How many cops will have to get paid extra (overtime + shift differential) to pay for the enforcement of this? And how much will it cost when a cop is checking someone's ID when there's an actual crime that he should be tending to?
How many cops will have to get paid extra (overtime + shift differential) to pay for the enforcement of this? And how much will it cost when a cop is checking someone's ID when there's an actual crime that he should be tending to?
And they will be fake ID's too!!
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
Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com. HATE CRIME?
On a still grimmer Schenectady note, several readers have inquired about the recent beating of a man who was walking through Hamilton Hill late at night on his way home from work. A photograph of the man, Anthony Ackerman, showed him to be white, and readers wondered if his attackers might have been black, and if so, would the attack qualify as a hate crime? Well, I talked to Mr. Ackerman the other day, and he said the 10 to 15 teenage boys who jumped him were indeed black, but he said, “I don’t think it had anything to do with color.” He speculated it might have been a gang initiation, an attempt to impress girls, or just thrill-seeking. He noted that the boys didn’t say anything to him, so it’s hard to know what motivated them. Still, I cannot help but wonder what would have been the reaction if a lone black man walking home from work through Niskayuna, let’s say, had been jumped by a group of white teenagers spilling out of a party and been beaten unconscious. Would there have been cries of racism? Would Al Sharpton have come to town? Ackerman, who works at Wal-Mart in Rotterdam and lives on Nott Terrace in Schenectady, has become very civically aware as a result of his ugly experience and says he holds the city of Schenectady responsible for what happened to him, since there was no police presence on Hamilton Hill when he got attacked, even though there had been another assault in the same area, on someone else, just three hours earlier. He is even contemplating a run for City Council, which I think would be interesting. I certainly agree there should always be a police presence in the highest-crime area of the city, but I would also argue that the people responsible are the people who did it, that is, the teenagers themselves — they and their parents. Now, once again, readers are invited to post their comments on these matters on my blog at http://www. dailygazette.com.
As usual, liberal writers and the liberal press need to have something to blame for society’s ills, rather than being politically incorrect and blame the real root cause of the problem. I refer to the April 20 article,” Some kids eager for real guns — pistols called cool as violence escalates,” and then the April 24 editorial, “Address Schenectady gun culture,” on the gun as the source of the Hill’s problem. To put it into the words of Teddy Roosevelt, this is balderdash! Yes, the gun becomes the outlet of frustration for the problem. But it’s not the problem. The problem is that segment of society that doesn’t respect human life, values nothing except self, has no goals other than having kids, being on the dole, doing drugs and then getting into the drug trade, kids that grow up having no father figures to show them what’s correct or not — this list can go on forever. This is the real problem. This is the plight of the people in most cities. Notice I didn’t say families, I said people, because that’s what the majority are, humans living together with little to no social structure to help change the situation. Until this lifestyle changes and the family structure comes back to this group, there will never be any positive change, and the gun will rule supreme as the only means of respect. BOB NICOLELLA Scotia
It doesn't appear that there are any true leaders in these areas other than the gang-bangers......gang-bangers could be considered polygamists---baby's daddy....baby's mama.......money tossed at the problem just feeds what is already in existence such as welfare fraud, food stamp fraud, stealing, threatening, greed, anger, ignorance etc etc.......
the gang-bangers there are no different than the mofiosa of other cultures......just a little more hate and selfishness......
...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
I would like to tell you that I have lived on Hamilton Hill a long time. I’ve seen the difference in those years. I’ll tell you that the situation is getting really bad. They must take these young people who are doing drugs, etc. off the streets. If they don’t have an address or a job established, then they should send them back where they came from. I’m tired of seeing the problem go on and on. We need a trooper barracks right on The Hill. It’s going from bad to worse — like the wild, wild West. M. L. DENOVIO Schenectady
If the city of Schenectady wants to increase its income, by way of the police department, an effective way would be to enforce the “No Turn on Red” sign on Liberty street, eastbound at Nott Terrace. I can’t count the number of times I have been stopped there, waiting for a green light so I could proceed east on Liberty Street and Eastern Avenue, and see car after car turn right on exactly the red light that was holding me up. It seems that the majority of people turning there either don’t see, or ignore, the sign that tells them to wait for green. And not once (in my presence) have any of them been ticketed by a policeman. This situation is especially surprising to me considering that the police department is only one block away. Why do the police ignore constant flouting of the law so close to their own headquarters? It seems to me that their inactivity encourages flagrant lawbreaking. WILLIAM H. PITTMAN
SCHENECTADY Spanking solution to crime, says group Residents, officials discuss how to stop escalating violence BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter Public Safety Commissioner
“We have to let the parents know, you don’t have to be scared of your kid,” said Portia Alston, who urged parents to spank their children and offered to do it for them if they needed help. She was one of about 50 residents, clergy and government officials who gathered at Christ Church to talk about the re-He castigated parents for negotiating with their children instead of setting firm rules. “We’ve got to control our children,” he said. “You want to argue with them, and yet you feed them and clothe them. I see parents arguing with a 3-year-old child over whether to sit down.” He, too, offered to help if parents were too afraid to discipline their children themselves. “You’ve got to discipline that child,” he said. “If you don’t do this, I don’t care what the mayor does, I don’t care what the police do, I don’t care how many cameras you have, you will not resolve this problem.” Resident Cindy Prater said parents might be persuaded to take a more active role if they had to pay a fine and pick up their child at the police headquarters every time police found the child wandering the streets after 11 p.m. The idea of a curfew has been discussed eagerly by many residents in recent years, but has been largely dismissed by the city government because so many police would be needed to transport the children and supervise them while they wait for their parents to arrive. “I think that would help,” Prater said. “They’ll get tired of paying that fine, picking up their kid, and they’ll do something. Spare the rod, spoil the child!” BENNETT: COOPERATE Wayne Bennett took a different tack. Instead of parenting advice, he asked each resident to seek out five others and persuade them to cooperate with police instead of staying silent in fear of reprisals from the criminals. “Remind them every time you see them: ‘A group of vigilantes is holding the city hostage. It’s not right. It is patently unfair to the community,’ ” Bennett said. “Let’s try to convince people you don’t need to live in fear and there’s no future living in fear.” But he also made it clear that the recent violence is an outgrowth of the street-wise teenager’s complaint about disrespect. Most of the gunfire has nothing to do with drugs or gangs, he said. “What we have are people displaying handguns and taking shots at each other for the most ridiculous reasons: because you ‘disrespected’ his girlfriend — the definition of ‘disrespect’ being up to him, of course. You may have made a comment. Or it could be you made a comment about someone’s vehicle. That’s a real good reason to kill somebody,” Bennett added sarcastically. He said the shooters range in age from 14 to 50, and that he believes fewer than 25 people are doing almost all of the shooting. There have been 61 confirmed incidents of shots fired so far this year. Even though Bennett said many of the shooters are not children, some residents said the answer was to discipline youngsters so that they don’t wander the streets, buy illegal guns and start shooting each other over minor disagreements. But others showed some weariness at yet another meeting to talk about crime. “This may be the 30th or 40th meeting I’ve attended, usually as a reaction to a shooting or a flare-up,” said Andreas Kriefall, who criticized the meetings as being all talk. “The ingredient that’s missing is organizing,” he said. “You need a sustained commitment.” Some speakers agreed with him, but still the talk went on. For two hours, the group argued, complained and offered a series of ideas to combat the violence, but no concrete steps for achieving any of those ideas. Weed and Seed site Coordinator Marion Porterfield urged everyone to meet again at 6:30 p.m. on May 15 at Calvary Tabernacle Assembly, 1840 Albany St. At that meeting, she promised, they will create plans for action. Tuesday’s meeting was organized in response to the recently escalating gun incidents in the city. Police have been responding to calls for shots fi red nearly every day for the past eight weeks, although Bennett said that the gunfire appears to have died down since police doubled their patrols with the help of state troopers April 23.
Sch’dy must find programs to help returning ex-cons
Re April 29 article, “Rash of recent gunfire blamed on ‘vendettas’ ”: Of all the crime-fighting strategies employed in these same three Schenectady neighborhoods over the last two decades, there is one we have never engaged. These neighborhoods are home to a very high proportion of individuals who have done time in state prison. With no coherent infrastructure of re-entry support, they re-offend at an alarming rate. In fact, they are the most statistically predictable population likely to commit a new crime. Any rational and balanced strategy of community crime reduction should make them a high priority. In April, President Bush signed into law the Second Chance Act, which will spend some $165 million a year on prisoner re-entry programs. Schenectady should commit itself to going after a share. We must also light a fire under the state Legislature and [governor] to do more than have task forces and public hearings on this subject. Closer to home, city hall should take the lead in turning the community’s numerous service providers into a coherent infrastructure that evaluates individual returning prisoners and directs them to services that maximize their chance of reintegrating successfully. The state prison system releases some 26,000 inmates a year who overwhelmingly return to distressed neighborhoods, damaged families and very little chance of getting their lives together. Instead of a never-ending law enforcement dog-and-pony show, we need a system that recognizes that if we don’t help these people, there will inevitably be more victims of crime. TERRY O’NEILL Albany
Schenectady cop suspended First published: Thursday, May 1, 2008
SCHENECTADY -- A city police officer was suspended without pay Wednesday after he was charged with harassment after a domestic dispute. John Lewis, a 15-year veteran of the force, was arrested around 3:15 p.m. Tuesday at his Plymouth Avenue home, Lt. Brian Kilcullen said.
Lewis was allegedly involved in an argument with his wife that turned physical. Kilcullen said Lewis shoved her. He was charged with harassment, a misdemeanor, and arraigned in City Court. He was released without bail but was quickly taken off duty. Lewis was fired from the force in 1998 by then Mayor Albert P. Jurczynski for using a racial slur in the presence of three people, including a black YWCA counselor working at the police department. Lewis was later reinstated after an arbitrator ruled he was fired without sufficient cause.
SCHENECTADY Police officer allegedly grabbed wife BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter
A Schenectady police officer whom the city fired and then was forced to rehire 10 years ago has been suspended after his arrest on allegations he grabbed and pushed his wife, police said. John W. Lewis, 38, of Oregon Avenue, was charged Tuesday with one count of second-degree harassment, a violation. He is accused of grabbing and pushing his wife during a dispute over their child just after 3 p.m. on Plymouth Avenue, according to papers fi led in court. Lewis had been attempting to leave with their infant son. He also allegedly grabbed his wife in the face and neck area while she was inside of his vehicle with their son, according to papers. Lewis was suspended without pay shortly after, Police Department spokesman Lt. Brian Kilcullen said. “The bottom line is police officers are held to the same laws as everyone else,” Kilcullen said. Police were summoned after one of the two dialed 911, Kilcullen said. He was unsure which. One could be heard on the call, the other could be heard in the background. The charge came as a result of cooperation by Lewis’ wife, Kilcullen said. The department’s domestic violence policy, which requires arrest regardless of cooperation, did not come into play because the charge was a violation. Lewis was fired by the department in 1998 after he was accused of using a racial slur during an offduty incident on Feb. 27, 1998, behind the city police headquarters on Liberty Street. Several people overheard the remark. The city, however, was ordered to rehire Lewis when an arbitrator ruled the city was “unduly harsh” in firing him. Lewis, hired in April 1994, had only one other serious blemish on his record at that time, an unspecified incident that brought him a 24-day suspension in late 1995. Asked if the 1998 case could have an effect on the current action, Kilcullen said prior history has some bearing on any discipline case. Lewis is the sixth officer currently under review. Five others remain on paid leave as authorities investigate whether they used excessive force in a December arrest. The suspension also comes as the department is using state police to help patrol city streets after a string of gunfire incidents. Police union president Lt. Robert Hamilton could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Alleged Schenectady police beating victim admits lesser charges Friday, May 2, 2008 By Steven Cook (Contact) Gazette Reporter
SCHENECTADY — The Pattersonville man who claims he was beaten by five city police officers after a December traffic stop on Union Street has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. Donald Randolph, 37, of 16 Pattersonville Road, was initially charged with felony driving while intoxicated and aggravated unlicensed operation, as well as with threatening officers, after he was arrested in the early morning hours of Dec. 7 after police said they observed him behind the wheel of a pickup truck in the parking lot of the McDonald's restaurant on Union Street. But court papers say Randolph pleaded guilty to second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation and third-degree facilitating aggravated unlicensed operation, both misdemeanors, to satisfy both the Dec. 7 charges and a misdemeanor aggravated unlicensed operation charge he was ticketed on three weeks earlier. In return for his plea, Randolph was sentenced to time served and a $700 fine. Randolph claims that after he was taken into custody after the Dec. 7 arrest, he was driven about six blocks to the intersection of Union and McClellan streets and then was beaten as he was being transferred from a patrol car to a prisoner wagon. Randolph arrived at the Schenectady County jail with swelling on the side of his face and a bruised right wrist, according to an injury report taken at the facility, and told corrections officers the injuries were delivered by police. The officers named by Randolph - Daryl Mallard, Kevin Derkowski, Gregory Hafensteiner, Andrew Karaskiewicz and Eric Reyell - were suspended with pay pending an investigation into the allegations. The state attorney general's office later joined the criminal investigation into the incident and Randolph filed a notice of claim against the city in March, preserving his right to sue.
SCHENECTADY Carney: Arrest evidence weak DWI case center of lawsuit over excessive force BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter
The officer who arrested a man now at the center of a police excessive force case acted with scant information, Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney said. The man who was arrested, Donald Randolph, 37, was initially charged with felony driving while intoxicated and felony aggravated unlicensed operation. He pleaded guilty Friday to one count of misdemeanor aggravated unlicensed operation and was sentenced to time already served — seven days in jail. Arresting officer Andrew Karaskiewicz, Carney said, never did sobriety tests and never even saw Randolph driving. Instead, Karaskiewicz noted an odor of alcohol and glassy eyes. He first spotted Randolph outside the vehicle, which was parked in the Union Street Mc-Donald’s drive-through early Dec. 7, 2007. “No field sobriety tests were done at any time,” Carney said. “He just summarily placed him under arrest.” Five officers, including Karaskiewicz, remain on leave with pay as the state Attorney General’s Office investigates allegations that police later used excessive force on Randolph. Randolph was placed in the police car and transferred to a prisoner wagon six blocks away. The wagon was driven by Officer Daryl Mallard. The three other officers arrived separately in patrol cars, partners Eric Reyell and Kevin Derkowski in one car and Gregory Hafensteiner in another. ABUSE ALLEGATION 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 seri- ously injured, has since filed a claim against the city seeking damages. His attorney, George LaMarche, did not return calls for comment Friday. There was no indication Friday how much longer the investigation would take. An attorney general’s spokesman declined to comment. However, the state investigation was not dependent on a resolution in the underlying Randolph case, Carney said. Randolph never admitted he was driving — until Friday as part of the plea deal — Carney said. He also refused a blood-alcohol test, but that wasn’t offered until later, at the police station. With the plea, Randolph admitted he was driving without a license, something else Karaskiewicz didn’t check before the arrest, Carney said. Prosecutor Michael Tiffany handled the case against Randolph for the district attorney’s office. He spoke with Karaskiewicz early on, before the excessive force allegations surfaced, and soon determined there was no evidence for the drunk driving charge, Carney said. Tiffany later attempted to get more information, but never heard back from the officers’ attorney. Police union president Lt. Robert Hamilton did not return a call for comment Friday. Randolph was also charged with violation-level harassment, accused of telling Karaskiewicz: “I’ll take care of you when you get off work.” That, too, was unprosecutable, Carney said. The words were too vague to constitute a threat. Tiffany, the office’s DWI prosecutor, has seen some cases with weak evidence, Carney said, but he can’t remember one with virtually no evidence, like Randolph’s. The arrest was Randolph’s second in a month. He was charged Nov. 14, 2007, by the sheriff’s department with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, a misdemeanor. That case was also wrapped up Friday with a guilty plea to facilitating third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation. His total sentence was time served, amounting to seven days, and $700 in fines.
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