No need for Stringer security detail

To the editor:

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer is a spoiled child having a temper tantrum. Perhaps he needs a time out. 

Who knew that taxpayers are paying for members of the NYPD Intelligence Division to serve as his personal security detail? Stringer recently fired four of New York’s finest from this security detail because they were late in picking him up from his expensive Upper West Side Manhattan home one morning. 

The security detail claims they left after tiring of Mr. Stinger’s personal abuse. How disappointing that they really serve as his personal chauffeurs. They have to pick him up at home each morning and drive him to work. Sometimes, they even had to drive his wife to and from work.

Worse, this detail has several shifts to drive him around town all day long into the evening and back home at the end of the day. Is anyone aware that Mr. Stringer is being targeted by some terrorist group, which would merit this level of protection? I seriously doubt that al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, ISIS or any other terrorist group knows who he is.  

Municipal employees could never get away with the same abuses. They could not use city vehicles during work hours to chauffeur spouses around town. At a minimum, they would have to reimburse the city for the costs of all these personal trips. At worst, they could be fired from their jobs. Perhaps the city’s Department of Investigations needs to take a look at this serious potential waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayers’ dollars.

 In the meantime, let Mr. Stringer assign one of his several hundred staff members to serve as his personal chauffeur. Stringer could give up both his free parking space at City Hall and his special police parking permit. 

He can sign up for, and use, his transit check to purchase Metro Cards. Why not ask his wife to do the same? This will afford Stringer the opportunity to join several million constituents who use public transportation on a daily basis and also contribute to a cleaner environment. 

Mr. Stringer talks about being a friend of the 99 percent, but prefers the perks of office, such as a private police detail, so he can hobnob with the 1 percent.

LARRY PENNER