time HB was mention in newspapers or on TV all over the state the way it was before the lifeguard incident three weeks ago, which she also had NOT been 100% truthful about.

I trust that I don't have to spell it out for you that this sort of fact-free, propaganda BS from Mayor Cooper should NOT be allowed to go unchallenged, because in the year 2012, we simply can't rely on the quaint idea that the South Florida news media will actually verify

anything that this mendacious women says before it gets into print or on air.

Sadly, that's an ideal that no longer exists in South Florida.

-----

Photos from my February 24, 2011 post that showed the truth regarding the mayor's lies, in a post I labeled, Now as before, facts seldom if ever matter in red-light camera debate in Hallandale Beach. Instead, it's just a pathetic case of "Show me the money!"

http://hallandalebeachblog.

blogspot.com/2011/02/now-as-
before-facts-seldom-if-ever.html

Below are some photos of a self-evident fact that I and many tens of thousands of other Hallandale Beach and Hollywood residents have known about ever since the red-light camera was installed on Hallandale Beach Blvd. & N.W. 10th Terrace, Hallandale Beach, with the so-called warning sign posted a block farther east on the corner of N.W. 9th Terrace, which, as it happens, is also a popular area for dangerous U-turns.

It's here somewhere...

It's right around here somewhere.

In what way, exactly, is the red-light camera warning sign "visible" from this distance?

September 25, 2011

Or this distance? August 19, 2011

Or from this distance? September 25, 2011

Where did it go? Shouldn't we see it by now? September 11, 2011

Oh, there you are, red-light camera warning sign, intentionally placed right between two trees!

You only see the sign above because of the reflection of my camera flash.

You'd almost say they were hiding it, yes?

Looking west on W. Hallandale Beach Blvd. & N.W 10th Terrace, Hallandale Beach, April 24, 2011.

In fact, it's not until you are almost parallel to the sign itself, assuming you notice it among the other signs preceding it, that it's visible to west-bound drivers in the road lane that is actually CLOSEST to the sign. That seems illogical on its face doesn't it?

Shouldn't the lane closest to the sign at least see it at roughly the same instant others do?

Instead, the driver closest to it is the one driver most likely to NEVER see it.

How exactly is that common sense?

The fact that there is no street light there only makes it even worse at night, as this photo below amply demonstrates.

Above, the red-light camera warning sign on the north-side of west-bound W. Hallandale Beach Blvd. at N.W. 9th Terrace on February 27, 2011 at 6:40 p.m., a bit past sundown.

The ONLY reason that you even see the sign above is because I'm standing on the curb and pointing my camera directly at it, using my camera's flash.

And that assumes that you the driver aren't distracted -and a bit un-nerved- by the sight of the over-grown palm fronds that obstruct the electronic message board directly behind it.

September 11, 2011

Hmm-m... erecting an electronic message board behind a palm tree on a west-bound roadwhere a setting sun is often brutal at times?

No, nothing bad could ever go wrong with that sort of well-organized plan.

Well, unless it rains .. and the palm fronds get larger.

And aren't properly maintained and cut.

Like the reality in Hallandale Beach since that particular red-light cameras went up.

Where's that red-light camera warning sign?
Looking west on W. Hallandale Beach Blvd. approaching N.W 10th Terrace, Hallandale Beach. About 6:50 p.m., April 24, 2011.

Where did you say that red-light camera warning sign was, again?

No, it's not that silver-colored one next to the curb, that the Merge/Bike lane sign. 

Looking west on W. Hallandale Beach Blvd. & N.W 10th Terrace, Hallandale Beach, April 24, 2011.

Update on HB's effort to honor mendacious former Police Chief Magill. Watch and learn: this is how they do things at Hallandale Beach City Hall

Update on HB's effort to honor mendacious former Hallandale Beach Police Chief Thomas A. Magill. Watch and learn: this is how they do things at Hallandale Beach City Hall

A week later, it's time to observe what happens when you get too close for comfort for the folks at Hallandale Beach City Hall.

If you need a quick review of this issue, please see my blog post of last Tuesday, September 6th, appropriately titled, City of Hallandale Beach set to name street after ex-Police Chief who lied & wasted city resources to frame 2 HB officers; cost city $ & integrity
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/city-of-hallandale-beach-set-to-name.html

The email I wrote and the ensuing response speak for themselves I think.
But perhaps you disagree.
C'est la vie!

-----

September 7th, 2011

Dear City Manager Antonio:

I don't know whether I'll be able to attend tonight's HB City Commission meeting, so I'm sending this email now so that my longstanding concerns -shared by MANY other HB citizens- re agenda item J can be received and addressed whether I make it to the meeting or not.

J. A Resolution of the City of Hallandale Beach, Authorizing the City Manager to Amend the Street Name for SE 3rd Street to Chief Tom Magill Way/SE 3rd Street and Implement Beautification Enhancements Along this Corridor. (Staff: Director of Public Works, Utilities and Engineering) (See Backup) CAD#014/11 (Staff Report, Supporting Docs)

I believe it would be financially prudent and in everyone's best interests if your staff publicly mentioned the following information when explaining this specific agenda item and how it came up, BEFORE turning things over to the City Commission to discuss and vote, since to the best of my knowledge, that specific information has never been publicly mentioned at any Hallandale Beach City Commission meeting, and runs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The citizen taxpayers of this community are more than entitled to finally know the "true costs" associated with having Thomas A. Magill as HB Police Chief, and then retaining him even after discovering that he had personally engaged in highly unethical and, as seems clear, criminal conduct.

1.) The total amount of money damages paid (to be paid) in settlements costs from the city and/or its insurance company to Talous Cirilo and Mary Hagopian.

2.) The total amount of money the city and/or its insurance company paid (will pay) for attorneys fees for Cirilo and Hagopian.

3.) The total amount of money the city paid (will pay) their own Independent Counsel for all phases of this litigation.

4.) The total amount of additional costs (non-attorney) incurred by the city for personnel and resources for all phases of this litigation.

5.) The total amount in increased insurance premium fees per year paid by the city as result of all phases of this litigation.

By "all phases of this litigation," I refer to a.) the city's unsuccessful efforts to have Cirilo and Hagopian prosecuted for something they didn't do, b.) Cirilo and Hagopian's successful suits against the city, and c.) the city's efforts to defend itself against Mary Hagopian's charges that they are in material breach of the previously signed settlement.

Additionally, despite my having previously mentioned it to you by email and to the IT Dept. head, the city's message board continues to erroneously advertise the second City Commission meeting of the month at 7 p.m., despite the change to 6 p.m. a number of months ago.

There's no need to respond to this in writing, I'll look for you or your staff's reply at the meeting, either in-person or via computer if I can't make it.


City Manager Antonio's response came on September 8, 2011 at 9:16 a.m.

Sorry I could not reply sooner. As you know our meeting started at 1pm and did not end until midnight. As you were not able to attend the meeting and speak on this issue during public input the CC did approve the item unanimously.

For you future edification, the only time an email or document can or would be read into the record by the city clerk is on matters involving Quasi-judicial hearings. Therefore in the future I would not recommend sending me or my staff such a request (unless a Quasi-judicial), but instead contact your City Commission directly and voice your opinion for consideration in their decision. Of course you can always attend a meeting and speak to the matter directly.

On the concern related to the meeting times. I do not recall the email you previously sent but I thank you for the correction and this will be fixed immediately.

Well, as I believe you can see for yourself, they're NOT too interested in publicly sharing that financial information that they've kept hidden from Hallandale Beach's citizen taxpayers all these years.

But I thought that... oh, you remember that, too?
Yes, three years and seven months ago in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, an article about this attempt by Magill to frame and prosecute two citizens -HB police officers no less- written by John Holland that I posted here last week again -at the URL above- contained this delicious quote: "I'd love to talk about this and tell people what happened, but unfortunately I can't," Cooper said.

I guess she still can't, huh?
It's still TOP SECRET, not to be disclosed to Hallandale Beach taxpayers.

Along with a long-overdue explanation for why there was never ANY public discussion at meetings of the elected City Commission that Mayor Joy Cooper controlled as the Chair, about Magill's descent into unacceptable unethical behavior, why it was condoned and never punished thru his swift dismissal, the lack of any punishment against members of the Civil Service Advisory Board who acted contrary to Florida law and common sense and who attempted to accomodate the cover-up.

Yes, yet another embarrassing example of former City Attorney David Jove's uselessness.
He sat like a bump on a log the whole time.

City of Hallandale Beach set to name street after ex-Police Chief who lied & wasted city resources in attempt to frame 2 HBPD officers; cost city $$$ & integrity

Wednesday, Hallandale Beach set to name street after ex-Police Chief Magill, who lied & wasted city resources in attempt to frame 2 HBPD officers; cost city $$$ & integrity

On Wednesday night at 7 p.m., the Hallandale Beach City Commission is set to begin the process to name a HB street after ex-Police Chief Thomas A. Magill, who passed away last year, but not before intentionally lying and wasting city funds and resources in order to try to frame two innocent Hallandale Beach police officers, costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement costs and attorney fees, plus some of its remaining small shred of integrity.

J. A Resolution of the City of Hallandale Beach, Authorizing the City Manager to Amend the Street Name for SE 3rd Street to Chief Tom Magill Way/SE 3rd Street and Implement Beautification Enhancements Along this Corridor. (Staff: Director of Public Works, Utilities and Engineering) (See Backup) CAD#014/11 (Staff Report, Supporting Docs)

And when have you ever heard Mayor Joy Cooper publicly speak about this scandal?

Never.

Never, as in NOT once.

Cooper, as presiding officer at Commission meetings, has never allowed the subject of why it happened in the first place to be discussed publicly in the Commission Chambers.

Equally appalling, Cooper has never allowed the subject of why Magill was allowed to remain as the city's police chief to be spoken of, after the scandal became publicly known, and hundreds of thousands of settlement money was paid after two separate Broward juries rejected the city's feeble defense of criminal behavior by their police chief, ruling in favor of the innocent officers less than a half-hour into the trial.

And even then, the city, thru mendacious Magill, seems not to have honored its full obligations to at least one of the two officers it threw under the bus, as even local media has mentioned.

There are plenty of past blog posts here on this subject, just look for Magill, but for those of you who want the short-hand version of what happened here, the following Sun-Sentinel articles are the ones that first brought it to the attention of the taxpayers of this city in a way that left no room for misunderstanding.

No, it's crystal clear.

And yet they want to honor this man whose utter mendacity allowed him him to have full-rein to try to railroad two innocent Americans, have them prosecuted and imprisoned for something they DIDN'T DO, like this part of Broward County was some sort of Third World Banana Republic?

Yes.

Yes, that's exactly what Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew intend on doing.

Does that qualify as news?

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Two Hallandale Officers Fired Over Taser Use

December 3, 2005

By Chris Young Staff Writer and News researchers Barbara Hijek and Bill Lucey contributed to this story.

HALLANDALE BEACH — Two city police officers were fired Friday after being accused of choking and using a Taser on a man in a holding cell more than 10 times in less than five minutes.

The Broward County State Attorney's Office charged Officer Talous Cirilo with three counts of misdemeanor battery, and Officer Mary Hagopian with one count of misdemeanor battery. Hagopian was a 15-year veteran, and Cirilo was employed for three or four years, said Police Chief Tom Magill. Their arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 21.

"I can't have that in this organization," said City Manager Mike Good, who authorized the firings. "I won't tolerate it."

Their lawyer on Friday said the decision to fire Cirilo and Hagopian was "bogus."

"No way did the city do a thorough investigation," said Barbara Duffy, general council for the Broward County Police Benevolent Association who represented Cirilo and Hagopian. "I'm not aware of any other state attorneys' offices that charge cops for doing their jobs."

The officers have 15 days to challenge the firings.

The dismissals come at a time when police use of Tasers faces mounting criticism. Critics contend that the stun guns are sometimes misused and that the unregulated weapons may be unsafe. The manufacturer, Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz., contends the devices are safe.

On the morning of April 1, police noticed two men fighting in the back seat of a car on Federal Highway and pulled over the driver, officials said. Cirilo arrested Michael Brack, 23, for domestic violence for the alleged fight with his brother. Brack struggled with officers at the scene, and at some point Cirilo shoved a Taser against Brack's body three times and activated the electricity, police said.

After Brack was arrested and placed in a holding cell, Cirilo choked the handcuffed man, Good said. That incident was recorded by video camera. After being fingerprinted, Brack was led out of sight of the camera, then choked unconscious by Cirilo, Good said.

When Brack woke up, he kicked his cell, prompting Cirilo and Hagopian to shock him with a Taser more than 10 times in four minutes, 22 seconds, officials said. Two Community Service Aides saw the incidents, they said.

Hagopian, who as an acting sergeant was a supervisor at the time, used her body to shield the service aides from entering the room as Cirilo choked Brack, according to a police statement. One of the aides said he saw Hagopian with a Taser in each hand, shocking Brack multiple times.

In June, Internal Affairs presented its case to the state attorney's office, Magill said. The state charged Cirilo and Hagopian in October. On Nov. 16, Magill told the city manager he should fire the two officers.

"We can't accept that behavior," Magill said Friday. "I'm extremely disappointed. We hired them, trained them, did the best we could."

City officials held a meeting on Monday to allow the officers to defend themselves, but only their lawyer, Duffy, showed up.

City Manager Good fired the officers Friday.

Neither officer has a criminal record in Florida. Neither did Brack, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The domestic violence charge was dropped.

Magill said it took eight months to discipline the officers because the state attorney working the case was promoted and the case was given to someone else; the Tasered man, Brack, left South Florida; and Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma took up city police resources.

Every Hallandale officer who carries a Taser goes through a four-hour training session by in-house instructors, said Assistant Police Chief James Kirchoff. About 70 patrol officers carry the devices.

More than 7,000 law enforcement agencies, including the majority of the police agencies in South Florida, use the devices. Critics point out that more than 100 people nationwide have died shortly after being shocked by a Taser.

In Florida, at least 24 people have died since 2001 after being zapped, more than in any other state. Medical examiners attributed most of those deaths to other causes, such as the presence of drugs, including cocaine.

Kirchoff said that the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Police Executive Research Forum recently put out new Taser guidelines, which the city follows.

After the April incident the department put out a memo telling officers not to "dry tase" a person as Cirilo did when Brack was arrested, Magill said. During a dry tase the electrified darts are not fired; the Taser is pressed against a person's body and activated.

News researchers Barbara Hijek and Bill Lucey contributed to this story.

A week later, before the trial, the Sun-Sentinel trumpeted the following in their editorial, as once again, their Editorial Board spoke about something they didn't know about!

South Florida Sun-Sentinel editorial

4. Stun Guns

ISSUE: Two police officers are fired amid accusations of Taser abuse

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Hallandale Beach City Manager Mike Good has provided an object lesson for other agencies on how to handle the controversy over the use of Taser stun guns by police officers. He fired two cops accused of repeatedly using Tasers on a man who was already under arrest, handcuffed and in a holding cell.

That's an apparent misuse of stun guns, which should be employed only when there is no safer way to subdue a suspect. In this case, though, one of the officers is also accused of choking the suspect into unconsciousness, a sign that this may have been a simple case of police brutality in which the Taser was merely one of the tools of abuse.

Both officers have been charged with misdemeanor battery by the Broward County State Attorney's Office. That prompted their attorney to complain, incredibly, that a thorough investigation had not been done and that she's "not aware of any other state attorneys' offices that charge cops for doing their job."

Maybe she should open her eyes and look around. Police who abuse their authority get charged with crimes quite often. Is brutalizing prisoners her idea of police just doing their job?

Officials say these cops were trained in the use of Tasers, which, when used properly, are a valuable alternative to lethal police service weapons. They should have known they'd be crossing a line if they used Tasers on a confined and handcuffed prisoner.

The officers will have a chance to challenge their dismissals. Whatever the outcome, Good has set a standard that other South Florida agencies should adopt, if they haven't already. Tasers should be used sparingly and only when necessary. Police should be fully trained in their use. And using Tasers as a means of brutalizing suspects shouldn't be tolerated.

BOTTOM LINE: This is the right approach to the controversy over Tasers: keep them in use, but punish officers who abuse them.

I suppose I hardly need mention that the Sun-Sentinel NEVER followed-up and published a subsequent corrective editorial telling readers WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

A clear example of what NOT TO DO that ought to be made clear at J-School.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbhallandale0128sbjan28,0,2207842.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Hallandale to pay to settle one of two former police officers' lawsuits

By John Holland

January 28, 2008

HALLANDALE BEACH - City commissioners have agreed to pay more than $100,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging Police Chief Thomas Magill falsified evidence, a city board held an illegal meeting and detectives persuaded a felon to lie under oath about a fellow officer.

Mayor Joe Cooper and attorney Alberto Milian, who represents former Hallandale Beach Police Officer Talous Cirilo, confirmed the city's settlement with Cirilo but would not comment further, citing a confidentiality agreement. However, Cooper said the payment was more than $100,000, including attorney fees.

"I'd love to talk about this and tell people what happened, but unfortunately I can't," Cooper said.

Magill referred questions to City Attorney David Jove, who could not be reached for comment.

The settlement comes less than two months after Cirilo filed two lawsuits against the city, alleging wrongdoing in the department and City Hall. Hallandale officials fired Cirilo, alleging excessive use of force, even though a jury acquitted him on battery charges.

Cooper said the secrecy is warranted because a separate lawsuit, filed in federal court by former acting Police Sgt. Mary Hagopian, has not been settled. She promised to speak about the settlement at a later date "if I'm allowed to."

Magill and City Manager Mike Good fired the officers two years ago after prosecutors charged them with misdemeanor battery on prisoner Michael Brack. Early on April 1, 2005, Brack beat his brother as they fought in a moving car, then attacked officers who tried to intervene, according to arrest records and police reports.

Months after the arrest, a civilian employee said Cirilo choked and used a Taser device excessively on Brack.

More than a year later, the State Attorney's Office charged Cirilo with three misdemeanor battery counts. Hagopian was charged with a misdemeanor for using the stun gun on Brack as he struggled with officers in a jail holding area.

Defense lawyers said Magill orchestrated the charges as part of a vendetta against Hagopian and to show his bosses at City Hall he was a disciplinarian. Testimony at trial showed police employees mishandled two key pieces of evidence - a video surveillance tape and software from the Taser - distorting the confrontation between the officers and Brack, defense lawyers argued.

Prosecutors tried the officers separately, but jurors reached the same conclusion, acquitting them after about 15 minutes of deliberation.

After the acquittals, the officers tried to get their jobs back, but Magill and city officials refused.

In one of the lawsuits, Milian accused the city civil service board of holding an illegal meeting outside City Hall on Oct. 9, 2007, one week before a scheduled hearing on the reinstatement.

Florida law mandates that all meetings be advertised and prohibits public officials from meeting out of the public eye or discussing cases with each other. At least six board members met and discussed the meeting in a "knowing violation" of the law, according to the lawsuit.

Good, the city manager, could not be reached for comment.

Hagopian, a 15-year veteran, and Cirilo, on the force for five years, hired different lawyers and filed in different jurisdictions but made the same argument: Magill pressured his internal affairs officers and detectives to manipulate evidence and coerce false statements out of Brack so he could fire the officers and enhance his image as a reformer.

Magill used public money to have officers track down Brack on a Louisiana oil barge, where he ended up after leaving Broward County and forfeiting his bail, both lawsuits assert.

The State Attorney's office dropped all the assault charges against Brack, including the attack on his brother, then used him to testify against the officers.

The chief temporarily assigned several officers to internal affairs without any training, for the sole purpose of building a false case against the officers, Hagopian's lawyer Rhea Grossman said in court papers.

Magill sparked criminal charges against Hagopian "by preparing directly or at his direction police reports containing false or misleading information," Grossman wrote. Both lawsuits contend Magill elicited false testimony and compiled misleading evidence that he took directly to prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch tossed out four counts last month, saying they belong in state court. He refused to dismiss two others, including one alleging Magill presented false information to prosecutors so Hagopian would be arrested. Zloch also let stand a charge that the city had a policy of not training internal affairs officers that, Hagopian argued, "encourages fabricated evidence for the sole purpose of allowing the whims of its police chief to terminate employees."

Milian said last week that the jury's quick acquittals proved the charges were bogus.

"This case was an abomination from the very beginning, and good officers were hurt," Milian said. "It could ultimately have a chilling effect on officers who want to protect themselves and their colleagues but are afraid because they could get in the same type of situation."

Reader comments to the above article are still available at:

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/south-florida-sun-sentinel/TFKNF9QNQ3I7NHLQE

And as I stated above, mendacious Magill, having NOT ever been fired or arrested -explain that to me!- still felt free after all of this to continue doing whatever he wanted, under then-City Manager Mike Good and current Mayor Joy Cooper.

And as usual, then-City Attorney David Jove, the one person who you'd think would've made it clear to Magill what complying actually meant, was nowhere to be found.

That's what happens when there is no accountability at City Hall.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2009-12-05/news/0912040123_1_fatal-crash-cruiser-settlement-agreement

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Hallandale Beach

Former cop sues city again

A former Hallandale Beach police officer who last year received a $250,000 settlement from the city in a wrongful termination suit is again suing the city.

In a complaint filed this week in Broward Circuit Court, former Officer Mary Hagopian accuses police Chief Thomas Magill of reneging on the settlement agreement by badmouthing her to Wilton Manors Police Chief Richard Perez, who hired Hagopian last year.

Part of the settlement agreement forbids Hallandale Beach officials from making disparaging remarks about Hagopian and required that they limit their responses to questions about her employment with the city.

Perez fired Hagopian in March and immediately sent an e-mail to Magill stating: "You are entitled to say 'I told you so.' "

The suit also alleges that city officials have failed to comply with several public records requests filed by Hagopian's attorneys, who are seeking more than $500,000 in damages and court costs.

City attorneys could not be reached for comment Friday.

So, you say that "[C]ity officials have failed to comply with several public records requests"?

I am shocked!

Shocked I say!

For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction:

http://forums.leoaffairs.com/viewtopic.php?f=409&t=93981

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See also: Officer Talous Cirilo is Acquitted,

Thread Started on Nov 15, 2006, 12:32pm

http://policecrime.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=misconduct&action=display&thread=6019