Dougherty's union questions moonlighting officer's dual roles

When nonunion electrical contractors work in John Dougherty's South Philadelphia neighborhood, they may get a jolt.

Take the case of Frank Lafontano, a Philadelphia police officer who runs Frank's Home Repair out of his modest rowhouse southwest of Dougherty's home.

Last year, Dougherty's Electricians union Local 98 wrote to Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, complaining that Lafontano's moonlighting violated police policy.

The union also circulated fliers saying Lafontano's firm failed to obtain a city permit before starting electrical work on a townhouse project at Third and Reed Streets. Since 2014, Local 98 has been protesting the use of nonunion labor at that site.

"How can we trust Frank Lafontano to uphold the law at his day job as a policeman when he breaks it as the owner of Frank's Home Repair on construction sites?" read the leaflet, a copy of which Dougherty provided to the Inquirer.

A police spokeswoman said the department was still investigating the union's allegations and declined to comment further.

Lafontano, 43, a police veteran of more than 15 years, who is assigned to the Third District in South Philadelphia, declined to comment.

Last week, Dougherty took further aim at Lafontano.

In an interview with the Inquirer, he cited an encounter he had with the officer in 2014, shortly after Dougherty clashed with employees of a nonunion bricklayer. Dougherty said someone from the bricklayer's crew hit him with a brick. The bricklayer has denied that.

Afterward, Dougherty said, Lafontano, while on duty and in uniform, came to the construction site and told him, "You don't want to make a big deal out of this."

Fourteen months later, Dougherty said, he met Lafontano again. This time, he said, the officer was wearing civilian clothes and working as a contractor at the townhouse construction site.

"You don't want any part of this job," Dougherty said the officer told him in July 2015. "You had problems here before."

The union leader said Lafontano, by policing the construction site and also working there as a contractor, had a conflict of interest.

Barry Sable, developer of the project at Third and Reed, said he believed Lafontano's construction work was permitted under Police Department rules.

Police officials declined to comment on those rules.

Source: Philly.com