I received the comment below and thought to myself, this is not your typical anonymous said statement. So before I published it, I called Mayor Robb to ask him if anything happened today between Chief Mullaney and Officer Pitts. The Mayor told me that the Village Board relieved Officer Pitts of his duties today. The Mayor also stressed that Chief Mullaney did not make this decision. Let me repeat this for some of this blogs slower and dim posters.......The Village Board Made This Decision.... NOT Chief Mullaney
There are no details about the removal of Mr. Pitts from his position today, Mayor Robb stated that this is a personel issue and no specifics can be discussed with the public.
Anonymous said...
Officer Pitts was FIRED today by the Chief. What is wrong with this Village Board?
September 24, 2008 5:55 PM
26 comments:
How do you fire someone who resigned?
The resignation was not effective until September 28th. Evidently the VB had reason to suspend [fire] Officer Pitts today. One of the reasons for taking this action might be to prevent Mr. Pitts from working in the VPD on a part time basis in the future. Why? I have no idea!
I can appreciate this however---did you know that Chief Mullany is now working 7 days a week and making overtime from our village. We can't seem to have an officer on in the evenings during after school activities but he can work 7 days a week and also receive over time. "Why would the village hire a full time officer"--Why would the village do anything that is correct or proper proceedure-- they seem to think they can do things based on "past practice" how ever civil service states as of 2005 they do not recognize "past practice and will not except this as an excuse as of 2005. Check on the current civil suite that has just gone to arbitration. Lets just do what we want and we won't get caught. Thats the Village of Alexandria Bays way!!!!!!!
Anonymous said:
....Check on the current civil suite that has just gone to arbitration........
Can you give us a link to what you are referring to?
Sounds like a pead of policeman forth coming with all the info about the ABPD
PGuston- you need to foil this stuff ASAP
Does this mean that officer pitts will be talking on his cell phone 8 hours/day while working for the Watertown PD instead of Abay PD ??
Better them than us.
Curious,
I am just a blogger, not a legal advocate. If Officer Pitts wants to talk and tell his side, I will listen. I have a busy shedule this weekend and won't be blogging much. But I will be back on the blog Sunday night
These officers are supposed to be setting an example and using good values and morales.
That is not being done here.
"Does this mean that officer pitts will be talking on his cell phone 8 hours/day while working for the Watertown PD instead of Abay PD ??"
No, Officer Pitts won't be on the cell phone in ABPD, but the other 10 or so officers will, so what's the difference? I have seen several officers including the chief on their phones and personally dont see the big deal. Legally they can anyway. No-one can prove any of them weren't talking official business. You can assume they aren't, but you can't PROVE it. And it's not just ABPD, I see Troopers, Park and Border Patrol. They all talk on their cell phones. Does it make it right? No, but you cant fire everyone!
I am sensing the direction of this topic is going to morph into village taxpayer funds funds being sqaundered. In that vein , down in Onondaga County ( My weekday home) they are merging police agencies quite frenquently ( ex: County Mounties and Town of Clay , Town of Geddes, Village of Solvay etc. ) Was there opposition ? Yes , but in the end it made fiscal sense and it benefitted the tax payer.
Why not merge the Village PD into the Jeff County Mounties ? You also have the State PD right down the road ? Then you might not feel like you were whizzing your money out the window on what I am perceiving by the posts to be an inneffective police force governed by a crooked Village Board.
I think the police force is just the VB's own little way to keep them out of trouble for things like drinking, speeding, and other infractions.
who gives a hoot? it will never change. Arrest the locals and let the tourists make a complete mochary of our village. $ well spent huh?
To all the above; Pitts is a good officer and was bettering himself by taking a job with the Watertown Police Department that offered health benefits for him and his family unlike Alexandria Bay. He further did the honorable thing by giving two weeks notice and asking them to retain him as a part time officer. The Village board again felt that it might be easier to fire him with no formal charges or written complaints then let him work out the rest of his week. Nothing like wanting to keep him then let him go with no just cause. It seems to be the present administrations way of doing thing and they wonder why Chief Sacco left with an extra $52,000 dollars because the village fathers were afraid they would have a law suite against them and the village for a hostile work place. Do we see a pattern of village employees being let go or leaving during this administration ? Ask yourself this question is it getting better ? My responce is NO its costing the taxpayers thousands and might cost them more ! Do you think they were after Roger ? He got smart and left before they screwed him out of his retirement with no just cause. Do you see new faces in the Police department and do they know you ? Do they even care about the citizens of the Vllage of Alexandria Bay ? Theres more behind the scenes than most people know about !
cops r exemped and they can talk on cell phones whenever they want so relax
It is so easy to write comments on this blog without knowing all the facts. Has anyone info as to WHY this officer was let go? Probably not. Before getting dressed, make sure your shades are pulled down also. In other words, there are reasons, that we all will never know, what exactly occurred between the VB and Mr. Pitts. Won't be the first time or maybe the last that something like this happens.
Cell phones-- in this area the radios do not always work and the officer has to be contacted from Watertown and YES IT IS BY CELL PHONE. I agree sometimes it does seem to be constant. However how do you really know who the officer is talking too.
As far as the Civil Suite- It is in reference to improper proceedures done by the Village Board with four different police officers. An offer was made by the Union Attorney but was turned down by the Village.
The cell phone comment is just a cheap shot, everyone does it, give it a rest, there is no control for that anymore. Anyone on their cell phone for business related to emergencies or their job is fine, and who the hell says a few personal calls is going to get you fired. Big deal.
My two cents;
I know for a fact that the State Police say they are too busy to patrol area roads. I have seen them on occassion and also Border Patrol trying to get a handle on the goings on on the Swan Hollow Rd. If we lose our VPD who will come to our aid during the summer when we really need help? We seem to "borrow" officers from other forces already. I do not know what the situation was with John Pitts, but this is a small town and people seem to notice everything. Just another ABAY graduate leaving the Bay...it's sad really.
Crabby
Alex Bay loses another good officer to shady deals and the good ol boy system. Im sure we'll see more of this type of thing from Chief Mullaney.
Do the taxpayers know about the uncertified officers that the Bay PD has working for them? They have hired two officers that work on Fort Drum full time and they are not certified by the State of New York. New York State does not recognize any certifications from Fort Drum and request that if any of the Fort Drum Police Officers want to become a civilian Police Officer that they have to attend the Police Academy. But I guess the Bay does not want to listen to New York State. Can you say Liability! I will say the two Officers can work their for up to one year until they attend a Police Academy, but they have to be with a certified Police Officer at all times. That means that the taxpayers are paying two people to patrol the Village but only one of them can enforce the law. So if, GOD for bid, the uncertified one has to use his weapon or some other kind of force and the defendant decided that he wanted to sue, they would probably get rich and the taxes would go up. So what’s up with that!
It is obvious that Officer Pitts was "fired" simply so they did not have to keep him on part time. Where he would have had senority over the Chief's 2 Fort Drum guys. Doesnt anyone else see the pattern, get rid of the old administrations guys and bring in your own. Why did the village even hire two more part timers when they aren't using the ones currently employed. Why? Because new chief doesnt want old chiefs guys. Simple as that.
Officer Pitts has always been a great person both on the job and off. Congrats and good luck.
Jon always did a great job, and was a fair man. Best of luck to you Jon. As for the VB, well we are the fools who put them there, aren't we!!!
John was a hero and he will be remembered by all.
A lot of good comments. Obviously, this one isn't going away before the next VB meeting, so why was he fired?
Anyone?
I think it has to come out of executive session sooner or later. Anybody out there ever file a FOIA?
I know "Bozo" knows how to do it.....
talked to another part time village pd and he said
pitts had been warned twice about talking on cell phone without blue tooth,
warned twice about leaving ripe/fresh spittons in police cars and police station
warned lots of times about leaving village limits while on duty with police car to go to new house in plesis
another above the law cop
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