Thankfully, The White Plains PD is not the MTA PD

I can't even begin to tell you how much better I feel now that I'm dealing with the White Plains Police Department (WPPD).

In my first (and thankfully only) run in with the MTA PD, I was met by 4 uniformed officers at Grand Central Station. These officers refused to listen to my side of the story and basically treated me quite badly. Although I had done nothing wrong, at the end of that encounter, I felt like a criminal. Even worse, I was now scared of this woman and the power that she had. If the police weren't going to listen to me then I was lost.

At the advice of a friend, last May, I sent a letter to the chief of the MTA PD asking for help. That letter remains unanswered.

During my most recent situation with the WPPD, the officer (I wish I knew his name) and I talked for about 20 minutes. He listened to my frustration and while I wasn't happy about having been met at the train station, I came away feeling that he had heard my side of the story and that his report would be fair.

On a Monday morning I mailed a letter to the chief of the WPPD. On Wednesday evening, I got a call from Lt. Kevin Christopher. I wasn't home but he left his office and cell phone numbers. I got to speak to him on Thursday and once again, I felt that someone had listened to me and was going to try to help.

At this point, it seems that everyone wants the same thing. The woman does not want to be anywhere near me, I don't want to be anywhere near her, and the PD would just as soon have the whole thing over and done with.

This case is far from the most important that the WPPD have to deal with. They didn't make me feel that way, however. They treated me like a human being. I understand that this woman's complaint is something they must investigate. They have to be sure that I'm not a criminal. At no point, however, did they treat me like one before investigating the matter.

If this all reads like a love letter to the WPPD, I can't help that. The MTA PD left me feeling scared and abused. The WPPD treated me fairly and that matters a lot.

I'm betting on the White Plains Police Dept.

I have done several things since last Wednesday which I'm hoping will help.

First, on Thursday, I called Detective Martin. Once I reminded him of who I was, I told him that I felt that this woman was using the Police to harass me. I gave him the incident number and asked him if there was anything that he could do.

He was honest, which I appreciate. He told me that he would look into it but that he may not be able to prevent officers from meeting me in person to follow up future complaints. He explained that the person taking the complaint might not know that there was a history. Without knowing that, they would do what the officer I spoke to on Wednesday did, which is meet me in person. He also told me that the White Plains Detectives were involved in a big case and that he would be able to look into it until this week.

This morning I am sending a letter to the Chief of the White Plains Police Department, James Bradley. Although my letter to the MTA Police Chief went unanswered, I am more optomistic about the White Plains Police. I feel that I have been treated very fairly by them unlike the MTA Police who seemed to have decided that I was guilty before they even talked to me.

I have a friend who has a family member on the White Plains Police Department. I have asked him if I could talk to him, not as a Police Officer, but rather as someone who might be able to offer advice about how to proceed.

Finally, I talked to another friend who is a lawyer. He did some research and offered some helpful advice. I'm not sure if I'm at the stage yet where it is time to retain an attorney but I'm certainly close. We will see what comes from the measures I'm taking.

It's not over yet

It has been quite a while since my last post. It had been so long that I actually thought that my last post was my last post. But...

Tonight, when I got in my car, an policeman from the White Plains PD came up to talk to me. He said that I had parked next to this woman and that she was afraid of me.

He said that she still insisted that I was following her. I told him that there was nobody parked on either side of me when I parked my car and that I hadn't seen her today. He agreed that she also said that she hadn't seen me but that the place where I parked my car was a threat. He said that she wanted to get an order of protection.

I explained to him that I had never done anything to this woman and that the only one of us who had ever been abusive was her. He told me to avoid contact with her. I told him that that was what I had been doing and yet I was still getting met by the Police.

So now I'm back to not knowing what to do. I really thought that this was over and I'm very unhappy that it isn't. This woman is using the police to harass me and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it.