I like NJ cops, but I hate NJ PBA cards (Opinion)

According to Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll an officer for the Montclair State University Police Department is one of two men charged in an alleged insurance fraud scheme.

Christopher Angst is accused of conspiring with Michael McFadden, an agent with the Hasbrouck Heights-based insurance firm Insuranze Associates. Prosecutors allege, among other things, that Angst gifted McFadden a gold Police Benevolent Association card in exchange for fake insurance documents related to worker’s comp.

This will play out in court. Innocent until proven and all that. But what is it about the Jersey culture that has come to so totally accept the obnoxious power of PBA cards?

Allow me to rant. Write me after. Try to tell me I’m wrong. But PBA cards that are often used to whip out during a traffic stop like some Get Out Of Jail Free card are everything that’s wrong about corruption and power.

Why should someone get special favors because their brother-in-law is a police officer? This business about PBA cards only being used to ‘vouch for the character of a person’ is inherently ridiculous.

If you had any “character” at all you would accept responsibility for your choices to drive poorly and you would deal with the consequences. Instead, by using a PBA card you’re basically saying, “Do you know who I am!?” Isn’t that sort of power play the thing we ordinary folks are generally supposed to resent?

I’m in favor of police having the right to use discretion. But how about we base that on the person’s demeanor, their driving record, context of a situation, etc.? No, we base it on a guy whose cousin is a cop and got three PBA cards and kept one for himself, gave one to his girlfriend who has never even met the officer yet and the third to some guy at work in his fantasy football league. Oh yeah. Really vouches for a citizen’s “character” doesn’t it?

It’s institutionalized favoritism. And it’s wrong.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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