NewsHound
09-17-2008, 01:51 AM
WILKINSBURG, Pa. --
Last month Team 4 reported that Wilkinsburg Police Chief Ophelia Coleman was not a certified police officer, yet she still assisted on at least one arrest.
Team 4 has now found dozens of other cases in which Coleman was listed as the arresting officer.
All of the cases involved kids at Wilkinsburg High School.
Most of them were disorderly conduct citations.
Pennsylvania state law mandates that the arresting or charging officer must be a certified police officer, but Coleman is not certified.
Last year Wilkinsburg school officials decided to crack down on school violence.
With the approval of police and the local district judge, they had security guards start writing tickets against students who were fighting.
They even set up a courtroom at the high school.
Brothers Shakur and Rocquan Eubanks were cited for fighting last June.
?It was the last day of school, and we wanted to go out with a bang so we had a food fight,? said Shakur Eubanks.
Even though security guards wrote the tickets, under state law a police officer needed to sign off on them.
Records show police chief Ophelia Coleman signed off on 32 of the cases, including one involving the Eubanks brothers.
Even though she's chief, she is not a certified police officer.
That means she cannot make arrests or write tickets.
Wilkinsburg school superintendent, Archie Perrin, was also not aware of any potential problem with the cases until Team 4 told him about Coleman's involvement.
?We thought we were using the proper procedure and process for that because we did involve law enforcement in that decision,? Perrin said.
Reached by phone at her office, Coleman declined to comment.
All of the school cases were heard by District Judge Kimberly Hoots.
Hoots declined to go on camera.
She said she needed to review the legal status of all the cases with Coleman's name on them.
However, we've learned that it's been only one week since the Coleman officially notified the judge that she was not a certified police officer.
But, Coleman's lack of certification may not be the only problem.
All the tickets were written and signed by school security guards. The guards also wrote a number indicating they work for the Wilkinsburg Police Department - even though they actually work for the school district.
A state police spokeswoman told Team 4 that ?'in Pennsylvania you would have to be certified as a local officer in order to file those charges,? said Cpl. Linette Quinn.
But a Wilkinsburg school spokesman said none of the security guards are certified officers.
The school superintendent said he hopes all this does not jeopardize his efforts to crack down on discipline.
?This is new information you're giving me and I'm going to be forced to look into it to see where we can carry it all the way through,? Perrin said.
A spokesman for District Attorney Stephen Zappala said he is not too concerned with Coleman's name being on the 32 cases as arresting officer because, in reality, she had little or no involvement with the cases.
But the district attorney?s office is concerned about security guards being allowed to write and sign the citations and they?re looking into it.
A representative for the district judge told Team 4 that because of their findings she is no longer accepting summary offense citations from school security guards or the chief.
Source thepittsburghchannel.com
Last month Team 4 reported that Wilkinsburg Police Chief Ophelia Coleman was not a certified police officer, yet she still assisted on at least one arrest.
Team 4 has now found dozens of other cases in which Coleman was listed as the arresting officer.
All of the cases involved kids at Wilkinsburg High School.
Most of them were disorderly conduct citations.
Pennsylvania state law mandates that the arresting or charging officer must be a certified police officer, but Coleman is not certified.
Last year Wilkinsburg school officials decided to crack down on school violence.
With the approval of police and the local district judge, they had security guards start writing tickets against students who were fighting.
They even set up a courtroom at the high school.
Brothers Shakur and Rocquan Eubanks were cited for fighting last June.
?It was the last day of school, and we wanted to go out with a bang so we had a food fight,? said Shakur Eubanks.
Even though security guards wrote the tickets, under state law a police officer needed to sign off on them.
Records show police chief Ophelia Coleman signed off on 32 of the cases, including one involving the Eubanks brothers.
Even though she's chief, she is not a certified police officer.
That means she cannot make arrests or write tickets.
Wilkinsburg school superintendent, Archie Perrin, was also not aware of any potential problem with the cases until Team 4 told him about Coleman's involvement.
?We thought we were using the proper procedure and process for that because we did involve law enforcement in that decision,? Perrin said.
Reached by phone at her office, Coleman declined to comment.
All of the school cases were heard by District Judge Kimberly Hoots.
Hoots declined to go on camera.
She said she needed to review the legal status of all the cases with Coleman's name on them.
However, we've learned that it's been only one week since the Coleman officially notified the judge that she was not a certified police officer.
But, Coleman's lack of certification may not be the only problem.
All the tickets were written and signed by school security guards. The guards also wrote a number indicating they work for the Wilkinsburg Police Department - even though they actually work for the school district.
A state police spokeswoman told Team 4 that ?'in Pennsylvania you would have to be certified as a local officer in order to file those charges,? said Cpl. Linette Quinn.
But a Wilkinsburg school spokesman said none of the security guards are certified officers.
The school superintendent said he hopes all this does not jeopardize his efforts to crack down on discipline.
?This is new information you're giving me and I'm going to be forced to look into it to see where we can carry it all the way through,? Perrin said.
A spokesman for District Attorney Stephen Zappala said he is not too concerned with Coleman's name being on the 32 cases as arresting officer because, in reality, she had little or no involvement with the cases.
But the district attorney?s office is concerned about security guards being allowed to write and sign the citations and they?re looking into it.
A representative for the district judge told Team 4 that because of their findings she is no longer accepting summary offense citations from school security guards or the chief.
Source thepittsburghchannel.com