DETECTIVE SHOT DURING OFF-DUTY EMPLOYMENT NOT "LINE-OF-DUTY"

 An NYPD Detective that was working in a part-time, off-duty, security job----and was shot during his employment while taking police action----has been denied a line-of-duty designation by both the NYPD Health Services Division and the Board of Collective Bargaining arbitrator.

The New York civil service newspaper, The Chief, in their March 19, 1999, edition, reports in a small article on page eight, that a grievance filed by the Detectives' Endowment Association on behalf of Detective Arthur Pettus, was denied by the NYC Board of Collective Bargaining.  The grievance stated that Det. Pettus was working at a part-time job delivering a payroll when he was jumped by a group of robbers.  Pettus identified himself as a police officer and attempted to make the arrest. The robbers shot Pettus, resulting in his wounds.

Following NYPD rules, Pettus filed a "Line-of-Duty Injury Report" that was endorsed by the CO at his command.  However, when the report was reviewed by the Health Services Division, the line-of-duty designation for his injuries was denied. HSD essentially said that, because Pettus was employed off-duty, it was not a line-of-duty incident.

The D.E.A. filed the grievance, stating that sworn police officers are required to take police action when faced with a crime, plus the fact that a detective that was killed taking police action under the very same circumstances was, not only given line-of-duty status, but also given the traditional line-of-duty funeral.

The Chief article went on to report that the BCB ruled, not on the status of the injuries, but on whether the HSD ruling can be overturned in arbitration.  The BCB ruled it could not, as it is not subject to arbitration.

The next step for Det. Pettus appears to be a long, drawn out, expensive, court case in order to overturn this Health Services illogical decision. What makes this ruling particularly hard-hitting, is that our Mayor Rudy, not only endorsed off-duty, part-time employment (rather than a politically harmful, but substantial, raise for all officers), but he encouraged it fully, by also allowing officers to work off-duty, in uniform, to protect the elite of NYC.

This now puts the officer and the officer's family in double jeopardy: damned if you don't work the part-time job, and damned if you get hurt while working it.

There is an election coming up. Despite the latest anti-cop fervor, watch the same anti-cop pols come to your community and shake your hand and say how important the police are!