IT WAS A DAY to be proud of the uniform, a sunny August
afternoon to honor the badge at the Jersey shore and remember those officers
who made the greatest sacrifice.
Two sources familiar with the Margate, N.J, Police
Department say the 2010 Hero Thrill Show was also the day colorful Philadelphia
lawyer and law-enforcement philanthropist Jimmy Binns, who likes to dress up in
police uniforms, should have been arrested for illegally carrying a handgun. He
wasn't -- the sources say -- because he's friends with the Margate chief.
"He's bought the Margate police," one source, who
spoke on the condition of anonymity, said recently about Binns.
Three officers who weren't bought by Binns arrested him in
December, though, for removing a neighbor's "noisy" air conditioner
at his bayfront home.
Binns was cuffed, put in a patrol car and placed in a cell,
but criminal-mischief charges were later dropped by the Atlantic County
Prosecutor's Office. Binns insisted he had a legal right to remove the unit and
recently announced he might sue.
"If I had it to do over again, I'd do the exact same
thing," he told the Daily News after his arrest.
The officers who investigated Binns were the subject of an internal
investigation, and last month, Patrolman Christopher Taroncher, the same cop
Philly mob underboss Marty Angelina once spit on, was suspended with the intent
to fire for his involvement in Binns' arrest.
Taroncher's attorney, James J. Leonard Jr., said the
prosecutor's office authorized the arrest and the officers just did their job,
regardless of Binns' "honorary chief" status, the plaques to fallen
officers he's dedicated, and the motorcycles and bicycles he helped the
department get.
"It didn't matter to him if he was arresting Jimmy
Binns, Jimmy Walker or Jimmy the Greek. He believed a crime was committed and
he did his job," Leonard said in a statement. "That's one of the
things that police officers get paid to do. There is a lot more to being a
police officer than simply wearing a uniform."
Binns likes to dress like a lawman, but the two sources say
that he broke the law at the Hero Thrill Show in 2010, and that Chief David
Wolfson turned a blind eye. In a picture taken that day, Binns is wearing an
authentic-looking Philadelphia police uniform, complete with the patches, the
black-leather gloves, and a fresh pair of aviator sunglasses. He's riding a
realistic highway-patrol Harley-Davidson and dutifully obeying New Jersey
traffic laws by wearing a motorcycle helmet.
The final touch to his faux uniform was a .40-caliber Glock
holstered to his hip, which Wolfson admitted Binns did not have a permit to
carry. Binns had applied for a New Jersey carry permit -- in Margate -- and had
been denied before the Hero Thrill Show there, a source said.
No average citizen in New Jersey is granted a carry permit,
and officers don't have much discretion when face-to-face with someone who is
unlawfully in possession of a handgun. It's a second-degree crime with a mandatory
three- to five-year sentence.
Binns' own website shows him and Wolfson together at the
event, in Margate, but the chief did not arrest him, or even ask him to take
the gun off, Wolfson said, because Binns drove in from Philadelphia that day
with city police officers, wearing a "Philadelphia Highway Patrol"
uniform.
It would have been an "embarrassment" for Binns,
Wolfson said.
"Am I supposed to question whether he's legally
carrying a gun, when he's with those guys?" Wolfson asked. "That
would be like me questioning another jurisdiction."
Wolfson said it was "ridiculous" to think Binns
was too close to the department, although sources allege Binns has stored
personal wave runners on a police lot, was given an official Margate uniform
and even had the security code to enter police headquarters. Wolfson once sent
an on-duty officer to pick Binns up after his car broke down out of the county,
a source said.
Wolfson said the gun issue was eventually brought to Binns'
attention, although not by him. He added that Binns was never wearing a handgun
while dressed in a Margate uniform. He also said it was a friend, not an
on-duty officer, who picked up Binns.
"It's so ridiculous, so unbelievable," he said of
the allegations.
Binns did not return multiple phone calls for comment. His
attorney, Stephen Hankin, declined to comment on allegations made by the
sources.
In Philadelphia, Binns has done so much for the department,
more than any other civilian ever, that no one in the department would say a
bad word about him, several officers told the Daily News. Binns has honored
almost 300 fallen Philadelphia officers with his hero-plaque program and helped
the city obtain dozens of Harleys. Binns also helped the Daily News fund a
recent presentation of the George Fencl Award, which is given to a Philadelphia
police officer worthy of recognition.
Commissioner Charles Ramsey, in a statement, said Binns is a
"generous supporter" of the Police Department.
In February, former Daily News staffer George Miller
questioned whether Binns should have been using an "Official
Business" parking placard from the commissioner's office to park
illegally, for coffee.
"He was parked illegally and knew it. I think he thinks
he's a police officer," said Miller, who wrote about Binns on his blog.
Ramsey said Binns was advised that he does not have
permission to use a parking placard and reiterated that any uniform Binns wears
is not department-issued.
Lt. Ray Evers, a police spokesman, said the department
hasn't gotten calls from anyone questioning Binns' behavior.
"Just you guys, that's it," he said. "He's
done a lot of good for a lot of people."
Had enough of an 18th
century police operating in the 21st
century? Write to the Speaker of the
House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and
demand federal hearings into the police problem in America. Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike
rule on abuse, and a permanent DOJ
office on Police Misconduct.