Feral police terrorize quiet upstate New York town - mayor seeks to regain control!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Five Schenectady police officers recently accused of everything from driving drunk to beating up a man are leading city officials to look at taking drastic action.

...

Mayor Stratton told us he's looking at all options, including disbanding the police department - basically starting over.

"It's something we're certainly looking into. I think the public has had it up to here," said the mayor.

Currently, officials are reviewing the legal options and planning to present a full report in early April - options like a consolidated county-wide police force or bringing in the State Police.

The mayor said there is another option - and that would be declaring martial law. The governor would have to declare it and then the National Guard would come in. The mayor said it's more for a transition to a new police force if that were to happen.

He said, "It may be that as a stopgap measure, that you would need military forces - State Police, National Guard."

Mayor Stratton said the temporary measure would last until the new police force took over.

http://capitalnews9.com/content/top_storie...es/Default.aspx

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Something is not adding up here:

Attorney general leads Schenectady forum tomorrow

SCHENECTADY — The state attorney general will conduct a community forum tomorrow night at Schenectady County Community College.

Andrew Cuomo and his senior staff will be at the school at 7 p.m. as part of his outreach effort to make the attorney general's office more responsive to New Yorkers. Health care, consumer fraud, environmental protection, Internet safety, student loads and civil and labor rights are among the topics to be discussed.

"My staff and I look forward to hearing from Schenectady residents about the issues that are important to them and that affect their daily lives," Cuomo said.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=782802

List of Schenectady cops facing firing up to 6

SCHENECTADY — A sixth officer has been added to the mayor’s list of those facing termination.

Dwayne Johnson, who regularly left his patrol to spend hours in an apartment, may be fired, Mayor Brian U. Stratton said.

Five other officers are facing that punishment as well: three officers accused of driving while intoxicated in off-duty incidents and two officers accused of beating a drunken man during an arrest.

Stratton said he wants the punishment to come quickly and fall as heavily as possible to send a message that “unprofessional” behavior will no longer be tolerated.

“We want to be swift and deliberate and clear the decks,” he said. “I think it’s important for us, at this critical time, to move as swiftly as we can. The faster we come to a resolution, the more the public knows we’re serious and the more their fellow officers know.”

But with that punishment comes quite a price tag. The months of work to research each case and then argue them in court will cost the city $185 per hour.

That’s how much the city will pay a private law firm to prosecute each officer. The Albany firm of Girvin & Ferlazzo has been hired to fight for the highest possible punishment in each case. James Girvin, a specialist in public sector employment law and labor relations, will run the prosecution.

Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett will judge each case, with the help of the city attorneys. They will provide legal advice.

The officers involved will be defended by their own attorneys.

Research for the first case alone will take a month, Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden said. The hearings themselves are expected to take two days each.

At an hourly rate, the legal costs will be tremendous, Stratton acknowledged.

“But we can’t afford not to,” he said. “That’s the price we continue to pay.”

Until the hearings, the city must also pay each suspended officer’s salary as well as other officers’ overtime to cover the disgraced officers’ shifts.

The city does get a slight break in the first 30 days of a suspension — it doesn’t have to pay suspended officers during that time. But disciplinary hearings are rarely convened within that time limit. Of the six officers, only Johnson is still on unpaid suspension.

Stratton said the cost to discipline the officers will put pressure on the 2009 budget, which was trimmed of $1 million to avoid a tax increase this year. The City Council trimmed the budget over the mayor’s warnings that unexpected costs could arise.

“There’s always unexpected things,” he said Wednesday. “That’s money we could have otherwise had to fund things like additional legal services.”

But he said the surplus from the 2008 budget — the amount of which has not yet been announced — could rescue this year’s spending plan.

And even if it doesn’t, Stratton said, the city must find ways to pay for the hearings.

“We have to afford it,” he said.

The six officers who may be fired are Darren Lawrence, accused of driving drunk, crashing in Colonie, fleeing the scene and beating a friend to keep him from reporting the incident; Michael Brown, accused of driving drunk, hitting another car, fleeing the scene and refusing a Breathalyzer test; John Lewis, accused of DWI, threatening to kill his ex-wife and numerous other charges; Gregory Hafensteiner and Andrew Karaskiewicz, accused of beating a drunken man during an arrest; and Dwayne Johnson, accused of leaving work four hours early on numerous Tuesdays.

http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/mar/19/0319_sixcops/

Schenectady Mayor Stratton Receives National Government Leadership Award

Schenectady (NY) Mayor Brian Stratton has received the Distinguished Local Government Leadership Award for outstanding financial leadership and revitalization efforts in his city. The award was presented on February 20 by the Association of Government Accountants in a special ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington (DC).

"Schenectady's achievements in fiscal management and economic revitalization are not the product of any single individual, rather the result of a true team effort," the mayor said.

When Stratton took office in 2004, the city was on the brink of financial collapse, facing a $10.2 million deficit and the lowest credit rating by Moody's Investors of any city in New York.

Under Stratton's administration, Schenectady's deficit was eliminated within two years, and the city finished 2007 with a cumulative surplus of $10.4 million. The city's credit rating moved from Ba3 (negative outlook) to Baa1 (stable by Moody's and a new credit rating of A- by Standard and Poor's.)

Working with government partners and private industry, Stratton has attracted more than $250 million of private investment, including...

http://www.pitchengine.com/potratzpartners...hip-award/6754/