FOP seethes at judge in Pawlowski photo flap

The Fraternal Order of Police asked for the removal of a Municipal Court judge - whom the union called a "clown" - for turning over photographs of slain Police Officer John Pawlowski inside the district where the fallen cop worked.

But court officials argued that photos are prohibited to be on any jurist's bench when court is in session "to avoid any appearance of bias."

Judge Craig Washington had asked yesterday morning that 35th District police remove photos of Pawlowski, 25, from the makeshift courtroom where he was conducting preliminary hearings. He told Capt. John McCloskey that their presence in the courtroom was "inappropriate," McCloskey said.

He and Inspector Aaron Horne both refused Washington's request.

"At this time, the judge personally and brazenly overturned two of the officer's pictures in the courtroom," said FOP president John McNesby. The pictures, along with flowers and tribute notes, were part of a memorial to Pawlowski at the police station, at Broad and Champlost streets, in the city's Logan section. The court doubles as a roll-call room.

Bad move, said cops and the FOP.

"This courtroom is held in a police facility," said former FOP president Rich Costello, who referred to Washington as a "clown." "If the Municipal Court or the Common Pleas Court or any other court wants to come into a police facility, then they're going to honor police officers and honor our customs and traditions.

"You can't go anywhere in Philadelphia without some slain officer being memorialized, that's how many we're losing," Costello said. "Then to have the picture taken down less than a week before the officer is even buried shows insensitivity to an extreme degree."

Pawlowski - a five-year veteran who was allegedly gunned down Friday night by Rasheed Scruggs a few blocks from 35th District headquarters - will be buried Friday.

The FOP asked Municipal Court President Judge Marsha Neifield to remove Washington from his bench until an investigation into yesterday's actions is complete. The union also asked Niefield to suspend all hearings at the district "pending the mourning period for the officers of the 35th District in memory of a fallen hero, our fallen hero," McNesby said.

Washington will not finish out his rotation week at the 35th District, said court spokesman Jeff Jubelirer, on behalf of Neifield.

She issued a statement mourning the loss of Pawlowski, adding "We understand why emotions are running high."

Still, when hearings are held at a police facility, "they must be treated like hearings held in any other official courtroom in the City of Philadelphia. As such, photographs are not permitted directly on the bench when Court is in session," according to Neifield's statement. "The Courtroom must avoid any appearance of bias."

"It's bad enough that police officers are being murdered by repeat violent offenders, which are let go by the same judges that we dealt with today," McNesby said. "If they don't like it, they can take their court, pack it up and go back to City Hall." *