Do Cops in Wealthy NY Suburbs Get Paid to Make Intimidating Phone Calls ?

I have long been accustomed to threatening letters from lawyers, but a threatening call from a cop was something quite new:

Sunday afternoon I was watching a documentary about Nat Turner and the slave rebellion of 1831 when I heard our home phone ring.  A little box showed up on the TV identifying the caller as my sister in law, Janet B Linn.  Because Janet can be quite abusive on the phone, I called out to my wife “Don’t answer!”  Too late.  Barb picked up the phone and a man at the other end identified himself as a cop in Greenburgh, New York.

This got my attention!  I have been worried about my brother’s mental health for some time and would not be surprised to get a call that something had happened to him.

Fortunately, that was not the case.  Rather , the police officer was calling  to threaten that I could be committing a criminal act by harassing Janet Linn or Hugh, Schwartz, my brother and her, with emails!

I was astonished that a police officer would make such a threatening call.  He went further, claiming he was going to file a report to the Seattle Police so they could take action.  I later learned from my brother that at least part of the evidence presented to this officer was my posts her husband, on The Ave.

I asked if the officer was familiar with the First Amendment.  He got angry and told me that the State of New York had laws that regulate the content of emails!   Hoping to get the guy to treat me more like an adult, I asked him to use one of the titles I am usually referred to … “Doctor” or “Professor.” At this the officer became obviously angry, raising his voice and insisting on calling me “MR. Schwartz.”  His impolite behavior reminded me of the news reports of the police officer who arrested Professor Henry Lewis Gates for supposedly breaking into his own home!

Ego aside, this officer needs instruction in the First Amendment.  He certainly has no right to threaten legal action against me.  Suffice it to say the officer had been fed a story.  There is a problem in our family with email harassment.  Huge numbers of vituperative and otherwise abusive  emails come from Hugh and Janet.  These are addressed to me, to my wife, to my attorney and to my children.  One day this summer we were in Canada and had left an autoreply that we would have limited access to email. There were 22 in one day just to me!  There were additional emails to my attorney on issues where my lawyer has tried to tell my brother that he does not represent me. Obviously these are intended to cost me money in legal fees.  Worse, my brother is still the co-executor of my father’s estate and sends copies of this spam to the estate attorneys as well.

Needless to say, neither my attorney nor I responded to that deluge of 22 emails.  I received another 24 emails just between yesterday and Sunday.  These included emails addressed to my state of Washington account after I asked Ms. Linn to cease using the resources of my employer.   I ended up having to list her email at the University on a list of blocked addresses.

So what “evidence” had my brother Hugh Schwartz and his wife Janet Linn shown this officer?  Based on the deluge from yesterday and today (those other 24 emails), I think they complained to this officer not about my emails but about posts on this blog!

So, it appears that the police force of Greenburgh, a satellite of New York’s Scarsdale, serve their burghers by placing intimidating phone calls!  I wonder what would happen if I called the Greenburgh police and complained about the emails I get?  Maybe they would do this for me if I told them I am very, very important?