One year ago I mailed this letter to the head “constable” (para-police) at ChristianaCare (CCHS) hospital. He had called to inform me that, with no further notice, I was no longer allowed on CCHS property. His call came a day or two after that from another constable, Dave Labriola, who harassed me by phone. I thought I’d send this letter to Major Hill as an official complaint and follow-up to our conversation. I received the “no further contact” letter from the hospital’s legal department a few days later. It’s doubtful anything has changed, but at least I did my part in speaking up about this abusive system. Here’s my letter:
Major Hill
Public Safety
Christiana Hospital
4755 Ogletown-Stanton Road
Newark, DE 19718 June 23, 2022
Dear Major Hill,
As I noted during our brief phone conversation this morning, your constable, Dave Labriola, is actually guilty of harassing me.
My phone log clearly shows Constable Labriola called multiple times and did not identify himself until the 3rd. That is harassment under this section of the code: “(5) Makes repeated or anonymous telephone calls to another person whether or not conversation ensues, knowing that person is thereby likely to cause annoyance or alarm.”
Your constable’s legitimate complaint was that I put up the cards. It was legitimate for him to tell me to stop. The rest was out of bounds, clearly intended to intimidate.
“(1) That person insults, taunts or challenges another person or engages in any other course of alarming or distressing conduct which serves no legitimate purpose and is in a manner which the person knows is likely to provoke a violent or disorderly response or cause a reasonable person to suffer fear, alarm, or distress;”
It was obvious the constable was attempting to scare me into believing his false accusation. He also harassed me about what letters I might have received from the hospital, specifically the legal department. A constable’s legitimate work does not entail abusing harmed patients by making false accusations and harassing them. He should have gathered his facts in advance and shouldn’t have tried to scare me into believing his BS.
If your Constables want to accuse a person, they need to first be very clear about how the person’s behavior meets the criteria. Otherwise, they are fabricating BS, which is intended to cause distress, and to harass; it is not legitimate behavior. I’ll let Patient and Family Relations know, for whatever good it would do. At least it’ll be on the record in case somebody else has the guts to stand up to out-of-bounds behavior from your department. I know I’m not the first.
Sincerely,
Shay Seaborne