Fire up the police scanners....

[Geist762]

If this would have happened in Denver in the reverse...there would be hell to
pay.

By LISA GRZYBOSKI
Courier-Post Staff

An alleged racist conversation between two top Camden County Jail officials that was inadvertently broadcast over one of the county's public safety radio channels last week is now under investigation.

Law enforcement officers who were tuned to the channel Wednesday afternoon allegedly heard Deputy Warden Anthony Pizarro and Capt. Ronald Barr, who are both black, use racist slurs and expletives to describe white corrections officers at the county jail.

The alleged 20-minute tirade occurred in a county vehicle and was prompted when a white police officer stopped Pizarro and Barr to issue a traffic ticket, said corrections officers who have requested anonymity for fear they could lose their jobs by speaking out about the incident.

Pizarro and Barr apparently didn't know they had keyed the vehicle's microphone and were broadcasting their conversation countywide on a channel used by the corrections department, sheriff's office, park police, prosecutor's office and Merchantville police, the officers said.

The lengthy conversation tied up the channel and prevented other officers from using it to communicate on the job, they said.

Pizarro denied the accusations when contacted at his home Monday.

"There's an element in the department that, for whatever reason, they've got an ax to grind and they made these accusations," he said. "If we said what people say we said, we would have been suspended immediately."

"There's an investigation and the truth will come out. I'm not worried about it at all," said Pizarro, who noted he's been told the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and the corrections department's internal affairs division are investigating the matter.

"They've taken something that was an accident and they've blown it up into something that's not true," Pizarro said. "They've crossed a line."

A message left at Barr's home wasn't immediately returned Monday.

Stuart Alterman, a Cherry Hill lawyer who frequently represents county law enforcement officers, said he's received at least eight calls from people concerned by what they heard. Union leaders such as John Reinmuth, president of Police Benevolent Association Local No. 277, which represents sheriff's officers; and Bob Rice, a vice president with the state Policemen Benevolent Association, have also fielded several calls from upset people.

Alterman has requested a copy of the conversation, which was taped.

"I contacted representatives of the county and told them about what I'd heard," Alterman said.

"At this point, we're just waiting for an official response from the county," Alterman said. "There's enough going on that there needs to be a response."

Messages left at Freeholder-Director Louis Cappelli Jr.'s office and on his cell phone Monday were returned by Ken Shuttle-worth, the county's spokesman.

The county can't comment right now because the incident is under investigation, Shuttle-worth said. He noted, however, the county would likely have something to say at a later date.

"Words don't hurt us. Bad, disparaging, insulting things are said to us almost every day," Reinmuth said. "But is the public's interest served if a supervising officer uses that kind of language? I don't think so."

[CAMPYBOB]

hey, two members called me fucking moron! i'm gonna sue their sorry non-moron asses!

you can't treat us morons like that and get away with it, damnit!

[Geist762]

haha, they'll get away with it. Dey bees speshal, bra.

[44rdv4rk]

imagine if i said 'knee grow' on the air.

"running on concrete makes my knee grow painful"

[CAMPYBOB]

those ossifers can call their fellow ossifers anything they want.

now, they got to write the check their mouths wrote.

if i were them, i'ld avoid the locker room for a few months. their co-workers might arrange a slip-n-fall on the wet floor.

[Geist762]

Too bad someone hasn't posted what was said.

I bet a FOI would produce results.

:-)

[CAMPYBOB]

'if' it went over the radio, no words need be posted.

it will get around faster than if it was on the 5 o'clock news.

[Geist762]

Originally Posted by 44rdv4rk

imagine if i said 'knee grow' on the air.

"running on concrete makes my knee grow painful"

I don't know about that, but if you ever go back on your word,
they might call you a renigger! So watch it!

[CAMPYBOB]

the word is "renege".

[sjohnson]

renege
renegue
verb reneged, reneging

• intr
  1. To go back on (a promise, agreement, deal, etc).
  • Thesaurus: default, back down, back off, welsh (slang); Antonym: come through.
  • Form: renege on something (often)
  2. To renounce (a promise, etc) or desert (a person, faith, etc).
  3. cards.
  • To revoke (sense 2).
  (Edit) I see Bob beat me to it. The word is also pronounced ree neg.
  

[Geist762]