Muhheakannuck Nations at Nu Scodack
It takes 40 years to make a Sagamore .... S 8 2022
The Making of a Sagamore
Never Called by His Given Name
Auxiliary Police II
The Blackout of 1977
It was very hot on the evening of July 13, 1977 and Auxiliary Police turnout in the 46 was light. Normally, auxiliary patrols in the 46 were divided between Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse, with 2 - 3 patrols on each but this evening, she decided to cover only Fordham Road. So two teams were assigned the adjoining posts on Fordham Road which met at the Concourse. She had scheduled an Auxiliary Supervisors meeting to begin after the patrols were assigned and posted. All supervisors were present except A/Sgt. McC. The Auxiliary Coordinator, Police Officer Tony Sexton attended as usual. A little after 9 pm, the lights went out. The phone had no dial tone.
As executive officer, X.O., A/Lt. D'amico immediately headed for Fordham and the Concourse with their car to setup a command post and the coordinator headed for his post at the station house desk. Tony's first job was to get the generator running and tonight it cooperated on the first try. The other supervisors headed for their assignments and the 46 Auxiliary Emergency Service Unit was dispatched. The Auxiliary desk officer, APO Yvette A. was moved from downstairs to the station house entrance where she would maintain three logs throughout the night, logging all Auxiliary activity and incoming personnel, as well as answering citizens questions. Before the Auxiliary C.O. could get her gear, she was confronted by a bleeding woman. The woman's arm had been in the path of the descending plate glass of a smashed Concourse store window. The cut was so severe and jagged that the Aux. C.O. used sanitary napkins to bandage it and strongly advised the woman to go to the hospital.
As executive officer, X.O., A/Lt. D'amico immediately headed for Fordham and the Concourse with their car to setup a command post and the coordinator headed for his post at the station house desk. Tony's first job was to get the generator running and tonight it cooperated on the first try. The other supervisors headed for their assignments and the 46 Auxiliary Emergency Service Unit was dispatched. The Auxiliary desk officer, APO Yvette A. was moved from downstairs to the station house entrance where she would maintain three logs throughout the night, logging all Auxiliary activity and incoming personnel, as well as answering citizens questions. Before the Auxiliary C.O. could get her gear, she was confronted by a bleeding woman. The woman's arm had been in the path of the descending plate glass of a smashed Concourse store window. The cut was so severe and jagged that the Aux. C.O. used sanitary napkins to bandage it and strongly advised the woman to go to the hospital.
Looting
The looting had begun.
As regular and auxiliairy officers reported to the 46th Precinct station house or the Fordham Road command post, they were assigned posts. Within a half hour, the auxiliary patrols on Fordham tripled. It was unsafe to assign unarmed patrols to the Grand Concourse, South of 188th Street, as the looting had begun within minutes of the loss of electricity. The A/X.O. not only kept track of all the Auxiliaries working in the 46, he also tracked all the regular officers being assigned by the 46 regular X.O. Capt. Vignola. They worked as a team throughout the night. This led to a lasting friendship between the two men. There would be over 400 regulars and 200 auxiliaries from various commands in the 46 this night.
The command post also directed military and national guard personnel to the Kingsbridge Armory at Jerome and Kingsbridge. Buses were flagged down to pick up passengers headed for the South Bronx. The buses were stopping only for police due to the looting.
The command was also minding a young boy from the South Bronx who had become separated from his mother.
Working from home.
A/Sgt. McC worked in a bank and there was a branch of the bank on the corner of her street. It was being looted so she told the looters that they could store the computer equipment in the lobby of her building. She would mind it for them. And they did. It was all returned to the bank the next day.
There were two anti-crime units angle parked on the Grand Concourse, one on each side of the boulevard, visibly armed with shotguns and not a little frustrated by what they were witnessing.
Phone Usage Subsided to Manageable Levels
Around 2200 hours [10 pm], the Bronx Boro Auxiliary coordinator, P. O. Bahr called on the landline from the PBBX Auxiliary headquarters at Lehman College. The 46 A/C.O. brought him up to date. He said to continue patrols and that a PBBX Auxiliary zone supervisor would visit.
She spoke on the phone with Lt. T who resided in New York's Hudson Valley where the biggest worry that night was that the temperature would drop below 40 -- too cold for the tomatoes. He said he would be in for the morning shift when they would need a fresh face.
The Routine of Looting
As things settled into a routine at the 46 station house, she took one of her officers and headed for the command post on foot, entering the Grand Concourse from 181st Street, walking on the east side, the side being looted first. They walked along the curb, watching the looters. A pickup truck would back up to a store's gates and a looter would attach the chains to the gates. The truck would then pull away, pulling the gates down. Someone would then smash the glass with a stick and the onlookers would rush into the store. The truck would then back up to the next store's gates and repeat the process.
One of the stores was a TV repair shop owned by the father of a 47th Precinct Auxiliary. He went out of business.
As the A/C.O. and her partner crossed 183rd Street, they were noticed. She told her partner to take longer steps but at the same pace. At first, there was one following them, then a few, then about 30 men. She saw the anti-crime team, standing on both sides of their vehicle with their shotguns clearly visible and hoped the looters would soon notice them also. They did and went back to their looting.
Everything was very calm and busniess like. There was no rioting, just looting. The rest of the walk to Fordham was uneventful until they reached 188th Street. However, her partner would not return to patrol for a year. When he did return he was an usually mature young man. A/Lt. D"Amico recruited him as his assistant in his chaplaincy work.
At 188th Street, they met up with the A/X.O. who had just rescued another regular team on 188th Street, something he would do throughout the night. He updated them on the status of the Auxiliary patrols which were covering Fordham Road from Jerome Avenue, west to Third Avenue.
Only Two Looting Attempts on Fordham Road
There were only 2 incidents of attempted looting on Fordham Road. The one at Alexander's was deterred by the store's Doberman watch dogs. The other was at a jewelry store near Jerome, where a window had been broken but the initial looter had been scared off by 5 foot APO Frances A. who then sat in her car waiting for reinforcements. This was enough to deter anyone else, while her partner went for help. They were soon joined by another team and spent the rest of the night aiding people by answereing their questions.
Using Ice Before it Melted
She went to one of the store owners and asked for cold drinks for the officers on patrol as it was in the high 90s and the ice was going to melt anyway. She was given lemonade which was then distributed to all the patrols on Fordham and nearby.
After visitng the patrols, she drove the boy home to the South Bronx, driving south on the Concourse, past other stores being looted. However, it was very quiet in the South Bronx. Fires had been lit in 55 gallon trash cans to provide light. When they reached the boy's neighborhood, a neighbor recognized the boy, sent someone to get his mother, and mother and son were reunited.
Mass Processing of Looters
Looters were being apprehended but there were too many to process. The 46th Auxilairy Coordinator came up with the idea of taking a polaroid snapshiot of each looter holding his loot, then numbering the picture, the looter and the loot. This was soon modified to putting a number on the looter and the loot before taking the picture. The looter was then put on a bus and transported to a holding area while the loot was piled high. This was done with hundreds of looters, especially with the big items such as TVs and large appliances.
Hit and run squads were set up, made up of 2 regular and 2 auxiliary police officers. Looters would be chased to make them run between squad members, who would hit them in the arm with a night stick, causing them to drop whatever they were carrying and lose some of their enthusiam for looting.
This relieved a lot of tension for the police officers which had built up with the layoffs and greatly improved relations between regular and auxiliary police officers. One of the regular sergeants, Sgt. M, gifted her with a beautiful nightstick as a token of appreciation and respect.
Major lesson learned from this event by many in NYC PD.
Two foot patrol teams, armed only with nightsticks, at the start of the blackout held Fordham Road: no looting.Lack of initial coverage of the Grand Concourse resulted in total loss of all commercial premises. Some had only the bare walls left. No carpetting or light fixtures. No part of a front wall.
AFS, however, refused all requests for a unit citation, giving, instead. all 46 auxiliaries two Merit awards
AFS, however, refused all requests for a unit citation, giving, instead. all 46 auxiliaries two Merit awards
Special Consideration
AFS, however, refused all requests for a unit citation for the 46, giving, instead. all 46 auxiliaries two Merit awards each.
Not long after this, A/Lt. D'Amico's shield was stolen from his locked locker in the basement of the 46, a very secure location. The normal penalty was a 30 day suspension for loss of shield, regardless of cause. However, when the report went up the chain of command, Capt. Vignola strongly recommended that no penalty be imposed which was endorsed by the 46 C.O. and PBBX. It was honored by Auxiliary Forces Section.
Chaplain 46th Precinct
He was ordained in the fall of 1977. He applied to be an Auxiliary Chaplain. The request was approved by the entire PBBX chain of command but unanswered by Auxiliary Headquarters.
AFS asked the local RC officials to verify his credentials in spite of his being ordained by non RC clergy.
He was appointed Chaplain for the 46th Precinct by the 46 C.O and when later transferred to PBBX served as a chaplain throughout the Bronx.
When they took public transportation to and from the 46, people frequently asked if they could talk with him and he spent most of each trip counseling people.
Continued as 8 Years in Prison 9