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Media not seeing the real Greg Kaczmarek

    I’m dismayed at recent reports vis-a-vis Greg Kaczmarek, especially Carl Strock’s May 22 snide column, “Ex-police chief immersed in drug culture?”
    As a former patient at Northwoods Rehabilitation Center, I have the highest respect for Mr. Kaczmarek, both as a professional and as a caring human being. His extraordinary concern, attention and advice contributed hugely to my rapid recovery [Kaczmarek is a nurse] and I will forever be in his debt. He even came back to the center on his own time to chat with, and reassure, me. Although I had never met Mr. Kaczmarek prior to going to Northwoods, in my estimation he’s a gentleman, and I’m proud to call him “friend.”
    Mr. Strock, and others, need to remember that we are in the United States, not in Istanbul, and until convicted, one is presumed innocent. Further, guilt by association or innuendo isn’t, and shouldn’t be, a part of our legal system.
DON HILLS
    Niskayuna

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SCHENECTADY
Suspended officers paid $110K
Excessive force investigation costs mount
BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter

    The five police officers out on paid leave as the state investigates allegations of excessive force have now been paid more than $110,000 to stay home, according to fi gures obtained Friday.
    The officers have been on paid leave for five months, since the allegations surrounding a DWI traffic stop surfaced in late December.
    The figures were revealed as a sixth officer, John W. Lewis, whose case was not related to the other five, returns to the payroll after serving a month’s suspension without pay. That officer, too, is now being paid to stay home.
    City Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett said Friday that the leave for the fi ve officers has been necessary while the criminal investigation proceeds.
    But Bennett also confirmed that he has sent word through an intermediary to the state Attorney General’s Office inquiring about the length of the investigation.
    “We too are concerned that it’s taken a lengthy period of time to get this resolved one way or another,” Bennett said.
    The case was handed over to the state in January after a conflict of interest prevented the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office from handling it.
    A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office on Friday said only that the investigation is ongoing, giving no timetable for completion.
    The outside investigation was necessary, Bennett said, because there was some evidence to suggest that the conduct of one or more of the five was a violation of the law.
    Police union president Lt. Robert Hamilton said Friday the union remains unhappy that the men are still out. He said he feels they’ve done nothing to deserve an outside investigation.
    The case, he said, could have been handled internally quicker.
    “This should have been handled swiftly in the department. They shouldn’t have gone outside,” Hamilton said. “Unfortunately, they did and we’re all paying for it.”
    Bennett said he could see situations where the city could be sued if the officers are brought back early. If something else happened and wrongdoing was later found in the original case, the city could be liable, he said.
    Officers Andrew Karaskiewicz, Daryl Mallard, Eric Reyell, Kevin Derkowski and Gregory Hafensteiner have been out since late December. All five have been on full pay since being placed on leave.
    Their situations have been different from that of Lewis, who was suspended without pay last month, after being charged with violation harassment on allegations he grabbed and pushed his wife.
    Lewis returned to the payroll this week, but not to work. He has a court appearance on Monday. Depending on the result of that, Bennett said, Lewis’ status will be reassessed.
    Hamilton said Friday he also disagreed with the handling of Lewis’ case, including the length of the suspension. While he didn’t have the specifics of the case, Hamilton called it a family court matter.
    The case of the fi ve officers has been more complex.
    It began Dec. 7 with the arrest of 37-year-old Donald Randolph in the McDonald’s parking lot on Union Street.
    He was initially charged with felony driving while intoxicated and other counts. He finally pleaded guilty earlier this month to a drastically reduced charge of misdemeanor aggravated unlicensed operation.
    Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney said then that the plea was due to an unusually weak case, with the arresting officer, Karaskiewicz, not doing sobriety tests and not even witnessing Randolph driving.
    Hamilton, who did not respond to a call on the original story, said Friday officers can’t do tests with an uncooperative subject.
    The other four officers came into play shortly after, when Randolph was placed in the police car and transferred to a prisoner wagon six blocks away.
    The wagon was driven by Mallard. The three other officers arrived separately in patrol cars, partners Reyell and Derkowski in one car and Hafensteiner in another.
    Randolph’s accusations are that one or more officers used excessive force and he was injured. Randolph’s family alleged that a half-dozen officers beat him while arresting him and after Randolph tried to use a cellphone to call his girlfriend for help.
    A police internal affairs investigation concluded Randolph’s complaint had merit, referring it to Carney’s office for possible criminal prosecution. Carney deferred to the state.
    Randolph, who was not seriously injured, has since filed a claim against the city seeking damages.
    Even with a decision from the state, officers cleared of criminal activity wouldn’t necessarily return to work right away, Bennett said. The internal investigation would then begin and determinations would be made as to what level of duty the officers could return to.
    State police, who were brought in to patrol the city last month after a rash of gunfire incidents, have helped some, Bennett said. They are being used at no cost to the city.
    Hamilton noted the cost isn’t limited to how much the offi cers have been paid. There’s also the overtime paid to fill their shifts.
    Bennett agreed that, to some extent, that’s true.
    “However, unfortunately, that may be a necessary evil due to the circumstance,” Bennett said.

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Maryland man shot dead in Schenectady

By BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer
Saturday, May 31, 2008
SCHENECTADY - City police are investigating a shooting early today that killed a Maryland man.
     
Police were called to the intersection of Becker and Elder streets just off Brandywine Avenue for reports of gunfire at 12:45 a.m. and found Foday Kopoto, a Maryland man visiting family in Schenectady, with two gunshot wounds to the head, police said.
Kopoto was found on the lawn of a Becker Street home.
Witnesses told detectives that an older compact white four-door car occupied by two males was seen in the area of the shooting just before the incident may have some involvement in Kopoto's murder, police said.
No suspects have been named and no arrests have been made.
Anyone with information about the incident may call the Schenectady Police's Office of Field Intelligence at 788-6566.

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Kaczmarek gives Sch’dy PD yet another black eye

    My wife and I came back from Annapolis late last weekend after attending our grandson’s graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy. In catching up on local news, I read Carl Strock’s May 22 column regarding the former Schenectady police chief, Greg Kaczmarek.
    His close association with, and possible implication, in a drug distribution ring shocked me. It was but another slap in the face to the Schenectady Police Department’s reputation.
    How can we expect the citizens of Schenectady to be respectful of a police department where time and again, stories such as this come to light? Equally disturbing is that in the vetting process, Mr. Kaczmarek’s past history, both factual and rumored, was largely ignored.
    The politicians who appointed him chief of police share the blame for this most recent embarrassment to Schenectady and should be held accountable for their lack of oversight.
    It’s too bad the supposed cream of the crop of the Schenectady Police Department so often turns sour.
    CHARLES RIELLY
    Guilderland

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SCHENECTADY
Defendant asks for drop in $125K bail
Recent drug raid snared Rotterdam man
BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Steven Cook at 395-3122 or scook@dailygazette.net

    A Rotterdam man accused of possessing more than 10 pounds of marijuana will stay in jail if his family can’t come up with the $125,000 bail set Monday.
    Walter Smiley, 35, formerly of Broadway, appeared in Schenectady County Court asking Judge Karen Drago for a reduction in bail.
    He was arrested in April, charged with first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a high-level felony, and first-degree criminal possession of marijuana, also a felony.
    He is accused of possessing 18 ounces of cocaine, along with the 10 pounds of marijuana, according to papers filed in court.
    The raid at 2761 Broadway was part of a state police C-NET operation and is being prosecuted by the state Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force.
    John Prizzia, the assistant attorney general prosecuting the case hinted the arrest was part of a larger organization, indicating that wiretaps were used and at least one alleged shipment linked to Smiley and containing as much as 2 kilograms of cocaine was intercepted March 2 by investigators.
    He also indicated that another alleged shipment was intercepted April 11, just before the Broadway raid. One estimate of the wholesale value of the drugs seized was $125,000, he said.
    Smiley has been at the Schenectady County Jail since his arrest.
    Smiley attorney Cheryl Coleman argued at the hearing that her client has lived in the Schenectady area for more than two decades. He has family here, family that was prepared to post bail if it were in reach.
    “They are prepared to post a substantial amount of bail, the kind of bail that makes a person stay,” Coleman said.
    Prizzia countered with Smiley’s history, one that includes a 1999 second-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance conviction from Fulton County.
    In that case, records show, Smiley was accused of selling 55.6 grams of cocaine to an informant in Gloversville, where Smiley had an address.
    He was initially sentenced to 3 1 /2 years to life in state prison, but that sentence was later reduced to 3 to 6 years. He was released just over a year after his arrest, records show.
    The case marks what has been a busy couple months for C-NET and the Attorney General’s Office. In an apparently unrelated case, they indicted two dozen people last month in another drug operation, including Lisa Kaczmarek the wife of former Schenectady police chief Greg Kaczmarek.

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Media not seeing the real Greg Kaczmarek

    I’m dismayed at recent reports vis-a-vis Greg Kaczmarek, especially Carl Strock’s May 22 snide column, “Ex-police chief immersed in drug culture?”
    As a former patient at Northwoods Rehabilitation Center, I have the highest respect for Mr. Kaczmarek, both as a professional and as a caring human being. His extraordinary concern, attention and advice contributed hugely to my rapid recovery [Kaczmarek is a nurse] and I will forever be in his debt. He even came back to the center on his own time to chat with, and reassure, me. Although I had never met Mr. Kaczmarek prior to going to Northwoods, in my estimation he’s a gentleman, and I’m proud to call him “friend.”
    Mr. Strock, and others, need to remember that we are in the United States, not in Istanbul, and until convicted, one is presumed innocent. Further, guilt by association or innuendo isn’t, and shouldn’t be, a part of our legal system.
DON HILLS
    Niskayuna

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Bad guys on the loose in Sch’dy

    In what seems like another of those “only in Schenectady” stories, The Gazette reported yesterday that the city police department has basically been using an honor system for criminals with warrants outstanding for their arrests. Here’s the kicker: Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett expressed surprise to find that literally thousands of them haven’t bothered turning themselves in over the past 14 years.
    With stories like that, is it any wonder department morale is as low as it is, and that so many Schenectady criminals are as brazen as they are?
    While the majority of the 2,600 outstanding warrants are not for felonies, more than 200 are. And another 800 are for misdemeanors. (These numbers are roughly 10 times higher than the corresponding ones in Troy.)
    In one breath, Bennett downplays the severity of the problem — “it’s not like we’re not staying on top of the most serious” — but in another, he acknowledges that the department’s computerized warrant system is so antiquated that he isn’t even sure that there are no murder warrants on the list.
    At least those could still be prosecuted, but the statute of limitations has already expired for some of the offenses. The perpetrators must be having a good laugh over how easy it was to put one over on the Schenectady cops, while plotting their next crime.
    Bennett is still relatively new on the job, but a year seems like more than enough time to have identified and begun putting a dent in this problem. One wonders if it ever would have come to light at all if City Council Public Safety Committee Chairman Gary McCarthy — who also works for the county district attorney’s office — hadn’t started asking questions last week.
    In the meantime, there are some obvious solutions to begin whittling away at it: For starters, assign someone to review and prioritize the outstanding warrants. It shouldn’t take more than a week or two; there aren’t millions of them — yet. Then ask for help, from the county sheriff’s department, state police, and NY-NJ Regional Fugitives Task Force, tracking down the most egregious offenders — at least the ones whose statute of limitations haven’t expired or who haven’t died of old age. Finally, develop a system that ensures the situation can’t get out of hand again.
    Despite the progress it has made under Bennett, it’s more apparent than ever that the Schenectady Police Department needs to take crime, including the arrest and prosecution of criminals, more seriously.

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wow, it's SOOO nice to see the local hometown paper supporting their local police department. Instead of taking time to dig up dirt, maybe they should concentrate their efforts on how understaffed the police department is.  Maybe they should listen to scanners and see how crazy these officers have to run from one end of the city to another to provide coverage.

Maybe they should talk to the citizen/residents who take the time to call the police department for assistance - and then when the police show up tell them that they don't want police intervention. Maybe therein lies the entire story.

I've never been so disappointed in the Gazette. Their reporting sinks to new lows, just when I think it can't get any more awful.

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SCHENECTADY
Tap: ‘Drug mule’ life in danger
BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter

The drug mule suspect who hysterically called her boss after losing a shipment apparently had a reason to be fearful.
Her alleged bosses, Oscar Mora and Kerry Kirkem, openly talked on wiretapped conversations about “beating the hell out of her” or worse.
Mora advocated action, while Kirkem advised caution.
    The account comes in newly filed papers, part of an unrelated federal gun case against Mora.
Gallo Federal prosecutors, furious that Mora was allegedly running a large-scale drug operation while free on the federal gun charge, outline in papers how Mora allegedly breached a cooperation agreement, never intending to cease his drug operation.
    The federal prosecutors speculate that the help Mora did provide was given with the aim to take out competitors in the drug trade for the benefit of his own operation.
    Mora, along with alleged co-operator Kirkem, were indicted last month with 22 others, accused of taking part in a major cocaine and heroin operation based in Schenectady.
    Among the others indicted was Lisa Kaczmarek, the wife of former Schenectady Police Chief Greg Kaczmarek.
GALLO TO PLEAD
    The alleged drug mule, identified elsewhere as Misty Gallo, is expected to plead guilty today in Schenectady County Court to attempted drug possession, her attorney, Stephen Rockmacher, said. She is to receive four years in prison.
    In the federal filing, prosecutors cite state wiretaps of the alleged Mora-Kirkem conversation, saying the two did not know whether she was telling the truth about a traffic stop, whether she was working with police or if she simply ripped them off.
    Investigators actually tailed Gallo from Long Island, knowing she was carrying a shipment of $150,000 in drugs. Officers used a ruse to take the drugs without Gallo knowing to see the organization’s reaction.
    Rockmacher has said Gallo feared for her life then and still fears for her safety. She is in Schenectady County Jail.
    Given a copy of the federal filing, Rockmacher said it was proof.
    “She’s lucky to be alive,” Rockmacher said. “I think she owes her life to Kirkem. Whether she knows it or not, that’s my impression from reading this.”
    Among the other reactions, state prosecutors have alleged, was a meeting between Kirkem, Lisa Kaczmarek and her husband Greg Kaczmarek to discuss options. Greg Kaczmarek has not been charged.
    Mora’s Schenectady charges are pending. He, however, has been offered between 17 and 20 years in exchange for a guilty plea, according to the federal filing. His Schenectady attorney, James Tyner, confirmed that offers have been made but did not detail them.
MORA CASE MONDAY
    Mora is facing sentencing Monday on the federal gun plea. He faces 15 years in federal prison.
    He was indicted federally in August, accused of possessing a .45-caliber Glock handgun at a Watervilet address. He admitted to the crime in September, with the promise of a recommended lighter sentence if he cooperated.
    As part of the agreement, Mora was freed so he could provide help to investigators through his cousin. The cousin is not identified in the federal paperwork. However, a Mora cousin was among the others indicted in the state drug case, officials have said. That man, Wilfred Cordero, is still being sought.
    The frustration of federal prosecutors is evident in the paperwork.
    At one point, Robert Sharpe, the assistant U.S. attorney and author of the memorandum, wrote that “perhaps foolishly” law enforcement consented to Mora’s September release and that “we fell prey” to the desire to go after others.
    “He never, even for a moment, stopped his criminal activity,” Sharpe wrote, “Obviously, ... we are not just talking about a guy who did not comply with the conditions of his release and of his cooperation agreement.”
    With Mora’s cooperation, federal prosecutors would have recommended a lesser sentence. The memorandum makes it clear that they will no longer make such a recommendation.
    However, Mora’s federal attorney, Brian Mercy, said Thursday that he still intends to ask for some reduction based on the cooperation that was given. He said he takes issue with the prosecutor’s assertion that Mora was informing on competitors.
    “I don’t think that’s anything but purely speculative on their part,” Mercy said.
    He said he has yet to see the wiretap transcripts himself.
    The federal gun case grew out of another Schenectady drug arrest from May 2007. The Capital District Drug Enforcement Task Force and the Schenectady police arrested Mora and another man, Noah Stisser, after the two allegedly delivered heroin to Schenectady. Inside the vehicle, authorities found 500 glassine envelopes of heroin stamped “high society.” Inside the home, authorities found a Glock. .45-caliber handgun, the one charged in the federal case.
    Mora and Stisser were charged locally with drug possession. Mora admitted to the crime this past April. The status of Stisser’s case was unclear. Stisser was only charged in the earlier case; he was not charged in the indictment unsealed last month.

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Schenectady's top cop given an A for effort
Bennett struggles to restore confidence, refocus department

By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer
First published: Monday, June 9, 2008

SCHENECTADY -- Not long ago, Wayne Bennett attended a community forum on violence that followed the biggest surge in shootings since he went to work for the city last year.
But the public safety commissioner -- who oversees the police and fire departments -- didn't just make a speech and leave.
     
He participated in small-group discussions on ways to reduce violence in schools and stayed to the end. Bennett routinely shows up at crime scenes and marks off calls about gunfire on a desk calendar in his office at police headquarters.
Bennett, 62, was hired by Mayor Brian U. Stratton during a State Police investigation of stolen drugs that led to the arrest and conviction of a vice squad officer who was stealing cocaine -- held as evidence -- to feed a drug habit. But in a recent interview, Bennett said lowering violent crime is at the top of his list, prompting his decision to call in State Police patrols after a spate of spring shootings.
The former State Police superintendent was hired with a mandate to restore public confidence to a chronically troubled department struggling with high crime areas.
It's a daunting task. Within the past decade, eight officers had been arrested on criminal charges, the latest being the vice-squad investigator, Jeffrey Curtis. Bennett arrived May 7, 2007, as that investigation was unfolding.
The commissioner said he is so far most proud of his efforts to refocus the direction of the agency.
"The cloud, that suspicion that looms over the entire department, needs to change, and the Police Department needs to be looked at for what it is and not what it used to be," Bennett said. He points to changes the department's made at his request to improve the way confiscated drugs and contraband are handled and stored in response to the narcotics debacle.
Critics, though, counter that most of those policy and procedural changes now in place were already under way when Stratton brought in Bennett.
On the streets, the commissioner has endeared himself to community leaders and activists by personally returning their phone calls and following up with action.
Fred Clark, with the Schenectady branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he has on several occasions received a quick response after contacting Bennett about suspected drug houses.
"He comes across as professional and commands respect," said Jacqueline Hurd, president of the Bellevue Preservation Association, recalling Bennett's appearance before her group in January.
Hamilton Hill residents Marva Isaacs and Portia Alston say they love that Bennett is visible and accessible, which they believe that can only help build bridges with a community that often mistrusts police.
The women believe those efforts will eventually pay dividends in fighting the violence and crime that plagues their neighborhood.
"I haven't seen any changes in the shootings, but he's trying," said Isaacs, who has lived on Duane Avenue for the past nine years.
Despite his high public approval ratings, Bennett shrugged off the perception within the department that he is a short-timer: a figurehead who came in amid much fanfare after 39 years with the State Police, but has yet to make his mark on the department.He said he and the mayor have discussed goals they want to achieve before he leaves, but have not discussed when that may be.
City Councilman Joseph Allen credits Bennett for taking on the Schenectady Police Benevolent Association and its president, Lt. Robert Hamilton. Observers say he and Hamilton have had frosty relations since soon after Bennett arrived.
"I think he's put (the PBA) on notice, and he has quieted things they have done that was outrageous," Allen said.
The city and the powerful PBA are headed for a legal showdown over whether Bennett or an outside arbitrator should preside over police disciplinary issues. The eventual outcome is key, because it will determine if Bennett will have the authority to mete out the discipline the city believes is sometimes needed to rid the department of crooked cops. The city is convinced that a recent court ruling allows Bennett to preside over disciplinary case and hand out suitable punishment.
"Our position is that it is more effective for us to do discipline within our agency," Bennett said.
Some officers have grumbled about Bennett's style. One, who asked that his identity not be revealed, contends that Bennett missed a chance to make a favorable impression on the officers by not addressing them during roll call.
Bennett defended that decision, saying it would have only further fueled rampant speculation that he was brought in by Stratton to force out then Chief Michael Geraci, who resigned to take a federal job several months after Bennett was hired.
The city is still without a police chief, though on Friday, civil service results were certified. Three candidates from outside the department and two of the assistant police chiefs are among those still in contention to lead Schenectady police.
Bennett says he is friendly with the officers and keeps an open-door policy. "I want to know them, who they are and what they are about, and I want them to know me," he said.
He describes himself as a fair, but no-nonsense supervisor. He's issued stern warnings to any member of this 157-person department who may be resistant to change, imploring them to do the "honorable" thing and leave if they don't take their job seriously.
"They don't see it as their profession, they see it as a profession," he said. "It's a job, that's all, and these people can poison the thinking of other people."
He says the department in this 11-square-mile city of 61,821 people is still criticized because of the past sins of a few bad cops and he expressed frustration with efforts to improve response time in the face of heavy call volumes.
Today, he looks forward to getting a police chief in place, which will then free him up to embark on what he believes is a long-overdue complete review of all the department's policies. Stratton says his commissioner has exceeded expectations.
"He has created an image of stature, respect and strong discipline," the mayor said.
Paul Nelson can be reached at 454-5347 or by e-mail at pnelson@timesunion.com.

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Kaczmarek gives Sch’dy PD yet another black eye

    My wife and I came back from Annapolis late last weekend after attending our grandson’s graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy. In catching up on local news, I read Carl Strock’s May 22 column regarding the former Schenectady police chief, Greg Kaczmarek.
    His close association with, and possible implication, in a drug distribution ring shocked me. It was but another slap in the face to the Schenectady Police Department’s reputation.
    How can we expect the citizens of Schenectady to be respectful of a police department where time and again, stories such as this come to light? Equally disturbing is that in the vetting process, Mr. Kaczmarek’s past history, both factual and rumored, was largely ignored.
    The politicians who appointed him chief of police share the blame for this most recent embarrassment to Schenectady and should be held accountable for their lack of oversight.
    It’s too bad the supposed cream of the crop of the Schenectady Police Department so often turns sour.
    CHARLES RIELLY
    Guilderland

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Among the other reactions, state prosecutors have alleged, was a meeting between Kirkem, Lisa Kaczmarek and her husband Greg Kaczmarek to discuss options. Greg Kaczmarek has not been charged.

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Man shot to death in Schenectady
Monday, June 9, 2008


SCHENECTADY — A man was shot to death Sunday night in the Crane Street area of Schenectady.

City police said they responded to several calls about 9:20 p.m. reporting a shooting in the area of 1006 Crane St. Responding officers found the victim, a 20-year-old man, in front of the Mont Pleasant Bakery at 941 Crane St. with multiple gunshot wounds, police said.

The victim was treated at the scene by city paramedics and taken to Ellis Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. An autopsy will be conducted later this morning at Albany Medical Center, police said.

Anyone who witnessed the shooting or has any information is asked to call city police at 788-6566.