NYPD officer fined for harassing frequent 311 caller with phone messages imitating women, sheep, dolphins and seals
He went beyond the call of duty.
An NYPD officer was hit with hefty fines last month for harassing a frequent 311 caller several years ago with phone messages in which the officer imitated a former beau, then played recordings of sheep, dolphins and seals.
The childish member of New York’s Finest, Brendan Sullivan, was apparently retaliating against 52-year-old Brooklynite Paul Vogel because Vogel called the complaint line hundreds of times to report police cruisers and FDNY trucks that often park on the city’s sidewalks and crosswalks, according to the New York Times.
Sullivan admitted leaving six bizarre messages on Vogel’s phone between March 2021 and January 2022 that ranged from odd to outright creepy — like when the cop imitated a woman’s breathless voice as he pretended to be Vogel’s former lover.
“Hi Paul, just calling to see you how you’re doing,” Sullivan said in the recording obtained by The Times. “I thought I saw you on Vanderbilt but I guess not. I tried to wave you down.”
“I just want to let you know that I miss you,” he continued. “I hope you pick up my call next time. You’re still the best I ever had. I hope you still dream about me. I love you baby. Bye Paulie V.”
In another strange message, Sullivan played recordings of dolphins, seals and sheep cackling and bleating — then hung up.
Other times, he chanted Vogel’s first name and demanded he answer his calls.
The six voicemails — first reported by Streetsblog, a transportation news site — were revealed after the city’s Department of Investigation began looking into cops who retaliated against New Yorkers who complained about illegal parking.
Now Sullivan, a 17-year-vet, will pay the price: a $500 fine to the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, which found he’d tried to “discourage a citizen from exercising his constitutional right about government action,” the Times said.
The member of the 77th Precinct — who has since been put on modified duty — will also lose 60 days’ worth of leave, which is worth about $25,000.
Vogel, for his part, told the Times that the punishment was “pretty significant for what are ultimately some prank calls.”
“On the other hand, the guy is a cop and he harassed a civilian,” he continued. “The idea that someone who would do that in their official capacity still has a badge and a gun doesn’t make me feel very great.”
The NYPD would only say that it was “dedicated to ensuring pedestrian safety for all New Yorkers.”
Vogel said he began calling 311 often during the pandemic because he was frustrated that first responders often parked on sidewalks, in crosswalks and in front of fire hydrants, he said.
“It’s not a minor thing,” he said. “It puts people in danger.”
Vogel, a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood, is well aware of his frequent-flyer status, but implied that it’s something of a hobby.
“Some people play Candy Crush,” he told the Times. “I was a habitual reporter of these things.”
He’s not the only one — so many people were complaining about the illegally parked cruisers earlier this year that the Southern District of New York threatened to sue the Big Apple if they didn’t stop.
But it appears only Vogel suffered their phone-line wrath.
The Brooklyn district attorney investigated the case, but said there was no criminal conduct, the Times said.
It isn’t the first time Sullivan has been in hot water.
Nine years ago, the officer lost 30 vacation days after the NYPD found he’d sent another cop, who is Jewish, photos of dead bodies from the Holocaust and a picture of Hitler giving his one-armed Nazi salute, the Times said.
The victim, David Attali, retired in 2014 because of the alleged abuse, which came from other cops as well.
He sued the city a year later — and during the deposition, Sullivan claimed “We had a joking relationship.”
“I didn’t find them offensive to him,” he said.
The city settled in 2019, the Times said.
But Sullivan’s actions against Vogel were absolutely an abuse of power — and that could have a wider chilling effect, according to John Kaehny, a 311 advocate who’s now the executive director of watchdog group Reinvent Albany.
“It wrecks the efficacy of 311, which remains and is the most important accountability tool, short of voting, that people have.”