Limerick, PA. Police Dept
Paulie Walnuts
Did anybody read this recently on the The Mercury News online edition
editorial page regarding the Limerick, PA. Police Dept.? Quite
appalling.
SUNDAY, MARCH 15
Internal affairs: Limerick needs outside investigators
When will the Limerick Township police department learn?
How many incidents involving members of their department will they
investigate without the
assistance of an outside agency -- like the Montgomery County District
Attorney's office or the
Pennsylvania State Police?
First, there was the alcohol-related accident involving former Officer
Anthony McElwee. The
department handled (or mishandled) the investigation to the point where
the county brought the
incident before a grand jury.
Then, The Mercury reported that Limerick Township police officers
organized and attended a party
with strippers. That incident was ignored by the department and also
ended up before a county
grand jury.
The chief -- A. Douglas Weaver -- was keeping his job time records
without the supervision of
anyone in the township. No one dared to question that problem.
And now, a Limerick Township police officer accused of passing a
Spring-Ford Area School
District school bus that had its emergency flashing lights on, seems to
be escaping unscathed.
At least as far as the township police department is concerned.
But some say the deck has been stacked in favor of the officer -- Ernie
Morris.
The incident occurred on Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. as driver Beverly George
pulled her school bus from
Benner Road onto North Lewis Road and stopped in front of John J.
Jeffers Jr.'s house, where
Jeffers' son and two other students would get off.
The bus' red flashing lights activated and its stop sign swung out.
However, what happened next has created another controversy involving
the Limerick police and
the investigation conducted by Sgt. William S. Schlichter.
According to Schlichter's report, the driver's recollection of the event
seems to be vague.
However, Jeffers said his son and two others said: "There was no way
that the cop car stopped."
"All the bus drivers heard (George) scream over the radio, 'He blew
through my lights!' " Jeffers
added.
Jeffers, who serves on the Linfield Fire Co.'s fire police, found fault
with Schlichter's inquiry and the
sergeant's conclusion that there was "no violation committed."
In his report to Limerick Township Manager Ed Fink, Schlichter wrote
that Jack Jeffers, 13, "said
the police car did not stop but he was not looking at the police vehicle
the entire time so he was not
sure if the police vehicle stopped."
"I think he got the answers he wanted and that was it," John Jeffers
said.
Fink, of course, had a reason why Limerick conducted an internal
investigation into the alleged
incident.
"Had the initial call been a police officer hit a car or hit a kid, we
would have had the Pennsylvania
State Police in to do the investigation," Fink said. "But there was no
incident. We responded to a
complaint alleging that an officer disregarded a motor vehicle law."
Who says there "was no incident?" Schlichter bent over so far to protect
the cop it's a wonder he
didn't fall onto his back.
A bus driver alleges that the cop blew past her vehicle without
stopping. Students on the bus
basically said the same thing. What's their motivation to lie, to make
up such a story?
And doesn't the officer have more to lose?
And considering the recent history of the Limerick Police Department,
who's less believable?
Said Fink: "If we had a police officer who violated the law, he probably
would have been suspended
and taken off duty. You can't have a police officer driving around,
violating state motor vehicle laws,
especially when you're dealing with a school bus."
When McElwee -- the former D.A.R.E. officer for the Spring-Ford Area
School District -- had his
alcohol-related crash, he was given a slap on the wrist by the Limerick
department.
Why should we believe a cop racing past a stopped school bus would be
given any disciplinary
action? The history is there -- and it doesn't show a pattern of
discipline, beginning at the top.
Again, the Limerick Township police have attempted to police themselves.
And they aren't doing
such a good job of it.
The State Police or the county DA's office should have been called in to
investigate this incident.
We guess it will take a child being run down by one of the Limerick
"cowboys" before anything gets
done to discipline this out-of-control wild bunch.