Fairport, NY Police Chief Sam Farina
One of the most disturbing and frustrating things I've noticed in my 20-plus years as an activist, writer, filmmaker, and most recently, blogger, exposing police misconduct and corruption, is just how broken the legal system is, especially when it comes to dirty cops.
Primarily the way that rogue, corrupt cops, IF and WHEN they're terminated or forced to resign from their police departments, almost always end up being hired by another law enforcement agency.
Free to once again prey on innocent citizens.
Not much different than what predicate felons do.
The only difference being that unlike predicate felons, most rogue, dirty, corrupt cops are never charged with any crimes.
In fact, these cops know all too well that the "Good Ol' Boys Club" which is the law enforcement profession, will no doubt afford them new opportunities.
They know that regardless of what they've done, the law enforcement community is a very tight knit group, which takes care of their own.
They know that they'll soon land another job as a police officer.
Take, for example, former Rochester, NY Police Commander Sam Farina.
Tuesday evening, in a small ceremony, Sam Farina was sworn in as the new police chief of the Fairport, NY Police Department.
Fairport Mayor Fritz May lauded his new police chief.
"He's a competent leader, and everyone we spoke to spoke very highly of him," Fritz said.
And while many of you good folks in the beautiful Village of Fairport, NY, commonly referred to as the "Crown Jewel of the Erie Canal", may think that Sam Farina is a stand up cop, you're sadly mistaken.
Fairport Mayor Fritz May lied to you.
On a beautiful May Spring night in 2011, Rochester, NY resident Emily Good stepped outside of her Aldine Street home on Rochester's west side, and saw several Rochester, NY Police officers detaining and searching a black motorist.
Aware of the well known racial profiling pattern and practice which Rochester, NY Police officers subscribe to, and having witnessed white RPD officers harassing black motorists countless times in front of her home, Emily Good exercised her first amendment right, and began video recording Rochester Police officer Mario Masic and his fellow officers.
But RPD officer Mario Masic didn't like that Emily Good was video recording him.
And he could care less about her constitutional right to record.
Masic threatened Good and gave her an ultimatum.
Go in the house, or be arrested.
Just a few minutes later, Masic made good on his threat and Emily Good found herself in handcuffs, in the back of a Rochester Police cruiser.
Emily Good's video of RPD officer Mario Masic violating her constitutional rights, by arresting her for video recording him went viral, and put the city of Rochester, NY, and the Rochester Police department under an international spotlight.
Not long after Good's video had been viewed throughout the world, Rochester, NY Police department West
Emily Good's video of RPD officer Mario Masic violating her constitutional rights, by arresting her for video recording him went viral, and put the city of Rochester, NY, and the Rochester Police department under an international spotlight.
Not long after Good's video had been viewed throughout the world, Rochester, NY Police department West
Division Commander Sam Farina put together a plan.
Upset about the video, Farina knew just how to retaliate against Good.
Upset about the video, Farina knew just how to retaliate against Good.
Shortly after Rochester's mainstream news media outlets reported about a support meeting which was being held by supporters of Emily Good, including myself, RPD Commander Sam Farina ordered several RPD officers to show up at that support meeting and target Good's supporters.
Commander Farina ordered his cops to do anything they could to disrupt that meeting.
What happened next can be seen in the video below which I recorded.
In a classic textbook example of police intimidation and retaliation tactics, several Rochester, NY Police officers pulled out pink rulers, measuring the distances that our vehicles were parked from the curb, down to centimeters, and began issuing tickets.
After that video went viral, and once again put the city of Rochester and the Rochester Police Department back in the spotlight, Rochester Police Chief Sheppard and Mayor Thomas Richards announced that they would be launching an investigation into their officers' actions.
Several weeks later, RPD Chief James Sheppard held a news conference announcing that his investigation had determined that his officers had specifically "targeted" Emily Good and her supporters at that meeting, and that as a result, there had been a change of command in the Rochester Police West Division.
The change in command Sheppard was referring to was the removal of Sam Farina by Chief Sheppard and Mayor Richards.
Sam Farina, who also had an order of protection issued against him by his then girlfriend, after he threatened her over a fight about property, resigned from the Rochester Police Department.
Farina then filed a lawsuit against the City of Rochester, which also named RPD Chief James Sheppard, and Rochester Mayor Thomas Richards.
In the lawsuit, Farina accused Sheppard, and Richards of "black balling" him, as a result of the Emily Good incident.
Farina claimed that after the Emily Good incident where Rochester cops retaliated against Good's supporters at that meeting, Rochester Police Chief James Sheppard personally served him with the order of protection which Farina's girlfriend had taken out against him, and told him that he didn't want him serving on his police department's management staff any longer.
The lawsuit claimed that after the Emily Good incident, Farina applied for more than 200 jobs, and that he had not received one positive response.
The lawsuit was later settled out of court.
Sam Farina is a dirty cop.
He was a dirty cop in 2011, and he is a dirty cop now.
Like I always say; Once a dirty cop, always a dirty cop.
You see, what Sam Farina did, ordering his police officers to retaliate against supporters of a woman who was the victim of a rogue bully cop, a cop who had zero respect, or regard for the Constitution, or for the oath that he swore, which was to uphold that Constitution, is something which can not be overlooked.
Or forgiven.
To order a selective targeted retaliation of citizens' first amendment right to peaceably assemble is police corruption and abuse of power at its worse.
The fact that Sam Farina was a Commander in the Rochester, NY Police Department, someone who is supposed to set an example for his officers, makes Farina's actions even more disturbing.
But that's the "Good Ol' Boys Club" for you.
Even one of the dirtiest cops around, can get away with violating citizens' civil rights, then sue his former employer, collect money, lay low for a while, then resurface, in a different town.
Fairport, NY, meet your new police Chief.
Sam Farina.
A dirty cop.
CLICK LINK BELOW TO WATCH VIDEO OF ROCHESTER, NY POLICE DEPARTMENT RETALIATION
CLICK LINK BELOW TO WATCH VIDEO OF ROCHESTER, NY POLICE DEPARTMENT RETALIATION
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