The college-age daughter of the top Port Authority police officer at JFK Airport got a PA officer to chauffeur her home to New Jersey after her plane was diverted from Newark to Kennedy — courtesy of the taxpayers, The Post has learned.
And the favor could cost another top PA cop his job, a source said.
Investigators for the bistate agency’s inspector general are probing claims the PA’s top uniformed cop, Robert H. Belfiore, asked subordinates for the favor, which was done on the PA’s time, other sources told The Post.
The probe was sparked by a tipster who e-mailed the IG claiming that in September, Belfiore, the department’s only three-star chief, had called Kennedy command to request an on-duty PAPD cop meet his daughter and drive her home.
“My daughter was supposed to go into Newark Airport, but her plane was diverted to JFK. Can you give her a ride to New Jersey?” Belfiore asked, according to the tipster.
He had asked to speak with Inspector Kenneth Honig, the beleaguered supervisor who made headlines by approving a $30,000 payment to a subordinate, Sgt. John Farrell, who logged 277 hours of overtime during two weeks in September.
Honig, who sources said may be on the way out, allegedly said of the payment at the time, “Yeah, I authorized it, but so what? The feds are paying.”
Belfiore was unable to reach the off-duty Honig about his daughter’s ride, which was approved by the inspector’s chief aide, Capt. Joseph Scarano.
After the IG’s office called all in the players — including Scarano, Belfiore, a lieutenant, a sergeant and the cop who wound up on chauffeur duty, all admitted what they had done, the sources said.
But when Honig was called, he claimed he hadn’t heard a word about it, the sources said.
The IG’s investigators viewed that assertion as too unbelievable to be credible, so they subjected him to another grilling last week, and told him a cop had said he’d reported the favor to Honig, an insider confirmed.
Honig replied he didn’t specifically remember being told, but that if another official was saying so, “I probably was.”
(Source: NY Post)
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4 Responses
Our officials are any time more corrupted than the standard civilians. who are we supposed to learn from??
Who cares I don’t see anything wrong with that favor !! If I wher a high ranking officer I would do the same its part of a benifit of working for our country these cops who risk there lives for their country every year a handfull of cops are killed on duty and off kol hakavod for this cop I don’t think people should be buggin him for this !!
The Port Authority does not receive tax dollars. They’re self funding.
mosheemes2 is correct, as far as he goes:
According to its published 2011 budget:
“The Port Authority is a self-sustaining agency that relies upon its own creditworthiness to access the
capital markets to raise the necessary funds for the acquisition, operations and investment of its facilities.
It is not dependent on state or local taxes from New York or New Jersey and has no power to levy its own
taxes or assessments. The agency generally funds its operating and capital expenditures through
revenues generated by its facilities, the issuance of bonds, notes and other obligations, receipt of grants,
insurance proceeds and other contributions, financial income earned on its investments, and the
collection of Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs) at its airports.”
But the PANY is a quasi governmental entity; and it’s funding independence does not address the propriety of allocating official resources, and I might add official law enforcement resources, to such a personal non-work related mission for a big wig.