By Samuel Maull, The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- The heads of two court officers unions, reacting to a Queens judge who helped a robbery suspect avoid arrest last week, issued a memo Wednesday directing their members to detain anyone they believe is wanted by law enforcement.
The memo to 3,000 officers who work in state courts in the city came from John P. McKillop, president-elect of the New York State Supreme Court Officers Association, and Dennis Quirk, president of the New York State Court Officers Association.
Quirk called the directive “Laura Blackburne Operational Memo No. 1.” The title is a jibe at the state Supreme Court justice who caused an uproar last Thursday when she ordered an officer to escort the suspect, Derek Sterling, out a rear door and to an elevator normally reserved for judges.
McKillop said officials of the unions “were extremely upset that Judge Blackburne chose to violate the law, particularly because she involved a court officer in this clear violation of the law.”
McKillop said the officer, Sgt. Richard Peterson, was dubious about following the judge’s order but “was under compulsion of being held in contempt of court” if he refused.
The memo Quirk and McKillop issued tells court officers to detain the suspect; notify the appropriate agency that the suspect is in custody; assist the appropriate law enforcement official in effecting the arrest, and notify the union promptly. Court officers are often notified that a law enforcement agency is interested in a person who might be appearing in their courtroom.
It also says: “Any individual attempting to interfere with the above procedures shall be arrested immediately and charged appropriately.” Quirk said violators could face charges of obstructing government administration, and that judges would not be exempt from the policy.
“No one is immune from the law,” said Quirk, a former Brooklyn Family Court officer. “Judges are not above the law.”
Quirk, who has headed his union for 30 years, added that he and McKillop had the authority to issue the memo because it simply tells members to obey existing law.
Quirk said he was sure Peterson would not be charged with anything. “If they bring this officer up on charges, we will shut the whole court system down,” he said.
“We must make sure that this never happens again,” Quirk said during a news conference at his Lower Manhattan offices. “If we have information about a known felon, we have an obligation to detain that person.”
Both union officials thanked the state Commission on Judicial Conduct for promptly launching an investigation of Blackburne’s actions.
David Bookstaver, spokesman for the Office of Court Administration (OCA), the court officers’ employer, said, “OCA sets policy, not the court officers union. However, if their intent was to remind their members of any existing policy, they have every right to do that.”
Bookstaver said Blackburne had no comment. The judge, who had been hearing criminal cases in the court’s drug part, was transferred to a civil case part earlier this week.
Police reported that Sterling has been arrested.
McKillop’s 1,400 union members work in state Supreme Court -- which has jurisdiction over felonies and major civil cases -- in New York City and Westchester County. Quirk’s 1,550 members work in the lower criminal, civil and family courts in the city’s five boroughs. All court officers have normal police powers.