The Fair Lawn Cop Card Challenge
Vote for your favorite Fair Lawn Cop Card photo in the poll below.
Photos
A newly-minted Fair Lawn Police Sergeant introduced me to the Fair Lawn Cop Card web page recently and I must say I've been engrossed ever since.
What's a "Cop Card," you ask? I wasn't sure either, but thankfully the page provides a handy explanation:
"For years, baseball players have had their photos on trading cards.....now it's our turn!!!!!!"
Apparently, since 1998, the Fair Lawn Police Department has been having cop cards made for a select number of officers and dispatchers who would like to have their likenesses (and 90s mustaches) preserved for eternity.
In all seriousness, the cards were actually intended to make the officers more approachable and to help open up the lines of communication between the police department and the community, especially its children.
Since the "Premiere" edition was released in 1998, there have been two subsequent sets released --the aptly named "Millenium" edition in 2000 and the 75th "Anniversary" edition in 2006. I've never seen one of these cards in person, but apparently they don't just exist on the internet.
According to the web page:
“The patch cards have a check-off list on the back so you can keep track of which cards you have and which cards you still need. On the back of each officer’s card there is information about the featured officer and a personal message.”
Now you might be wondering, “What if I’m in the card trading business and need that elusive Millenium Edition Lt. Derek Bastinck card to complete my set?”
Fear not collector, all you have to do is walk up to Lt. Bastinck, introduce yourself and ask him for his cop card—or so the website says (I’ve never tried it). If you’re lucky, he might even sign it for you. He used to play professional baseball after all, so he should be used to the drill.
While most of the cop cards have pretty standard photos of the uniformed officers, some include props (usually weapons) and are intentionally and, at times, unintentionally humorous.
I’ve selected my 10 favorites with appropriate nicknames for each officer. Now it’s your turn to vote on who you think rocks their cop card the hardest. Feel free to add your own nickname suggestions, but please be respectful!
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Ciao
9:19 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Jeff always reminded me of Chazz Palminteri in the Bronx Tale. Looks like, not acts like :)
Joe Reece
5:32 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Nail on the head, I believe his name was "Sonny" in the movie!
ThinkingBetty
9:45 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Wow! Speechless.
mrvrnj421
10:12 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Gold! Pure gold!! I love the throwback look...looks like they are from the early '90's
J Fed
10:28 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Detective Karen "Heavy Artillery" Censullo has my vote!
Harry
10:36 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Officer Obrien appears to be playing patty-cakes.. ...hence my children call him the" patty cakes cop"
VillageGuy
11:06 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Sgt Schultz looks like at any moment he's gunna break into a chorus of " Y-M-C-A" !
Douglas Bradley Haber
11:12 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Personally, one of my favorites is Mecionis from 06..
http://www.fairlawnpd.com/cop_cards/cc_images/cc_2006/06_28_mecionis.jpg
Zak Koeske
1:10 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Yeah, Mecionis is great too. I excluded him simply because I used that photo in a story within the past week where he made an arrest. Wanted to give some other officers the spotlight.
Life-Long FL Resident
5:42 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Honestly, I voted and kind of got a kick out of this article.. However I do believe that nicknaming and making a sort of mockery of our police force is a little tacky.. like "patty cakes" sounds a little demeaning and feminises a tough guy.. But ok I played along since the whole Cop Card thing is a little tacky in it of itself!
Zak Koeske
6:47 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Patty Cakes was actually the name suggested by previous commenter "Harry." I had initially dubbed O'Brien "The (Criminal) Catcher" because of the squat, but I changed it.
Peter Loffman
9:16 am on Friday, August 17, 2012
Why don't you have Mary Ann Collura's card posted?
Mr. G
10:05 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
Lt. Bob Kneer is a Fair Lawn legend!!!!
Dorothy Kilgallen
11:28 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
I'm a big fan of Pete Y. Where is his card?
Zak Koeske
6:15 am on Saturday, August 18, 2012
http://www.fairlawnpd.com/cop_cards/cc_images/cc_2006/06_33_yuskaitis.jpg
BB 2012
10:29 am on Monday, August 20, 2012
I guess he would have to grow a 70's mustach to get in!!
Tommy P
12:08 pm on Saturday, August 18, 2012
Pattycakes, the Don, Dirty Harry, is this really the image we want our "civil servants" to present? Shame on the for using questionable nicknames and shame on them for wasting more tax payers dollars.
@Zak why not put the other Metzler on the list?
Chris Antonelli
4:50 pm on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Oh geez.... Lighten up a little. The "Cop Cards" are a good way to introduce law enforcement individuals to young children. Police are sometime portrayed as bad in society.
P.S. I think Schultz could have been in the Beastie Boys video Sabotage. Lol...
FL SHAMEFUL
1:22 pm on Saturday, August 18, 2012
Where are some of the "REAL COPS" that aren't posted in this challenge? There are Cops that are NOT listed that SHOULD BE!!! NOT a fair challenge by all means!! SOME of these Police Officer's are REAL COPS but NOT ALL, some NEVER really did anything extradinary at all in their career, why are they on here?
Zak Koeske
2:39 pm on Saturday, August 18, 2012
The selection of the Top 10 Cop Cards is based entirely on how humorous -- intentionally or unintentionally -- their card appeared. Most of the cop cards were just standard photos, so I didn't include those. Others, where officers were obviously goofing around with props in their photos, I did include.
Dedra Miller
7:50 pm on Saturday, August 18, 2012
I found the Messina cop card!
http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDoYAEKjBQYHYAipOJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBlMTQ4cGxyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1n?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dpile%2Bof%2Bmoney%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-521%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D2&w=600&h=688&imgurl=www.fearla.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F07%2Fpile-of-money.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fearla.com%2Fsports-betting-101-vegas-style%2F2011%2F07%2F19&size=119.5+KB&name=How+to+gamble+at+a+Vegas+Sportsbook+%7C+FEAR+LA&p=pile+of+money&oid=2a406d40c1add325482ee8d99db5848d&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-521&tt=How%2Bto%2Bgamble%2Bat%2Ba%2BVegas%2BSportsbook%2B%257C%2BFEAR%2BLA&b=0&ni=108&no=2&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=11vqg862q&sigb=133img2qo&sigi=11rns9je5&.crumb=clBPAc/o4CC
FL SHAMEFUL
9:30 pm on Saturday, August 18, 2012
Ok Zak another question maybe you can somehow answer. James Vankruiningen was NEVER a Police Officer you posted a Cop Card of him as a Dispatcher Ibdon't get that one either.
Zak Koeske
11:11 pm on Saturday, August 18, 2012
I just included Jim because I thought his picture was funny. He wasn't included in the actual poll because he's not a police officer, but as someone who is still an active member of the borough I thought his picture fit to include.
OlderWiser
5:50 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
Mr. Shameful, you are incorrect. According to an old Shopper article, James VanKrunigen was a police recruit, then he resigned before graduating the police academy.
Russell Hauptman
10:09 pm on Saturday, August 18, 2012
I would think it would be obvious, but the dispatchers, while not on the front lines are an integral line of communication between the various departments, officers and services. Jim himself went from being a dispatcher to being the assistant to the Borough Manager and has served twice as the Rescue Chief. I know Jim and several of the other dispatchers former and current and I'd say they all do a remarkable job and deserve credit for it. And seeing as how the consolidation of our dispatchers seems to be a "dead issue" I guess others agree as well.