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In Praise of Councilman DrabikLetter To All Union PoliceParma Police FOP Press ReleaseRoad Construction Safety Tips| An Open Letter To All Union Police Officers |
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| From Daniel C. Zarzeczny, “An Open Letter To All Union Police Officers” in Police Beat Magazine (2005): 27, 2. 24-25. As a member of two police unions (FOP and OPBA) and as a representative for my bargaining unit, I would like to alert officers in Ohio to a grave danger we all face. Perhaps you’ve seen all the bad press received by the Parma Police Department in the past 3 years, especially at the hands of a very biased and unrelenting Plain Dealer, aggravated by inflammatory comments by Parma politicians attempting to profit from the hysteria while covering up their own shortcomings. This has culminated in the indictments of myself and another active Parma officer for failing to report cash income from back in 1998. This “witch hunt” resulted from a 2 year investigation into whether or not Parma Police used sick time to generate overtime to scam the city. Unable to find wrongdoing by our officers, the politicians and investigators were left with a huge bill (well over $100,000) and nothing substantial to show for it. They even bought us time clocks with an investment of over $50,000 that is incompatible with our payroll! And who is ripping off the taxpayers? The obvious solution? Railroad some sacrificial lambs by charging us with felonies for something every one else is allowed to merely repay back taxes on when discovered by the state. To them, the justice system is merely an extension of their power and a tool to further their aims instead of sacred means of righting society’s wrongs. Imagine if we, the police, used our office and the justice system like that! Taking a single act of omission, failing to report income from a cash job (1998-2001) and trumping up multiple “felonies” to justify the wasted investigation is shoddy at best. Calling this omission forgery, uttering, and tampering with documents as well as filing a fraudulent tax return all for the one alleged act of failing to report income from one part time job is a perversion of the justice system. They demanded we resign immediately and plea guilty to a felony, or my wife would be charged with the same crimes since I file a joint return. We have found that not only are all the other policemen that work part time cash jobs not targeted (can’t fire every single one of us!), they merely target me, the union representative and whistleblower against city hall misfeasance. We found that everyone else in the state found by the state income tax people to have made similar mistakes are not criminally prosecuted, only the few on a grand scale (hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in money laundering schemes). I can only speculate the other officer was included because he worked with me and targeting me would be too blatant without another scapegoat. I guess all the firemen that do carpeting, put on roofs, build decks and remodel homes shouldn’t be investigated. All the mechanics that work on friends and relatives’ cars for cash, all the barbers, all the hair stylists, and even all the priests and reverends that take cash for performing weddings and don’t report the income (they call it a “gift”) should be allowed to continue as they do, but police need to be persecuted. So how does this affect me, you say? Well, the publicity given this case and the constant drone of the Plain Dealer has brought all cop haters out of the woodwork. Various media sources have informed me that they are swamped with calls from irate ex-wives that feel they’re being cheated out of alimony by police officer husbands and ex-husbands that work cash jobs. How many of you out there worked cash job(s) 7 years ago? What is stopping publicity seeking cop haters from demanding your department be investigated and having “heads roll” (as our mayor demanded months ago). My advice to all of you is to properly report all income, cash jobs included. Many police officers are or were (guess who?) under the mistaken impression that if you don’t get a 1099 you don’t need to report the income. Guess again. Even though employers are required by law to issue a 1099 for any income of $600 or more, even if they don’t the recipient of the cash is required to report the income even without a 1099 and even if the amount is under $600. In our case, Parma Police worked the cash job in question for about 20 years with no 1099’s being issued, and coincidentally when they were started we then reported the income. Well, despite failing to obey the law for 20 (or more) years and including many employees other than police being paid tens of thousands of dollars per year in unreported cash, the employer is being allowed to plea to a misdemeanor! This is somewhat akin to a ignoring the elephant in order to catch the mouse! We meant no wrong, the employer surely did. Obviously, all those other employees that were paid cash are not being investigated, just the police. Gentlemen, if the travesty continues and we are somehow convicted, the floodgates will be open. Open season on police. Police everywhere. Your department. What can you do? Well, for one thing, now that you know all income must be reported with or without a 1099, make sure you report it. Also, all of you along with your friends and relatives need to let the Plain Dealer, Parma politicians, and everyone else know that you disagree with the railroading of the Parma Police. Letters, emails, and calls to the media and politicians must be made. And by all means, report political corruption every chance you get! Waiting until you do it in self defense is too late. Do it now and keep them too busy to find time to conduct witch hunts against police. Thank you for your support. Sincerely, Daniel C. Zarzeczny Captain, Parma Police By the way, Bill Mason signed my indictments even though they were in error, the uttering charges naming a different officer. Should he be charged with felonies for knowingly filing a false indictment, forgery, uttering, and tampering with documents? After all, he wouldn’t claim he signed them without reading them, would he? Or did he make “an honest mistake?” It seems politicians always make “honest mistakes.” Like putting a levy on the ballot when it was improper to do so. Like voting on issues that represent a conflict of interest. Like screwing up the W-2 reports for Parma employees 2 of the last five years. Like costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars by forgetting to order salt in the summer instead of the beginning of winter. I could go on for a long time, but I think you all know plenty of examples yourselves. AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL UNION POLICE OFFICERS |
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