Quoted from 191

sir what do you know about the police and how they work senders

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Stratton seeks Cuomo's advice on dissolving police force

By KEN THURMAN, Staff writer
Last updated: 9:36 p.m., Wednesday, March 25, 2009
SCHENECTADY — Mayor Brian Stratton has asked state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for legal advice as he considers moving forward with plans to dissolve the city's troubled police force.
     
Stratton said he and Cuomo met privately in Schenectady for nearly an hour Tuesday evening. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the ongoing problems in the Schenectady Police Department and the options that may be available to eliminate the city's police department and provide other policing services.

"The Attorney General is well aware of the administrative and disciplinary challenges our city has faced for many years within the Police Department ... and I am grateful for his office's assistance as we seek viable solutions and alternatives on this critical issue," Stratton said in a prepared statement released late Wednesday.

Stratton gave no specifics on what will be done but he said the next step is to seek outside funding neended to do a feasibility study. He also emphasized that his actions are at this point exploratory and are in no way meant as a vote of no-confidence in Public Safety Comissioner Wayne Bennett and Police Chief Mark Chaires.

Stratton's meeting with Cuomo comes in the wake of comments he made earlier this month in his State of the City address. He said officials would seek other options for police services if the department doesn't help to break the "perceived abuse of the badge."

In the recent past, more than a dozen police officials, including the department's ex-chief, Gregory T. Kaczmarek, have been arrested and served jail time for various charges. Offenses include giving drugs to an informant, giving a gun to a drug dealer and tipping off a target for a drug investigation. Several have been charged with driving while intoxicated, including Michael Brown, 27, who was arraigned recently in Colonie Town Court.

Stratton on Wednesday also made it clear that he intends to move forward with his efforts to fire several of the officers that have been in trouble. However, that could be easier said than done, given that efforts to fire one officer failed when an arbitrator ordered him rehired with back pay.

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Savage to Stratton: Take care of your own police problems
'What is needed are real solutions instead of politically expedient ones that pit one community against another,' Savage says

By MIKE GOODWIN, Staff writer
Last updated: 3:37 p.m., Thursday, March 26, 2009

SCHENECTADY -- Mayor Brian U. Stratton's one-time political ally, Schenectady County Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage, today rejected the idea of creating a county wide police force and suggested the mayor should find his own way to deal with its scandal-plagued Police Department.

     
"Today I received numerous calls from residents and officials throughout the county expressing concern over the remarks of Mayor Stratton regarding the abolishment of local police agencies and the establishment of a countywide police force." Savage said in a statement released by the county.

"Schenectady County has its own set of complex and difficult issues to address and the problems of the city police department are best left to the mayor, the public safety commissioner and the chief of police," she continued. "Shifting the underlying problems facing the city police department to another level of government will not solve the problem."

Quoted from benny salami

Where's he from again? Sure ain't Schenectady.

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SCHENECTADY
Officials bash plan for police study
Just fire bad cops, county leaders say
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter


PETER R. BARBER/ GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER
Susan Savage, chairwoman of the Schenectady County Legislature, right, listens to County Attorney Chris Gardner discuss the city of Schenectady police force Thursday.


    County leaders said Thursday that Schenectady Mayor Brian U. Stratton should focus on his own police department instead of talking about feasibility studies for a countywide police force.
    They also told Stratton to quit talking and start firing officers who break the law.
    “My belief is that another study is not what’s called for here,” said county Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage, D-Niskayuna. “The [public safety] commissioner needs to discipline the officers.”
    County Attorney Chris Gardner hammered that point home, using the example of John Lewis, one of the six officers that Stratton has publicly said should be fired.
    Gardner noted that Lewis has been arrested five times in the past year, starting last April.
    “This case should already be decided, and if I were there, it would be,” he said. “Why hasn’t his [discipline] case gone forward? How about after the second charge? How about after the third charge? The mayor has the authority to act. It’s time for him to quit posturing and take action.”
    Both Savage and Gardner made public statements Thursday in response to Stratton’s announcement that the state attorney general’s office would help him find a grant for a feasibility study. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Stratton met for an hour Tuesday to discuss the problems with the city police department and Cuomo offered help with any consolidation plans approved by county residents. Savage and Gardner, who oppose the idea, called a countywide police force “not realistic” and “politically expedient.”
    Stratton said a study might show that a countywide force would save money. With proof of that, he believes he could persuade town residents to support the idea.
    He said Savage and Gardner were opposing the plan too soon, before any of them have any data.
    “We don’t know yet. It harms no one to at least gather the facts,” Stratton said, adding, “Chris and Susan and I are friends, but I have to do what I have to do.”
    As for the slow disciplinary process at the department, Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett said prosecutors have asked him to wait until they complete their criminal cases.
    “I’ve been doing this for 41 years. The criminal prosecution is always handled first. The prosecutor doesn’t want to muddy the waters,” he said.
    Gardner said that if officers wants to postpone their disciplinary hearing until they resolve their criminal case, the city doesn’t have to pay them.
    “You can go forward with the discipline charges. If they’re not ready to go forward, they can go off the payroll. That’s what we do here,” he said.
    But Bennett said city officers haven’t agreed to postpone their hearings. He’s postponed them himself to help the prosecutors in those cases.
    Bennett and Gardner do agree on one thing — they both believe that arbitrators can be inconsistent in their rulings on police punishment.
    Gardner said he has seen some arbitrators uphold termination for DWI — which several city police officers have been charged with — while other arbitrators have said it was too severe of a penalty. But Gardner said the city should try to fire officers even if it’s not sure of success.
    “Doing nothing is not an option. DWI is a violation of the law. I’ve seen cases come down on both sides, but that doesn’t mean you don’t do anything. You’re likely to get some sort of penalty,” Gardner said. “You have to try.”
    Gardner also offered Thursday to help the city with its ongoing negotiations for a new police contract. For 22 years, Gardner was the attorney for Council 82, which represents employees of many local ...............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00103

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No takers for Schenectady police
County leaders blast mayor's call for single city/county force

By PAUL GRONDAHL, Staff writer
First published in print: Friday, March 27, 2009

SCHENECTADY Mayor Brian U. Stratton's proposal to dispose of the tarnished city Police Department and replace it with a county law enforcement agency is being received as if he were trying to deal a toxic asset.
     
Susan Savage, chairwoman of the Schenectady County Legislature, blasted Stratton's idea Thursday as unwarranted and legally untenable.

"It's not a realistic approach, and it will not pass muster with the people of Schenectady County," Savage said. "The fact that the city police department is not well run is not a reason to abolish it."

Niskayuna Supervisor Joe Landry also opposed Stratton's plan, which seeks to fold the Schenectady, Niskayuna, Rotterdam, Scotia and Glenville police departments into a countywide force.

"I'm opposed to it, and we're not considering this at all," Landry said. "We have a very good Police Department in Niskayuna, and we're very supportive of it."

Stratton floated the plan after a private meeting with state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Tuesday night in which he discussed his frustration with attempts to clean up a department beset with a steady march of criminal charges against rogue officers.

Cuomo suggested that Stratton undertake a feasibility study on dismantling the department and replacing it with a county force along the lines of Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island. Cuomo said he would try to help Stratton secure a state grant to fast-track the study.

"We don't need another study," said Savage, who added that she called Stratton seven times Thursday, but was unable to reach him.

Stratton said Cuomo and his senior staff indicated that it would be legal to undertake such a consolidation effort, which Cuomo has been advocating across the state as a way to streamline services and save money for the cash-strapped state.

Schenectady County Attorney Christopher Gardner, who spent more than two decades working for the law enforcement officers union Council 82, took issue with Cuomo's assessment of the plan's legality.

"It's a matter of the city's disorganization," Gardner said. "The city already has the legal tools it needs to deal with problems in the Police Department. They need realistic leadership and realistic lawyering."

Stratton said he reached the end of his patience as more than a dozen police officials have been arrested and served jail time for various charges in recent years, including giving drugs to an informant, driving while intoxicated, sleeping on the job and giving drugs to an informant.

"People have been saying we should disband the Police Department since at least 1992 and I can't afford to continue to let this go on month after month," he said. "The problems just keep coming rapid-fire and it's beyond trying to defend and make excuses when these things keep happening."

Stratton has at least one ally, Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett, who said he supports Stratton's plan to look into dissolving the force Bennett was brought in to clean up. The department has 166 members and a $14.7 million budget.    .........................http://timesunion.com/AspStori.....p;newsdate=3/27/2009

Quoted from 147

On the contrary, Only In Schenectady Benny. Only in Schenectady