Sometimes when police officers are accused of misconduct, it can be difficult to break through the wall of support — or at the very least, the wall of silence — that surrounds them.
To a degree, that’s understandable. Officers depend on each other. In an emergency, they need to know the person beside them is fully committed, fully trustworthy, fully on the same team.
They also need the public to see them as united, not just with each other but also with the law itself. That’s harder. Every time that perception slips, every time confidence erodes, officers are put at greater risk on the street.
On Monday, a sentence was handed down that was impossible for some officers to ignore. It didn’t just break the law. It broke an oath — and cracked that wall of silence.
Joseph Osinski, a former McKeesport detective and financial officer for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 91, pleaded guilty to four felony counts including theft by deception and receiving stolen property. The state Attorney General’s Office accused him of stealing more than $1 million from the very union that represents most law enforcement officers in Allegheny County.
Those four counts don’t tell the whole story. This wasn’t one act or even a handful. Osinski made more than 1,100 trips to the bank over five years. He didn’t just take what was available. He recommended raising member dues — so he could steal more.
For this, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos sentenced him to nine to 18 months in alternative housing, followed by three years of probation. A million-dollar theft — from police officers, by a police officer — did not merit a prison sentence.
The sentence seems almost as much of a blow to the officers as the crime itself. Lodge recording secretary Matthew Feldmeier called it a “travesty of justice.” He wasn’t wrong.
Osinski’s attorney argued that he needed to remain free so he could work and make restitution. But the disingenuousness of that argument is another insult. Osinski will be losing his pension. He says he can pay about $200 a month.
At that rate, it would take more than 400 years to repay what he stole.
This debt will never be repaid — not financially, and not morally.
The debt isn’t just the money. It’s the theft of trust. The betrayal of responsibility. The abandonment of loyalty to fellow officers.
Some crimes committed by police officers are crimes against the public that ricochet back and strike the officers who serve honorably. But this crime struck directly at those officers themselves — and still, they are denied justice.
Police have a right to be indignant, if not outright outraged.
And incidents like this demonstrate why that wall of silence, which may seem supportive when an officer faces accusations, ultimately harms the profession. When officers are charged with dealing drugs, or financial crimes, or domestic abuse, every one of those offenses damages the reputation of every officer wearing the uniform.
No one wearing that uniform should be able to hide behind it when it comes time for sentencing.
“You can’t ignore his public service,” defense attorney Lee Rothman argued.
Why not? He did.
