April 2004: Captain Messina is accused of being verbally abusive towards residents at a community meeting and is asked to leave.

January 2007: Videos taken in 2003 appear on YouTube and show a sleeping Messina at the docketing desk of police headquarters.

May 2007: Messina is linked to the ordering of on-duty personnel to the funeral of Santiago's father-in-law

July 2007: Messina makes national news with the debut of www.captsleepy.com, which shows two still photos of Messina asleep on duty, again.

July 2007: Messina finds a copy of the Trentonian newspaper on the windshield of his police cruiser and declares it a crime scene and orders the car be towed for evidentiary purposes.

July 2007: Grace Dunn Middle School Principal MaryAnn Klaus questions why a letter she sent in May 2007 to Santiago and Mayor Palmer concerning Messina's unprofessional conduct was never addressed.

July 2007: An anonymous post on NJ.com alleges Messina used city resources for personal gain during an off-duty side job.

July 2007: An internal letter appeared on www.captsleepy.com from Trenton Municipal Prosecutor Lyle Hough requesting Santiago address why Messina screamed at his employees.

August 2007: Photos on www.captsleepy.com show Messina's police cruiser sitting in his driveway while he's on suspension. The vehicle should've been turned in by Messina during the suspension.

August 2007: Popular Trenton Detective Luis Reyes is unexpectedly transferred from his position in Community Affairs. Speculation indicates Detective Reyes' transfer was the result of his working relationship with Councilman Coston and Messina's dislike of both.

September 2007: Messina oversteps his bounds and demands an off-duty Mercer County Sheriff's Officer disarm during a peaceful rally at the Marriott Hotel.

September 2007: Messina is accused of getting into a verbal altercation with an on-duty Trenton police officer who alleges Messina was irate over the issuance of parking tickets in the area of the hotel during the Conference of Mayors and had an odor of alcohol about him

As if all of that weren't enough for a rational thinking administrator to put an end to this madness, Captain Messina is now on the cusp of embarrassing the city of Trenton one more time.

Approximately one month ago an unnamed female officer made a written request for a laptop computer due to the numerous duties and responsibilities performed by her in accordance with her current assignment. As required, she wrote a letter to her lieutenant making the request and the lieutenant in turn signed off on it and forwarded it to Messina. In addition to approving the request for the computer, Messina made a notation on the letter indicating that computers should be acquired for all the officers in the unit, along with a projector for the female officer.

On Thursday September 27, 2007 a group of supervisors and detectives met in the basement of police headquarters for the issuance of new laptop computers, including the one approved for the female officer. Apparently the lieutenant and Messina forgot about the letter that was submitted and approved, because they began asking questions about why this officer was getting a computer as they didn't know how it could've been approved. Upon Messina being shown the letter HE signed and approved, he became quite agitated. (Go figure.)

While awaiting the arrival of the computers an unidentified male officer asked Messina how he could get a laptop computer since his female counterpart was receiving one, but not him.

Captain Messina allegedly responded,

"Buy a set of tits, flash them in front of Barry (Colicelli) and Director Santiago and you can get anything you want."

Although this comment wasn't made in front of the female officer, it did get back to her and as expected she was highly offended.

Soon word of Messina's remarks made it to high places and on Friday morning the female officer was reportedly told she was being transferred out of Messina's command and into the director's office. Obviously the transfer is occurring to protect her from further Sexual Harassment and to remove her from a Hostile Work Environment.

Unless I'm living in a vacuum, this incident will surely be picked up by the local media -and possibly regional media outlets- and will once again put a black eye on the city of Trenton and the Trenton Police Department.

It will also call to light the type of leadership within TPD, after all, Santiago is still involved in a sexual harassment lawsuit in which he's alleged to have told a female Trenton officer, "You can still wear the high black leather boots for me, but only if that's all you wear."

I consider myself in the majority in wondering what it will take to get this unsophisticated, overbearing, vindictive hand picked Santiago minion out of the position he's in and into the Office of Irrelevance established for the three professional Deputy Chiefs that were forced out by the manipulative Joseph Santiago?

For the folks that feel this site is a only place to grind an axe, I offer the following solution:

Director Santiago has at his disposal two extremely qualified Captains in the likes of Captain William Seaman and Captain Ernest Parrey. Both men are more than qualified to take over for Messina, but both are relegated to midnights as a punishment by Santiago. (Seaman for being president of the Superior Officers Association and Parrey for supporting Tony Mack in last year's election.) The sad thing is both men have forgotten more about police work than Messina will ever know, yet all their years of experience are wasted because of Santiago's overblown ego.

Here's a mini resume on Seaman and Parrey:

Seaman has over 25 years on the job and has 20+ years of Pro-Active experience as an officer and supervisor. Seaman was instrumental in the implementation of the SWAT team for TPD and during his tenure Pro-Active saw a record amount of drug arrests in 2001 with over 2500. He's attended numerous schools over the years for training including SWAT, DEA and narcotics investigations and is considered an excellent supervisor among his peers and subordinates. His credentials more than qualify him to lead the TAC and VEU units.

Parrey also has over twenty years of service with TPD and has had extensive training throughout his career. As a patrolman Parrey was a member of the Community Policing Unit that was instituted in the early 90's and was instrumental in cleaning up the Sweets Ave./Fountain Ave. area with Det. Manuel Montez. Together they worked with the residents of the area and transformed the neighborhood into a place people were proud to say they lived. In 1996 Parrey was promoted to Sergeant and led the CP Unit for a short period of time and was then appointed as Sergeant of one of the Pro-Active units. After being promoted to Lieutenant in 2000, Parrey was put into Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB), where he stayed until his promotion to Captain in 2004.

With his new rank, Parrey was put in charge of the Patrol Division's administration office and was responsible for all of patrol's needs, which included among other things; scheduling, transfers, vacations, training, etc. Parrey remained in this position until after the election and was transferred immediately after Palmer won and after being told by Santiago he was going transfer him "when Tony Mack lost".

Captain Parrey would make an excellent choice for head of CIB.

In addition to the vast experience these two men possess, they also have personal and professional qualities that Messina is incapable of acquiring. These include, but are not limited to honesty, integrity and compassion and both have the respect of the vast majority of men and women within the department.

A very qualified replacement for Messina would be Captain Juniak. Currently Captain Juniak is in charge of CIB and possesses more than enough skills needed to run the patrol division and is an excellent front man for TPD. Aside from all his great personal and professional qualities, he's respected and admired by both the members of TPD and the public and is more than competent enough to take over the Patrol Division.

Captain Juniak would be the most logical choice to replace Messina and would undoubtedly bring a sense of normalcy back to the Patrol Division.

It's high time that the citizens of Trenton DEMAND accountability from Palmer and city council and insist that immediate changes be made to remove Messina from his current position and relegate him to a spot were human interaction is minimal or non-existent.

Although there are conflicting accounts of how this matter was resolved one thing is for certain, this should've been a red flag for any decent executive.

The next embarrassing high profile incident came in January 2007 when videos of Messina surfaced on YouTube showing Messina sleeping on duty in November 2003. In typical Santiago fashion damage control was activated, as all he did was defend Messina by proclaiming the videos as "ancient history" and blaming the videographer for its release.

Then in May 2007 Messina was linked to the ordering of on-duty personnel and city resources to the funeral of Santiago's father-in-law in Newark NJ. This escapade -now known as Funeral-Gate- again saw Santiago at his peak as he deflected all responsibility and blame and twisted it into the complaining officers being disrespectful to him and his family.

Some facts about this incident include Sleepy lying when he told council it was "regular procedure" to send on-duty officers and marked police vehicles to out-of-town non-law enforcement funerals. Also, Santiago's claim to council that he didn't know if the involved officers volunteered to relinquish there Administrative Day before or after news of the controversy hit the papers is suspect to say the least. And one other unspoken secret regarding Funeral-Gate is that Messina actually approached several of the officers involved and offered money from Santiago to use an Administrative Day. Although this was never publicized or discussed publicly, it is a fact.

As if this weren't enough for Santiago to at least put the reins on Messina, it only began getting worse.

On July 9, 2007 www.captsleepy.com made its debut showing photos of Messina sleeping on-duty again while manning the controls of police headquarters. In the telling photos Messina is seen sound asleep with his gun belt off, which is sitting ten feet away and unsecured, and the computer monitors he's suppose to be watching also in sleep mode all while Messina saws wood.

As expected, this incident drew no criticism from Santiago or Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, but astoundingly, Messina drew praise from city council president Paul Pintella when he told the Times of Trenton reporter Eva Loayza that Messina is, "a pretty good officer. He's well-liked, respected and he does his job." (I'm sure Pintella got a pat on the back and an 'attaboy' from Palmer for that statement.)

Then on the day the 'sleeping' story made front page news with the Trentonian, Messina made news again when he exited a local restaurant and found a copy of the Trentonian on the windshield of his police cruiser. Messina overreacted to the joke by having his car declared a crime scene and ordering it towed and dusted for prints by TPD's ID unit.

While still reeling from this nationally reported scandal Messina again found himself in the spotlight days later on July 11, 2007 after Grace Dunn Middle School Principal MaryAnn Klaus contacted the Times of Trenton and informed Ms. Loayza of a letter she sent to Santiago and Palmer in May regarding an incident involving Messina. In the letter Klaus accused Messina of being demeaning and degrading towards Trenton police officers, security guards and herself, and also felt Messina was denigrating towards her in his demeanor. Klaus expressed disappointment towards Santiago and Palmer's failure to respond, and was troubled over the lack of interest by both men in addressing the issue.

In defending his own inaction Santiago stated he "vaguely" remembered receiving the letter and that it hadn't come to him as an internal affairs complaint. (Good thing he "vaguely" remembered it because sources claim Klaus sent it via certified mail meaning someone signed for it.) Then as expected Santiago defended Messina by claiming he was being piled on due to the recent notoriety with his latest blunder and that although Messina "can be a little rough, a little tough… he is the most effective police manager I have," (I had a good chuckle with that one.)

Days later on the now censored NJ.com Trenton forum, an anonymous post provided details of an alleged act of impropriety by Messina when he ordered city resources be used to accommodate his needs at a off-duty assignment. It was reported that Messina needed barricades to close off a street due to a contractor not having the necessary equipment to do the job properly and that he contacted a sergeant and ordered him to have an officer bring out city owned barricades to the job site. The sergeant complied with the order and an on-duty officer drove a marked police vehicle and trailer out to Messina and they both offloaded barricades for Messina's personal use. It's been alleged that Messina neither secured permission for this use from any one in an authoritative position, nor did he compensate the city for the use of city resources. TPD's official response included an acknowledgement of the forum posting and that it would be forwarded to Internal Affairs and that, "Appropriate action will be taken." (Want to take a stab at how Santiago handled that?)

The following week an anonymous source provided a letter to captsleepy.com that was addressed to Santiago from Trenton Municipal Prosecutor Lyle Hough. This letter, dated April 5, 2007, asked Santiago to look into a matter in which it's alleged that Messina "scream(ed)" at court personnel.

As if anyone will be surprised by this, TPD spokesman Sgt. Pedro Medina advised the media that no investigation was launched due to this letter appearing on the web.

Then on August 2, 2007 photos surfaced on captsleepy.com showing Messina's police cruiser parked in his driveway while he was serving his five-day suspension for sleeping on duty. This, according to Medina, was simply an oversight and within hours of the photos appearing on the web Internal Affairs detectives responded to Messina's home and retrieved the car.

For almost three weeks Messina managed to keep out of the spotlight only to be thrust back into it when popular Trenton Detective Luis Reyes was unexpectedly transferred from his Community Affairs position back to patrol and onto the midnight shift. (Messina likes to transfer veterans to midnights as a form of punishment and show of power.) Although TPD officials initially refused to give a reason for the move, pressure from citizens and the media garnered a tepid response from Santiago who indicated a recent spike in crime in the South Ward prompted the move. TPD insiders on the other hand believe it to be a combination of factors including retribution from Messina -due to his disdain for Reyes- and political pressure from the Palmer administration due Reyes' closeness and effectiveness with Councilman Jim Coston.

Then during the period of September 13-15, when Mayor Palmer was hosting the US Conference of Mayors at the downtown Marriot Hotel, Messina had a couple more incidents. One of them being publicized in the Times and another being kept out of the public's eye.

The first incident involved ex-Trenton police officer and current Mercer County Sheriff's Officer William Osterman. Osterman was participating in a peaceful demonstration in front of the hotel with approximately 75 other marchers on Friday September 14 aimed at protesting Palmer's many distractions from his full time job as mayor of Trenton.

Messina, who was in charge of operations at the hotel during the conference, saw Osterman protesting and became needlessly concerned when he noticed Osterman was carrying a concealed firearm. Although Messina had no authority over Osterman's actions, and there were no violations of any state or federal laws nor were any rules and regulations being violated, Messina felt the urge to notify Mercer County Sheriff Kevin Larkin and demand that Osterman disarm himself. Messina's asinine rationale was that he was concerned should an arrest have to take place, the officers involved might feel threatened and they wouldn't know what side Osterman would take.

It's been rumored that when Santiago found out about Messina contacting another law enforcement agency he became rather upset and expressed extreme displeasure in Messina's actions, as it should've been Santiago making the call and not Messina. (This isn't to say Santiago agreed with Messina's actions, but that Messina didn't have the authority to do this.)

The next incident occurred in the early morning hours of Saturday September 15 after Trenton police officer Mike Davis issued numerous tickets to illegally parked autos in the area of the hotel. Davis alleged that a confrontation between him and Messina occurred and that Messina and got within inches of his face and began yelling at him and that Messina "smelled of alcohol."

Once again Santiago deflected responsibility away from Messina and instead blamed the officer. (Santiago wouldn't address the officer by name when discussing the incident with Times reporter Kevin Shea.) Santiago, in trying to defend Messina, tried to paint Davis as an overzealous ticket hound seeking revenge and even brought up two internal affairs complaints brought against the officer for other tickets issued. This type of dialogue with the media is usually off limits as it's considered a personnel matter and is regarded as confidential, but since Santiago was on the defensive he apparently felt it was OK to discuss it since he was again defending the albatross known as Paul Messina. Santiago went on to say that he knows Messina didn't smell of alcohol because he was with him earlier in the night and he wasn't drinking.