WARREN Mayor, service director to review cops' e-mails
Mobile data transmitters were installed in cruisers 18 months ago.
WARREN -- Want to read more about "skeeters" and cop pit stops? Stay tuned.
Mayor Hank Angelo and Fred Harris, safety-service director, are going to review 18 months of written chitchat exchanged among officers using their city-owned mobile data transmitters.
"Fred is responsible for the police department, and we should review the e-mails because there is a lot of controversy surrounding the use of the MDTs," Angelo said.
"We want to make sure they are being used properly. I, along with Fred and Police Chief John Mandopoulos, will review all of these e-mails."
The MDTs were installed in the officers' cruisers 18 months ago.
The review comes in the wake of a Vindicator article last month about e-mail messages sent seven days this year. Most of the messages are about trips to the convenience store and joking among officers -- not official business. Some police officers said the e-mails were not meant to offend anyone.
The city paid more than $400,000 for the mobile data terminal system for cruisers in 1998. The MDTs were purchased to give officers a way to communicate without using the radios, which can be monitored by criminals, officials said.
What coalition seeks
Angelo made the announcement after a two-hour meeting with the Warren Coalition, made up of three members of the minority community.
Tom Conley, a coalition member and CEO of the Warren-Trumbull Urban League, said the organization continues to call for a change in police department leadership.
Conley noted that the coalition also asked for an update on the city administration's investigation of the police chief and alleged illegal strip-searches.
Angelo and Harris have said they are looking into how the chief acted while on patrol at 77 Soul, a local nightclub. A videotape shows the chief and patrol Officer Manny Nites giving close-up views of their eyes and making fun of the cameraman.
The owner of the club says he believes the police were harassing the cameraman. The chief has said he was joking.
The administration also ordered another review into allegations of alleged illegal strip-searches. An internal report released in July states that police officers erred when they strip-searched a man in February 2002. The chief exonerated the officers. The mayor and Harris ordered the chief to review the matter again.
Angelo said he plans to get an update in the next few days and will report back to the coalition by next week.
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