As a New York City police officer with over 30 years of service and retired as the first vice president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, I would like to comment on the upcoming election of Steven Barnwell for Judge. I have seen Judge Barnwell work in many capacities.
I first met him about 20 years ago in Rockaway, Queens, when he responded as the on-call Attorney for the P.B.A. to represent a retired police officer involved in a shooting while being the victim of a knifepoint attack.
He immediately took charge and refused to go along with the District Attorney’s approach to handling the incident, and refused to proceed until a full and fair investigation was completed. We spent over 10 hours in the 100th precinct station house, and at the end of the day, no charges were filed against the retired officer.
He has done this hundreds of times in every borough of the city of New York, Suffolk and Nassau Counties, representing police officers at internal investigations, arraignments and in criminal and in traffic court.
In my current capacity as a private investigator, I have seen Steve Barnwell interact with Supreme Court judges and prosecutors, and they all respect and admire him as the professional that he is.
He is not a politician. He is a judge and a lawyer who applies the law fairly and equally to all who come before him. He is a good man, but not so absolute in goodness as to forget human frailty. The people of Mineola would be well served to return Justice Steve Barnwell to the village court.
Bruce A. Robertson
New York, NY
