Police say large-scale cocaine distribution operation busted Wednesday, March 12, 2008 By Steven Cook (Contact) Gazette Reporter
SCHENECTADY — Four people have been arrested on high-level drug charges, accused of running or helping a large-scale drug distribution operation throughout Schenectady County, authorities said. The four are accused of possessing or attempting to possess cocaine in February and March in Schenectady, according to papers filed in court. Two of those arrested, Oscar Mora, 30, and Kerry Kirkem, 40, no addresses given, are accused of running the “large-scale” operation. They were both arrested Wednesday morning as a result of a police raid at apartments where they lived. The investigation included wiretaps where calls were intercepted indicating they controlled the alleged distribution operation. The location of the raid was not included in papers. The papers are signed by an investigator with the state police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team. State police C-NET Lt. Michael Tietz declined to comment on the case this afternoon, saying only that it was an ongoing investigation and that more arrests are expected. Schenectady police spokesman Lt. Brian Kilcullen also declined further comment. A federal Drug Enforcement Agency spokeswoman confirmed her agency assisted in the investigation, but referred questions to state police. Mora and Kirkem were charged with one count each of first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a top-level drug felony. Also charged today was Gary Cherny, 24, who is accused of working for the distribution operation and of being at an apartment raided Wednesday where more than eight ounces of cocaine was seized. Cherny was charged with one count of first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. The fourth person arrested was Misty Gallo, 23. She is charged with first-degree attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance and second-degree conspiracy. Gallo is accused of being a “mule” for the operation and selling drugs. Police seized more than eight ounces of cocaine from her Feb. 20, according to papers. She also allegedly participated in numerous intercepted conversations indicating she helped transport drugs and sold them. All four were arraigned Wednesday in City Court and ordered held without bail. They are expected to return to court Thursday.
SCHENECTADY Police cars will soon have GPS Dispatchers will track patrols BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Dispatching at the Schenectady Police Department is about to go high-tech, with GPS units that let dispatchers see precisely where each patrol is at all times. The goal is to reduce response time by sending the closest car to each call, Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett said. But it will also help the department catch any officers who leave the city when they’re supposed to be patrolling, as well as anyone who just parks the patrol car and waits for calls. Both activities would immediately catch the attention of dispatchers assigned to watch an electronic map displaying the location of each car. Bennett acknowledged that the global positioning system units could have flagged officer Thomas Disbrow, who has been leaving his beat regularly on Saturdays to watch his son bowl in Scotia. Bennett said his main objective in buying the GPS units wasn’t to catch negligent officers. “It’s an added benefit,” Bennett said. He added that there’s no question the GPS units will improve response times — though he won’t know how much time can be saved until the system is operational. Currently, dispatchers have to call officers to figure out which one is closest to an emergency — and often, another officer radios in and offers to handle the call because he or she is closer. “They won’t have to poll the cars,” Bennett said. “We can do a visual and see who is closest to send.” City officials accepted a $325,000 federal Homeland Se- curity grant on Monday to cover the GPS units and other equipment. The GPS units are actually among the cheapest items on the list: units for all 25 patrol cars will cost $13,000. The software to run the electronic map will cost $9,000. “Normally the cost would be much more because you’re required to have a modem,” Bennett said. “We already have the most expensive component.” The modem was purchased to run the in-car cameras. Besides improving response times, the program is expected to serve as a safety backup. Dispatchers will take note of any car that hasn’t moved for a significant period of time. “Extended stationary deployment is not usual, and you’d want to know if something’s wrong,” Bennett said. Dispatchers would radio the officer to learn why the car hasn’t moved. They would also notice whether any cars are missing from the map, which will only show cars within the city of Schenectady. Dispatchers aren’t likely to overlook one car’s absence, Bennett said. “They have a pretty good handle of who’s working out there and what zone they should be in,” Bennett said. “You would know if it’s not in the city.” The department is analyzing vendors now. Bennett expects the equipment to be installed in about six months. Police officials are also looking for new in-car cameras, but Bennett said he wants to wait until the latest technology is tested by other departments. Schenectady’s cameras have repeatedly stopped recording, prompting questions of whether the cameras are unreliable or officers are turning them off. Bennett said he’s told officers they face discipline if their camera stops recording and they don’t immediately report the malfunction. Since then, the cameras have been working more often, and Bennett now believes the department can live with its current cameras for some time. “It’s not the video, it’s the audio capability,” he said, explaining that the cameras are producing poor audio recordings but are filming reliably.
GPS for the police department...BRILLIANT!! Although I am surprised that Hamilton isn't complaining about this one. And I do believe that this is a two fold benefit. Both for dispatching and for watching where these guys are.
I do recognize that the police are at a disadvantage with a leader like Stratton. He encourages and throws money at all of the scumbags that either want to move into the city or to the ones that already live there. The cops just can't keep up. And understandably so.
On the flip side...these cops have GOT to work for God's sake! And there should clearly be stiffer penalties for those who abuse thier law enforcement position. However...let's start at the top of the political ladder and work our way down, shall we??
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I'm in shock, I never thought that the PBA would ever allow a GPS unit to be put on the police cars. There must be something going on behind the scenes that we don't know about yet to try and stop this from happening.
Installing GPS in police vehicles has multiple benefits. The ability to track the movements of the officers should increase their safety while on duty as the dispatchers will know of the officers' locations during potentially dangerous confrontations with the criminal element. It will also allow for the tracking of the vehicles should they be stolen. Finally, it may exonerate officers from unfounded accusations filed against them in cases where they were not in the area.
I agree. It'll protect the citizens by making sure the officers are staying on the job. It'll make sure that the closest officer gets to the job, and if backup is necessary, the next closest car. It'll make sure that officers are not leaving the area that they are supposed to be in.
"Extended stationary deployment" may be necessary if the officer is out of the car for some time talking to residents or taking care of an issue. I know that not every single issue is reported back to the station, especially if it's a minor thing.
Keep Schenectady's money actually WORKING in Schenectady.
I know that on occassion I have seen the same thing with an officer over in Scotia. Now, this was a Scotia officer, so he hadn't left his jurisdiction, but I do remember during the soccer season over at Highland Soccer seeing an officer standing around watching what turned out to be his child in a soccer game. I don't know if he had checked with the station or not, but I assume he had and/or he was ready to reply at a moments notice, but like I said, he was still in his jurisdiction.
I know there are issues about consolidating all of the police throughout the county, but I think that this is one tool that each jurisdiction in the county could use to help to cut back on costs and also to help protect the residents / officers.
Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE Showdown on police discipline Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com. Post a comment at dailygazette.com.
We have a Schenectady police officer regularly spending on-duty hours at a bowling alley in Scotia, cheering for his young son, and seeing nothing wrong with it because he has his radio with him and if a call comes in he can easily drive back to the city that employs him, as reported in this newspaper by my colleague Kathleen Moore. Then we have confirmation that internal charges have been brought against two other Schenectady officers for spending their working hours at a gym and at restaurants, including a restaurant in Colonie. And please note that the offi cer who was hanging out at the Scotia bowling alley was doing so after it came to light the other officers were under investigation for similar truancy. And finally — drum roll, please — we have the state Senate, including Schenectady’s own Hugh Farley, voting once again to strip Schenectady’s public safety commissioner of the authority he was recently given to discipline police officers outside of the time-consuming and often fruitless process of arbitration. It’s true. The bill, which both the Senate and the Assembly passed last year to that effect and which Gov. Spitzer vetoed, has been reintroduced word for word. On Feb. 4 it sailed through the Senate on a unanimous vote, unnoticed by me and I expect by many others. It is now hanging fire in the Assembly, where it passed last year by a vote of 146-4, with both of Schenectady’s then-representatives, Jim Tedisco and Paul Tonko, supporting it. It is sponsored by the publicsafety unions’ reliable water-carrier, Assemblyman Peter J. Abbate of Brooklyn, an honorary fire chief of the Professional Fire Fighters Association. I was unable to reach Sen. Farley to inquire as to his latest thinking on this legislation. I did inquire of him last year after he voted for it, and he allowed that he had given the matter little thought. “There wasn’t a whisper of controversy,” he said defensively. But there was more than a whisper afterward, as both Mayor Stratton and Commissioner Bennett made known their feelings. Then the senator suggested they ought to ask the governor to veto it, which I thought was pretty funny. Naturally, I was wondering how he would explain himself this time, other, that is, than by telling the truth, which is that he and his colleagues are in thrall to the publicemployee unions and dare not defy them, but no luck. The bill would negate a Court of Appeals decision from March 2006, that allowed some cities, with certain precedents behind them, to exercise discipline directly over their police officers without recourse to arbitrators from the Public Employment Relations Board. Schenectady’s public safety commissioner, Wayne Bennett, former superintendent of the state police, seized on the decision when he came to the Schenectady job, saying he would take charge of discipline himself. Then, lo, the infamous bill appeared in the Legislature to cancel the court’s decision, and in their usual slavish manner the legislators passed it, and without so much as consulting Commissioner Bennett or Mayor Brian Stratton. The same again this year. Both Bennett and Stratton told me they had not been consulted. “It’s a little bit upsetting,” Bennett said, noting that in his veto message last year, Gov. Spitzer had suggested a compromise, and yet the same bill was simply brought back without alteration. Stratton tells me at his urging the City Council’s Public Safety Committee at its regularly scheduled meeting tomorrow will consider a resolution urging the Assembly to defeat the bill and the governor to veto it if it does pass the Assembly. If the committee approves, the resolution will go before the full City Council the following Monday, March 24, where it will be interesting to see how it fares, since at least some members will be torn between their love for good government and their fealty to the public-employee unions. It goes without saying that the city’s police union, the PBA, is righteously opposed to any kind of disciplinary proceedings that cannot be endlessly dragged out and subverted. As for the officer, Thomas Disbrow, spending Saturday mornings at Rolling Greens Bowling Center in Scotia, what is most interesting to me about it is not so much that he was doing it but that, when confronted, he freely admitted it and apparently saw nothing wrong with it. To me that’s indicative of the kind of culture that obtains in the Schenectady Police Department, a culture of, we can do whatever we want. I mean, imagine the brazenness, with all the talk about how the city needs more cops on the streets, about how busy the officers are, one (which I have never believed), how woefully understaffed they are, and all the rest. And here is a patrol cop who thinks it’s perfectly OK to spend a couple of his working hours every Saturday at a bowling alley in a neighboring village. And right after two other cops were nabbed for passing their hours at a gym and at restaurants. Doesn’t that really tell you something about the department? And as for those other two who were nabbed and are being charged under Bennett’s new regime, as far as I can ascertain by rational deduction they are J.P. Maloney and Sean Daley, though city officials will not name them. The city’s corporation counsel, John Van Norden, will only say that of four officers named in a Times Union report a month and a half ago, two are now retired, one of those two was not in any way implicated, and the other two are charged. The other two from that report are Maloney and Daley. Van Norden will not confirm that’s who they are, nor will Bennett, but exercising my logical faculties, I conclude they must be. If they are not, then Aristotle stands refuted, and I apologize. “Charges have been filed against two officers,” Van Norden said. “They’re coming up for prosecution.” (He will be the prosecutor; Bennett will be the judge — unless the Legislature and the governor strip them of the authority — and the proceeding will be open to the public. If a plea bargain is reached, Van Norden says he will insist it be made public.) As for Disbrow, the bowling fan, “I’m waiting for the charging documents to reach my desk,” Van Norden said. NO THANKS Meanwhile, I see that no matter how commendatory I am toward Schenectady police officers, some people refuse to be satisfied. I refer to my remarks a couple of weeks ago about cops donating their sick time, vacation time and comp time to a fellow offi cer who suffered the loss of his wife in childbirth so he could stay home and care for his children. I said it was a “fine and gracious thing” they were doing. The response from a local businesswoman, which appeared as an angry letter to the editor the other day, was that I had failed to tell “the real story.” And what was “the real story”? Simply that the cops had done even more than I had reported. They had gone to their fellow officer’s home and helped out with housework. I will never say a kind word again. I have learned my lesson.
Wayne Bennett’s reaction, upon hearing that one of his police officers spent two hours last Saturday watching his son bowl in Scotia rather than patrol the streets of Schenectady, was disappointing. Bennett did get off an amusing response about how he was sure the officer, Thomas Disbrow, was “doing a great job deterring crime at the bowling alley [in Scotia]” ... but we’re looking for him to make his presence known in the city of Schenectady, where the people, frankly, are paying his salary.” But where was the anger, the quick decisive action that was called for from a commissioner who has vowed to bring discipline and control to a department that badly needs both? It was revealing how casual Disbrow was, how unapologetic, when approached by a Gazette reporter at the alley. He saw no problem being in Scotia cheering on his son when he was supposed to be working in Schenectady; after all, he said, he had his police radio in hand and could be back in the city in five minutes if summoned. But, of course, being a cop is about more than hanging around waiting to be called; it’s riding around in your patrol car deterring crime, looking for signs of trouble, and, ideally, getting out of the car, walking and talking to people on the street. None of which can be done from a Scotia bowling alley. It’s also revealing that Disbrow would do this with the heightened scrutiny Schenectady police are under these days, from both the public and supposedly their own administration, after so many scandals. This didn’t just happen once, either; apparently Disbrow has been watching his son bowl on Saturdays for months. Usually when an officer, or anyone else, is caught doing something wrong, it isn’t the first time. And in this department, with its culture of disdain for rules and management, if one is doing something, there’s a good chance others are, too. In fact, a January Albany Times Union report, that Bennett was investigating four officers for routinely being at a gym and a diner when they were supposed to be working, suggests this practice goes way beyond Disbrow. Fortunately, help appears to be on the way for this particular problem, in the form of GPS units the department plans to install in police cars. Besides reducing response times by allowing dispatchers to see where cars are at all times, the units will make it easier to catch officers who are not where they are supposed to be, or doing what they are supposed to do. That is, unless they fi nd a way to turn off or otherwise defeat the units, which they were doing with their on-board video cameras until Bennett threatened disciplinary action. He should do the same here. And he should take disciplinary action against Disbrow now.
Those who control the guns control the masses---either with fear by lack of protection or fear by bullying or fear of justice.....those are their choices....
thePERPor I mean the PERB doesn't care which......if nothing is done with Mr.Spitzer then it all is a sham and what difference would it make.....a dissident is near........and unjust scales rule.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer Sunday, March 16, 2008
SCHENECTADY -- Investigators recovered several shell casings earlier today from a busy city intersection where shots rang out a few hours ago.
There were no reported victims, according to Schenectady Police Lt. Brian Kilcullen. He said city officers responded to the area around McClellan and State streets shortly before 4 p.m. Sunday after receiving reports of shots being fired. Witnesses described the vehicles involved in the incident as a black Ford sedan with four males inside and a gray sport utility vehicle with an unknown number of occupants, Kilcullen said. ``It appears as if the shots came from the black Ford,'' Kilcullen said, adding it was not unclear whether the occupants of the other vehicle returned fire. The investigation is ongoing.
By SCOTT WALDMAN, Staff writer Monday, March 17, 2008
GUILDERLAND -- A Schenectady man allgedly headbutted a police officer after he was arrested for menacing Crossgates Mall employees.
At noon Sunday, Guilderland police were called to Crossgates Mall because a man was menacing mall employees. Omar S. Lyons, 25, was taken into custody for attempted robbery in the third degree, unlawful imprisonment, menacing in the second degree and criminal mischief. Police said Lyons became aggressive while being placed into custody and hit a Guilderland police sergeant in the head with his head, causing the officer to suffer a concussion. Lyons and the officer were taken to area hospitals where they were treated and released. Lyon is being held in the Albany county Jail pending a psychological examination. He will be back in Guilderland Town Court on Thursday.
SCHENECTADY City demands answers on police discipline plans State lawmakers invited to explain bill BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
For the third time in a year, city officials are preparing to persuade the governor that Schenectady needs the ability to discipline its police officers. But this time, the Schenectady City Council is also going to ask that its state Senate and Assembly representatives to explain, in person, why they want arbitrators disciplining city officers instead of letting Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett make the final decision himself. The Senate has already passed a bill that would require Schenectady and other cities to use arbitration to resolve disciplinary measures, and the Assembly is expected to vote on the measure within a week. The same bill has been approved three times since 2006 but each time has been vetoed by former governors George Pataki and Eliot Spitzer. Each time, including the most recent Senate vote, the local legislators voted in favor of the bill. Council members said Monday that they’re sick of being ignored by these representatives. “I’d like to have an explanation from them, face to face,” said Councilwoman Denise Brucker. In an interview Monday, Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, said he thought the police department had long been disciplined by a commissioner, not arbitrators. He said Schenectady’s troubled police department is proof that discipline from a commissioner doesn’t work. “Schenectady has had that. Have they done a good job? They say they haven’t,” he said. “I happen to believe in arbitration. I think many times it can be more fair and solve the problem better than a politician.” The city actually used arbitrators until last year, and Bennett has not yet used his authority to discipline any officers in public hearings. Farley also told The Gazette he had heard nothing about Schenectady’s experience with arbitration. In last year’s campaign to stop the police discipline bill, Mayor Brian U. Stratton argued that the city sometimes could not get its officers to behave because arbitrators consistently overturned the police chief’s decisions to discipline or fire officers. “They feel they can do basically whatever they want because the arbitrators are going to rule in their favor,” Stratton said then. But Farley said he had never heard Stratton’s examples of errant officers being returned to the force by arbitrators. “I am not terribly familiar with that,” he said, adding, “I did not receive a phone call. I did not receive a letter … I could seek out people who think one way or the other. I don’t know that that’s my role. What I have to do is what I think is right.” Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden said city officials did not begin to lobby against the bill before this year’s Senate vote because they didn’t know about it. “When it went for a vote in the Senate, no one knew about it. It took us all by surprise,” he said. Last year, the city hired a lobbyist to oppose the bill, but it has not been using a lobbyist this year, he said. In the Assembly, a spokesman for Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, said Tedisco is studying the bill and listening to constituents before making a decision. Assemblyman George Amedore, R-Rotterdam, did not return a call seeking comment. The council wants to hear from both of them, as well as Farley, next Monday. The council may also vote Monday on a letter that would urge the Assembly and Gov. David Paterson to oppose the police discipline bill. The state’s repeated efforts to pass the police discipline bill are in response to a 2006 Court of Appeals ruling that says discipline can be handled by a civilian public safety commissioner instead of an arbitrator. Many municipal officials believed that state union labor contract laws required them to negotiate discipline, leading to the arbitration system that was commonly used until 2006. The proposed bill would overturn the court decision. Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.
When you break the rules in the private sector you're disciplined and the police should be treated no differently. The police should get time off without pay or terminated depending on the severity of the infraction.
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