outside the jurisdiction of the
city’s police force and employs
“peace offi cers” who require
less training than the city’s
police force, although they are
permitted to carry fi rearms
and make arrests.
Many retired cops join the
pseudo police force only to
discover that Fortunato hires
and protects his friends, often
at the expense of the rest of the
police force, ex-offi cers said.
In one case, Fortunato
hired a personal friend in
2012, who almost immediately
ensnared the department in a
lawsuit after calling two other
offi cers racial slurs, the lawsuit
claims.
The 2017 complaint alleges
that the new hire, Jeffrey Schneider,
called a black sergeant a
“militant n—-r sergeant” after
learning he would have to report
to him, and said he didn’t
want to share a patrol car with
a Latino offi cer, calling him
“that fat Puerto Rican s–c.”
Fortunato fi red Schneider,
but rehired him in 2015 as a sergeant
and later promoted him to
lieutenant, the complaint states.
Former offi cers say that Fortunato
fi nally fi red Schneider in
September of 2019 as a result of
the lawsuit, but argue that Fortunato
COURIER L 22 IFE, FEB. 28-MAR. 5, 2020
should leave too because
of his role in the scandal.
“The chief needs to go,”
said one ex-offi cer, who spoke
on the condition of anonymity
for fear of reprisal. “The chief
was covering up and condoning
what Schneider was doing.”
One former offi cer said that
he saw bogus parking placards
and police paraphernalia, including
department badges,
made for community leaders
responsible for overseeing Sea
Gate’s fi nances.
“I personally saw a box full
of identifi cations and badges
in Chief Fortunato’s offi ce
that were assigned to civilian
friends of Sea Gate and Sea
Gate board members,” said the
offi cer, who also spoke on the
condition of anonymity.
The department’s use of
parking placards raised eyebrows
in 2013, when two Gothamist
articles reported that a
$300,000 Ferrari and a $116,000
Fisher Karma were parked illegally
in Manhattan using
Sea Gate Police Department
parking placards. The placards
falsely claimed to be issued by
the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association,
which does not represent
the department, and an
offi cer for the department reportedly
“chucked coyly” when
asked if any offi cers own the
fl ashy cars, one article claimed.
Offi cers made about $13 per
hour at the time, sources said.
Meanwhile, residents say
that the department routinely
does not respond to calls and
hands out illegitimate tickets to
whomever they please.
“When you call into 911
and request a police offi cer to
come in … what would happen
is that they’d transfer the call
to the Sea Gate Police Department
and sometimes they’d just
cancel the call and say nothing
happened,” said a longtime homeowner,
Vincent. “The association
uses them as bulldogs
who go and harass people
would haven’t paid their dues
— they harass them by giving
them tickets.”
Another former offi cer said
he believed fi ring Fortunato
could help the department turn
a new leaf.
“There was this one day
where four, fi ve people quit,”
said Steve Scordato, a former
NYPD offi cer who worked in
the Sea Gate Police Department
for two years. “Fortunato
should go.”
The Sea Gate Police Department
declined to comment, and
the Sea Gate Association did
not respond to a request for
comment.
SEA GATE POLICE
Continued from Page 3
A Sea Gate police offi cer on duty at the entrance to the gated community in Coney Island
Photo by Derrick Watterson
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