Angry, angry boys in blue

A Pittsburgh Police officer was arraigned yesterday for domestic violence, giving us yet another peek into the armed men who patrol our streets.

Police Sgt. Eugene Hlavac, whose name should be familiar to some readers of the local news, was released after arraignment over charges heallegedly dislocating his girlfriend's jaw. Initially the victim claimed (as most do) that she "fell down the stairs", but in time the story came out and now a Pittsburgh Police sergeant is in lockup.

What's interesting here is that the Hlavac's very promotion to sergeant came amidst allegations of domestic abuse and, more broadly, being a hazard to the city. How else do you qualify...

A police sergeant's June 18 promotion came three months after he was sent to anger management training and a supervisor recommended that his contact with the public be minimized.--source

I know we don't pay these guys much. It's been pointed out that Pittsburgh Police make less than even Wilkinsburg cops. But in any respect, the city pays this man.

Furthermore, the earliest encounter with officer Hlavac on the public record is March 31, 2006 when he disrupted the peaceful demonstration of the Critical Mass bike riders (in this case the demonstration being nothing more than riding bikes in a large group). WQED interns covering the event noted that, in addition to the wholly unnecessary and by that note illegal behavior of the police, officer Hlavac was a man with a draconian, power-drunk attitude.

There were several people in front of me who didn't move, and because they didn't move I had little choice but to wait for them. While I did so, officer Hlavac grabbed my right arm and dragged me over to his squad car where the rest of his ill gotten detainees were being held. I told him that I had every intention of leaving the scene and that I was simply waiting for the people in front of me to move first, but he would hear nothing of it. I was placed under arrest.--source

This is yet another reminder of what "disorderly conduct" means in Pittsburgh: not submitting to the illegal orders of the police. The only thing that can be said in Hlavic's defense in this case is that he's acting on what has proven to be standard procedure regarding anything different: disorderly conduct, failure to disperse, failure to...you get the idea.

After allegations of domestic abuse in his East Liberty home in 2007, his Zone 5 commander RaShall Brackney recommended his anger counseling and limiting his contact with the public. Instead, he got three days counseling and transfer to the Hill District.

Soon after, Hlavic got a new commander, another man with a history of domestic violence and drunken driving. George Trosky was even demoted for it, from sergeant to patrolman. But in June of 2007, due to a change made in police policy, Trosky was able to jump from detective to commander, omitting the earlier supervisory rank of lieutenant. This was also the same round of promotions that brought Hlavac up to sergeant.

“This decision was based on a 30-year analysis … not one or two bad things, and as a result I made the decision to support the chief,” said Ravenstahl.--source

Ravenstahl's support for Trosky was almost funny, considering men are serving time in prison for less than the few "bad things" that he was demoted for.

So let's recap. What we have here is a man who got in a fight with his girl in March of 2007, and for it was recommended to be taken off the streets. Instead...

"We never took him out of contact with the public," Chief Harper said. "We sent him to Zone 2" in the Hill District, where, the chief acknowledged, there is frequent contact with the public.--source

Because by police standards, are they really the public up on the hill? That would seem to be the only interpretation, when you send all the hotheads into the collection of neighborhoods with high crime and low expectations from law enforcement. First Hlavac, and then three months later he's promoted and his new commander is the explosive Commander Trosky.

Trosky has been in the news recently, shouting again. This time he was berating officers involved in the mayor's security detail. Strange goings-on in the Hill District, where developers are slowly creep up and we seem to like sending our violent cops.

It is not entirely clear how Cmdr. Trosky, who runs the Hill District station, assumed control of the mayor's security during the election night festivities at Mullen's Bar & Grill on the North Side.--source

Something to consider as 2009 is coming to a close.

--Update 12:25:09

The charges against Officer Hlavac have been reduced from felony aggravated assault to misdemeanor simple assault

Officer Hlavac has been fired fromn the Pittsburgh Police, as related by KDKA and the Sue Kerr of Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondent. Kerr has further noted on the 2political junkies blog the remarkably low amount of press this termination has received. As of this writing, it has not been featured on any other news outlet, save KDKA.