Unfortunately, at this point in time, I agree. I also think that we need to work together as a community (and that includes Rotterdam, Nisky, Scotia and Duanesburg) to make our community better. It's obvious our city/county govt isn't going to do it for us, we need to take action ourselves.
SCHENECTADY Police dept. discipline is changing Bennett hopes public trials coax offenders into pleas BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
The threat of public humiliation has become one of Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett’s most effective tools as he flexes his authority over the Police Department. In his first actions as chief disciplinarian of the department, Bennett said he recently got two officers to agree to punishment and give up all chance of appeal; that was in exchange for not having to go through a public disciplinary hearing. In the past, officers often appealed to arbitrators — and in many cases, had their discipline reversed. Bennett said reversals happened so often that the command staff became reluctant to discipline offi cers at all. Officers were also inclined to disregard punishment because they believed arbitrators would support them in the end. “They’d think, ‘I know the odds are in my favor,’ ” Bennett said. “The respect is lost for the command structure of the police department.” To regain that respect, Bennett took control of the department’s discipline last summer after a state Court of Appeals decision cleared the authority for him to do so. He can mete out four punishments: reprimands, fines, suspensions and termination. He’s hoping to convince the department that punishment will be swift and permanent. “The goal is to get control of the discipline,” Bennett said. “For discipline to be effective, it has to be timely.” So far, he said, issuing his own discipline is working. Discipline has been levied quickly, partly because officers have pleaded guilty to the administrative charges in exchange for avoiding a public trial. “Human nature being what it is, any of us doesn’t want their professional troubles aired to the world,” Bennett said. “That’s going to have some effect on their decision.” He gives them eight days to decide whether to plead guilty or fi ght the charges publicly. If they plead guilty, he hands down their punishment, telling them that if they don’t like it, they can always go to the public trial. Representatives from the Police Benevolent Association have offered advice to each officer, Bennett said. Union President Robert Hamilton did not return a reporter’s call seeking comment. Since the first two officers to be disciplined agreed to their punishment in exchange for privacy, Bennett would not disclose their identities, offenses or discipline. INVESTIGATORS CHARGED But he is scheduling a pretrial conference for two more officers, who may be headed to a public trial. Two investigators have been charged with misconduct for working out at a gym when they were supposed to be working, he said. The Times Union broke that story on Jan. 30. Bennett said the department’s Internal Affairs office has determined that the officers were at the gym during work hours. In fact, they had been told to stop but had continued to visit the gym, Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden said. He said the officers’ refusal to follow the rules could be used as an example of why the city needs to avoid arbitration. “They had created an atmosphere where discipline was laughed at,” Van Norden said, referring to the arbitrators. Bennett said there is no doubt in his mind that the investigators misused their work time. “They violated provisions of the rules and regulations,” he said, calling it a “dereliction of duty.” He declined to name the officers but said neither has decided how to plead in the case yet. “We’ve given them some additional time on this,” he said, adding that he needs the time to set up the trial process. Officers who commit more serious infractions won’t get the chance to plead guilty and avoid publicity, he said. In serious cases, officers are unlikely to agree to a guilty plea and the public deserves to know that punishment is actually being handed down, he explained. Mayor Brian U. Stratton agreed. “If it’s relatively minor and we achieve the same result, fine, have the opportunity for them to settle this without the public limelight,” Stratton said. “If it gets more serious, I think the public has a right to know.” Van Norden is preparing to prosecute the first public trial. He said it will be nearly identical to a criminal trial. “The only thing you don’t have is a jury,” he said. Officers can bring their own attorneys. Bennett acts as the judge. Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, suggested earlier in the week that public safety commissioners like Bennett might not always be just in their decisions. But Van Norden said the public trial could serve to protect officers just as it protects the rights of those accused of crimes. “The provision for a public trial is to protect from an overreaching judge,” Van Norden said. “The public scrutiny, I think, is critical to ensure that doesn’t happen. The commissioner is appointed by the mayor — he could be yanked out of there.” He argued that the system might be even fairer than arbitration. “There is an appeal. That’s one of the things we don’t have with the arbitration system,” he said. “[With arbitration] you have to show basically fraud. It’s an almost insurmountable standard to meet.” Officers who want to appeal the commissioner’s decision must show that Bennett made an error of law, Van Norden said. However, if they plead guilty before the trial, they cannot appeal at all.
Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, suggested earlier in the week that public safety commissioners like Bennett might not always be just in their decisions. But Van Norden said the public trial could serve to protect officers just as it protects the rights of those accused of crimes.
There is ALWAYS a sacrificial lamb in all public dealings.....as for being just in decisions----MR.FARLEY IS A POLITICIAN....the unjust scales rule in our systems.....there is no justice seen in the immediate decision but there is a far reaching ripple effect until that generation dies off and it is remembered no more......take the golden calf for instance.....they were forced to melt it and drink it......when was the last time we did that???
...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
Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE Who will discipline Sch’dy cops? Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com.
Those of you who read my blog at http://www.dailygazette.com know that I recently saluted Assemblyman Jim Tedisco for changing his position on a bill dealing with police discipline even as I ridiculed him for misrepresenting the issue. He had tried to make out that the problem in Schenectady was that Mayor Brian Stratton “refused to lead” so “the state Legislature must step in and solve this problem,” which, I noted, stood the situation on its head. Of course you have to remember that Tedisco is a Republican and Stratton a Democrat, so to some extent this is a political tiff, but the issue is a grave one. It is whether Schenectady will be able to discipline its own police officers, as apparently permitted by a 2006 Court of Appeals decision or whether it must rely on dilatory and over-tolerant state arbitrators as in the past. For the last two years, the Legislature, ever the handmaiden to police unions, passed a bill to cancel out the court decision and require that police discipline be subject to outside arbitration, and each time the governor (first Pataki, then Spitzer) vetoed it. This year the Senate passed the bill again, unanimously, and it’s now pending in the Assembly. After voting in favor of the thing before, Tedisco now says he will vote against it, and so will his protégé, Assemblyman George Amedore Jr. “I have listened to our constituents, and this is something they want,” he said, hastening to add that he has great respect for police officers, lest there be any doubt at election time. But he does have a question, which I think is a fair one. Has Mayor Stratton sent letters or made calls to the Democrat leaders in the Assembly, the ones who actually make things happen, as he has to Tedisco and the other local representatives, all of whom are Republicans? After all, Tedisco, as high-profi le as he has become as minority leader, has little real power. Real power resides with the speaker, Sheldon Silver, Stratton’s fellow Democrat. And Silver & Co. are certain to pass the same bill again. I asked Stratton about that, and he acknowledged he has not yet communicated with Silver or with Assemblyman Peter Abbate of Brooklyn, the sponsor of the bill, but that he has directed his corporation counsel to do so. But he also revealed something else, which I think is interesting: He has hired a lobbyist to press the city’s case with the Legislature and with the governor, just as he did last year at a cost of $8,000. A lobbyist! Schenectady has three representatives in the Legislature — Tedisco, Amedore and Sen. Hugh Farley — but if it wants to protect its interests it has to hire a lobbyist. I could ask a few questions at this point about what the devil those elected representatives are there for, but I will abstain and leave it to you, the reader, to formulate them to your own taste. I want this to be a reader-participation forum as much as possible. The nut of this matter remains the same. Schenectady has long had a police department marked by an attitude that the cops can do what they want. Nobody can touch them because of the adamantine protections of their contract. Mayor Stratton brought in a new public safety commissioner to try to straighten things out, and the police unions, through the state Legislature, are trying to stop him and stop other commissioners in other cities. Again, I salute Tedisco for changing course, even if belatedly.
I read with utter amazement the interview with Sen. Hugh Farley in the March 18 Gazette. In the first place, Farley apparently didn’t know that the Schenectady police were disciplined through arbitration, not by the commissioner or mayor. In fact both have requested the Legislature not pass the bill mandating cities to use arbitration. The commissioner’s lack of authority to discipline the people he supervises appears to be one of the major factors in controlling the police department. Doesn’t Mr. Farley ever read the newspapers? Why didn’t he consult with the mayor or the commissioner before voting for this legislation? Furthermore, he says that it’s not his role to seek out the opinions of his constituents. “I have to do what I think is right,” he added. In other words, after he has been elected he can ignore what his constituents may want. The arrogance of that attitude is unbelievable! What oracle does he consult to determine what is right? Why do we keep sending people with this attitude to represent us? No wonder we have the most “dysfunctional Legislature” in the country. ROBERT BURGESS Niskayuna
The city is paying their salary so they should also be able to discipline and fire the ones who violate the rules.
There ya go Shadow, making just toooo much sense!
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
SCHENECTADY Police discipline bill called a sham Councilman asks why veto wasn’t overturned BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
State legislation on police discipline is just theatrics, Schenectady City Councilman Gary McCarthy said Monday, as he refused to entertain another request to officially fight the bill. “It’s all a sham,” McCarthy said. “I’m not going to play into the charade.” He said it’s clear the Senate and Assembly have no real interest in enforcing a bill they have passed several times in the past two years. The bill, which has been passed again by the Senate and is before the Assembly, would require Schenectady and other municipalities to use arbitrators, rather than the public safety commissioner, to discipline police. It has been vetoed three times by Govs. George Pataki and Eliot Spitzer, but the Legislature has never tried to override the vetoes. “If they’d really wanted it, they would have just brought it back and overridden the governor,” McCarthy said. “The reality of this legislation is, the bill passed by overwhelming margins. If the Legislature wanted to overturn that, the votes were clearly there.” Mayor Brian U. Stratton said Mc-Carthy’s viewpoint had some merit but said he still wants the council to write a letter to the Assembly and Gov. David Paterson, urging them not to support the bill. When he broached that subject for the second time Monday, McCarthy all but ignored him. Stratton tried to persuade the council, saying council members should write a letter before meeting with the city’s state representatives on April 7. The council already knows its position and doesn’t need to hear why its representatives feel differently before writing a letter, he argued. “We don’t need any clarification, any excuses, any explanation. This city council doesn’t have to wait. We should be putting this on the agenda … with all due respect,” Stratton said. “So noted,” McCarthy answered. “Anything else to come before the caucus tonight? Do I hear a motion to adjourn?” He said afterward that he won’t acknowledge the pending state bill at all. “I’m looking to deal with substance as opposed to rhetoric,” he said. “We want something real. We’re going to ask our legislators to deliver to us something that enables us to continue to do what we need to do to improve our department.” UNION CLOUT McCarthy added that the Legislature is trying to impress labor unions with the bill while not actually implementing anything. “In the Legislature there’s a charade, in my mind, with the labor unions — the governor vetoes it and they say, ‘Oh well, what can we do?’ ” McCarthy said. “It’s all theatrics.” Stratton said McCarthy is maneuvering for home-rule legislation that would let just Schenectady avoid arbitration in police discipline cases. But Stratton said he thinks that is a grave political error because it would force the city to fight on its own, rather than continuing to lobby with New York City and other municipalities. He said the effort would also have a greater chance of failure because labor unions could focus pressure on just three of the state politicians — Schenectady’s three representatives — rather than having to lobby the entire Legislature. “That will be back-stepping significantly because it will enable the PBA to have exclusive bargaining with three members,” Stratton said. But he said McCarthy may be right in his description of the reality of the bill. “There’s certain merit in that. It is kind of a dance of sorts,” Stratton said. Still, he argued that writing a letter in opposition to the bill wouldn’t hurt. “The point I was making was, why don’t you articulate your position? I’ve sent letters. It would help to have the council,” he said. “But we’re moving forward. We’re not going to wait.”
The PBA has a strong influence and the politicians are afraid of losing their high paying, fantastic health-care, many benefits, and great retirement jobs if the bill passes.
Everyone is so damned afraid of losing the union vote. What the heck has our government become? Instead of Dems vs Reps, it has apparently changed to Unions vs Government. Collective bargaining is one thing, but pandering and a** kissing and threats for votes by the unions are a national disgrace!
Ya know, I hate walmart, but I give them credit for keeping the money hungry, pandering, bullying unions out of their workplace. If walmart went union, just think of the state this country would be in. The unions would then CERTAINLY run this country. And the folks that I talk to DO NOT want that to happen.
Now about walmart....I am not saying that they don't need to clean up their act. Surely they do. But the union is NOT the answer. There are labor laws on the books. It is the governments responsibility to make sure they are upheld. And the labor dept is an outlet the workers can and should use. And I'm not talking benefits here. I'm talking working conditions. Benefits are another subject for another thread.
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
Farley bill would give police discipline power to Schenectady commissioner Tuesday, March 25, 2008 By Bob Conner (Contact) Gazette Reporter
ALBANY — State Sen. Hugh Farley is introducing a bill that will give Schenectady's public safety commissioner more authority over police discipline. Farley, R-Niskayuna, said he is confident that the local bill will pass both houses of the state Legislature. Farley's fellow Republicans have a narrow majority in the Senate, but Democrats control the Assembly, where the bill does not yet have a majority-party sponsor. In a news release, Farley said his bill "will increase the commissioner's administrative control over police discipline, regardless of previously negotiated contracts or of any future amendments to the state's Civil Service Law." Farley went on to say, "Schenectady officials vocally oppose a proposed state law which would overturn a recent Court of Appeals decision and restore a previously negotiated contract provision for impartial arbitration of discipline matters which could not be resolved within the chain of command." The legislation he was referring to has passed the Legislature in prior years only to be vetoed by prior governors. This year, it passed the Senate again with Farley's support. It was put on hold last week in the Assembly so police unions could negotiate with Gov. David Paterson in an effort to come up with modifications to it that could avoid a veto. "The bill which I am introducing is a reasonable compromise," Farley said in his statement, because it will just affect only Schenectady and not the rest of the state.
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