“ROCCO MUST GO!”

Correction Officers Hold Massive Demonstration

White Plains, Monday, Nov. 13th Shouting “Rocco must go,” and carrying signs declaring their complaints, some 250 County Correction Officers, men and women, picketed outside the Westchester County Office Building, many carrying the November 9th issue of The Westchester Guardian. Officers, including Sergeants, were protesting the recent suspension, without pay, of three fellow officers, growing out of an incident October 1st at the County Jail.

The incident, involved a visitor from Yonkers, who allegedly attempted to smuggle drugs to an inmate, in the visitors’ lounge, and then managed to escape, causing a lockdown, and a dog, and helicopter search of the area surrounding the Jail. Those picketing expressed their feelings that the suspended officers have been unfairly targeted and punished for an event that was beyond their control.

Picketing from 4 to 6pm, officers, accompanied by Robert Delbene, President of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, carried signs that read: “Fire Pozzi Now,” “Stop The Double Standard,” “Enough IsEnough,” and “ Threats Will Not Stop Us.” One officer carried a mock coffin with a sign reading, “It’s Only A Matter Of Time.” Union President Delbene, told The Westchester Gu a r d i a n , which has been calling for the removal of Pozzi, and “the appointment of a full-time Commissioner of Corrections,” for some time, that he hoped that the County Executive got the message that “ the correction officers are outraged, and angry over Pozzi’s actions.”

Delbene went on to explain that the 720 correction officers on the job at the County Jail, and the Penitentiary “ are struggling with a hostile work environment, where the Commissioner rules by retaliation.” He further pointed out that there are serious health and safety violations at the Jail that have not been addressed for years, and indicated that there is no satisfactory evacuation plan in existence in the event of an emergency at Indian Point.

The Westchester Guardian has maintained the position one individual cannot possibly serve both as the Commissioner Of Probation and the Commissioner of Corrections at the same time, and do justice to each position. Each assignment is a full-time position, demanding full-time attention and presence. And, while the Department of Probation would not seem to be suffering under the present arrangement, clearly, the Correction Department is laboring with many serious, unresolved issues that can only be adequately dealt with by a full-time commissioner.

Susan Tolchin’s attempt to trivialize the significance, and the legitimacy, of last Monday’s massive demonstration can only serve to further inflame an already very serious, and antagonistic situation. The County Executive’s Office would be well advised to deal with this matter promptly and effectively, by appointing a new Commissioner of Corrections before matters get out of hand with possible disastrous consequences.