This happened almost a year ago and it's just being printed now?
Sounds like SWAT wannabees: "Someday, he thinks, the DOT might organize a SWAT team."
Why would the Department of Transportation need JBTs?
http://www.herald.com/thispage.htm?content/today/docs/003345.htm
Weapons get DOT officers sacked
2 fired, 1 demoted for rifle purchase
BY ARNOLD MARKOWITZ
amarkowitz@herald.com
A lieutenant and an officer in a state police agency have been fired and a sergeant demoted because of an under-the-table purchase of forbidden assault rifles, which one of them used -- against the rules -- during an off-duty traffic assignment last July 4.
The Florida Department of Transportation kicked out Lt. Juan Konieczny and officer Jorge Fernandez de Lara. Sgt. Daniel Starling was reassigned to patrol as a rank-and-file officer. All three are appealing.
They worked in Miami-Dade County at the DOT's Motor Carrier Compliance Office. That force polices commercial trucking for safety violations. Sometimes it gets involved in criminal investigations. For three arrests in 1997, Fernandez de Lara was named Officer of the Year.
The weapons that cost the men their jobs are Colt AR-15s, semiautomatic rifles commonly used by police SWAT teams. The DOT has no SWAT team. It even forbids its officers to carry ``long arms'' -- rifles and shotguns -- on duty or in their police vehicles.
Konieczny, who organized the purchase of eight AR-15s, said some officers wanted to buy their own and learn on their own to use them. Someday, he thinks, the DOT might organize a SWAT team.
``They're saying I falsified something to obtain weapons,'' Konieczny said Friday. ``I never intended falsifying anything. . . . I didn't gain anything by it.''
According to his letter of dismissal from DOT Assistant Secretary Ken Morefield, Konieczny wrote letters on DOT stationery to Lou's Gun Shop in Hialeah authorizing 11 officers to buy AR-15s.
Federal law says those can be sold only for law enforcement use.
Konieczny signed the letters as his agency's ``Miami district commander,'' a job that doesn't exist.
He said it was an honest mistake; it should have said supervisor instead of commander.
Col. Graham Fountain, chief of the DOT police, didn't go for the explanation. He recommended that Konieczny be fired for providing false information to obtain firearms, misuse of his position, falsification of records, conduct unbecoming a public employee and other violations.
Starling's demotion letter listed most of the violations charged to Konieczny, but he said his participation was innocent, too.
``Lt. Konieczny asked me to contact the dealer and ask what had to be in the letter. He told me, and I gave it to the lieutenant. Later he gave me an envelope to take to Lou's Gun Shop, and that was done. That was it.''
The envelope contained 11 letters authorizing officers to buy AR-15s. Eventually, eight of them did, for about $800 each. Konieczny said he didn't buy one. Neither did Starling.
Officer Fernandez was fired for several violations, the most serious one unlawful possession of an assault weapon. He bought it innocently, he said: ``I wasn't really too go-for-it with the idea, but I said, `OK, if everybody's going to get one, I'll get one, too.' ''
Fernandez knew letters of authorization were required, but he says he and the other buyers didn't know how Konieczny was handling that.
``If we had known, the rifles never would have been purchased,'' he said.
The other buyers were not disciplined. There was no evidence that they used the rifles on the job, Assistant Secretary Morefield said.
The police picked up their AR-15s at Lou's in June 1999. Nothing happened until the night of July 4, when Fernandez, Konieczny and two other DOT officers took an off-duty traffic control job in Miami Beach. They were hired by Cafe Cristal, a now-defunct South Beach business notorious for disturbances and occasional gunfire. Miami Beach Police turned down the traffic job, but they went there late that night when a patron shot up the place.
The gunman ran outside. Fernandez grabbed his new AR-15 from the trunk of his patrol car, jacked a bullet into the firing chamber and ran after the shooter. He felt pretty good about getting him to surrender without firing a shot, but no one awarded Fernandez a medal.
Miami Beach Police, although not ungrateful, wondered out loud what a trucking safety officer was doing with a SWAT gun. The DOT investigated. Down went Konieczny, Starling and Fernandez.
Fernandez, 28, has been a DOT officer since 1995. He is appealing his firing only to clear the stain from his record. If reinstated, he plans to quit. Konieczny, 35, has 12 years invested in the DOT police. He said he wants his job back to keep. Starling, 44, with DOT since 1995, intends to stay no matter what.
``I'm not going to hang my head,'' he said. ``I know I didn't do anything wrong. I'll continue to work hard to show them they were wrong.''
Copyright 2000 Miami Herald
------------------
The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
Sounds like SWAT wannabees: "Someday, he thinks, the DOT might organize a SWAT team."
Why would the Department of Transportation need JBTs?
http://www.herald.com/thispage.htm?content/today/docs/003345.htm
Weapons get DOT officers sacked
2 fired, 1 demoted for rifle purchase
BY ARNOLD MARKOWITZ
amarkowitz@herald.com
A lieutenant and an officer in a state police agency have been fired and a sergeant demoted because of an under-the-table purchase of forbidden assault rifles, which one of them used -- against the rules -- during an off-duty traffic assignment last July 4.
The Florida Department of Transportation kicked out Lt. Juan Konieczny and officer Jorge Fernandez de Lara. Sgt. Daniel Starling was reassigned to patrol as a rank-and-file officer. All three are appealing.
They worked in Miami-Dade County at the DOT's Motor Carrier Compliance Office. That force polices commercial trucking for safety violations. Sometimes it gets involved in criminal investigations. For three arrests in 1997, Fernandez de Lara was named Officer of the Year.
The weapons that cost the men their jobs are Colt AR-15s, semiautomatic rifles commonly used by police SWAT teams. The DOT has no SWAT team. It even forbids its officers to carry ``long arms'' -- rifles and shotguns -- on duty or in their police vehicles.
Konieczny, who organized the purchase of eight AR-15s, said some officers wanted to buy their own and learn on their own to use them. Someday, he thinks, the DOT might organize a SWAT team.
``They're saying I falsified something to obtain weapons,'' Konieczny said Friday. ``I never intended falsifying anything. . . . I didn't gain anything by it.''
According to his letter of dismissal from DOT Assistant Secretary Ken Morefield, Konieczny wrote letters on DOT stationery to Lou's Gun Shop in Hialeah authorizing 11 officers to buy AR-15s.
Federal law says those can be sold only for law enforcement use.
Konieczny signed the letters as his agency's ``Miami district commander,'' a job that doesn't exist.
He said it was an honest mistake; it should have said supervisor instead of commander.
Col. Graham Fountain, chief of the DOT police, didn't go for the explanation. He recommended that Konieczny be fired for providing false information to obtain firearms, misuse of his position, falsification of records, conduct unbecoming a public employee and other violations.
Starling's demotion letter listed most of the violations charged to Konieczny, but he said his participation was innocent, too.
``Lt. Konieczny asked me to contact the dealer and ask what had to be in the letter. He told me, and I gave it to the lieutenant. Later he gave me an envelope to take to Lou's Gun Shop, and that was done. That was it.''
The envelope contained 11 letters authorizing officers to buy AR-15s. Eventually, eight of them did, for about $800 each. Konieczny said he didn't buy one. Neither did Starling.
Officer Fernandez was fired for several violations, the most serious one unlawful possession of an assault weapon. He bought it innocently, he said: ``I wasn't really too go-for-it with the idea, but I said, `OK, if everybody's going to get one, I'll get one, too.' ''
Fernandez knew letters of authorization were required, but he says he and the other buyers didn't know how Konieczny was handling that.
``If we had known, the rifles never would have been purchased,'' he said.
The other buyers were not disciplined. There was no evidence that they used the rifles on the job, Assistant Secretary Morefield said.
The police picked up their AR-15s at Lou's in June 1999. Nothing happened until the night of July 4, when Fernandez, Konieczny and two other DOT officers took an off-duty traffic control job in Miami Beach. They were hired by Cafe Cristal, a now-defunct South Beach business notorious for disturbances and occasional gunfire. Miami Beach Police turned down the traffic job, but they went there late that night when a patron shot up the place.
The gunman ran outside. Fernandez grabbed his new AR-15 from the trunk of his patrol car, jacked a bullet into the firing chamber and ran after the shooter. He felt pretty good about getting him to surrender without firing a shot, but no one awarded Fernandez a medal.
Miami Beach Police, although not ungrateful, wondered out loud what a trucking safety officer was doing with a SWAT gun. The DOT investigated. Down went Konieczny, Starling and Fernandez.
Fernandez, 28, has been a DOT officer since 1995. He is appealing his firing only to clear the stain from his record. If reinstated, he plans to quit. Konieczny, 35, has 12 years invested in the DOT police. He said he wants his job back to keep. Starling, 44, with DOT since 1995, intends to stay no matter what.
``I'm not going to hang my head,'' he said. ``I know I didn't do anything wrong. I'll continue to work hard to show them they were wrong.''
Copyright 2000 Miami Herald
------------------
The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
), and you hear a commotion comming down the street. You look up to see a man running by, and then see a police officer running affter him with a M-16 ASSAULT RIFLE with a great big s&!t-eating grin on his face. Holy S&!t! "Check Please!"
