Once again I find myself having to respond to an editorial by Bob Sacks in his Copake Chronicle. This time it is about “The Secret Police of Copake”. I feel the readers of the Chronicle should know the true facts & not the misinformation Mr. Sacks likes to distribute to his readers. First off there is no such thing as a Secret Police Commission. The Police Commission meets quarterly as the website says unless there are no issues that need to be addressed. The Town Clerk is notified, a public notice is put on the appropriate board in Town Hall & an official newspaper (which the Town Board designates in January) is notified. It is not put in the paper as a public notice because the Town Board voted to keep costs down & only certain Boards need to officially advertise. Mr. Sacks should have known this, as he is a Town Board member. Next Mr. Sacks states that before the Crowley administration the Police Commission met openly and monthly and always posted the minutes of their meetings. But if you look on the Copake Website you will see that the last time any minutes posted were in 10/2006, when Councilwoman Gabaccia & Councilman Ritchie were Commissioners. If you read those minutes, you will see the Commission decided to meet as needed & not monthly. If no minutes were posted since then, are we to assume that the commissioners at that time did nothing for 14 months or had secret meetings while under the then pre-Crowley Democratic controlled Board? Mr. Sacks also writes that I am the head spokesperson for the Police Commission. I am neither Chairman nor spokesperson, but am a Citizen that constantly attends board meetings, & when an issue with the police comes up I am then asked about my knowledge of it. Am I not allowed to give an answer now without being labeled? As Mr. Sacks knows there are 3 Commissioners, why then does he always only email me & not the other Commissioners when he has a question? Obviously he has assumed that I am in charge, when in fact I am not. Finally, any young man or woman can inquire about a career in law enforcement and request a ride-along to see the inner workings of a career possibly being pursued. Some do in fact inquire about this to many other Police Departments. Last spring there were two young men who showed an interest. They met with the Police Chief (who happens to run the daily operations of the PD) were interviewed by him, and were granted permission to ride along. The Town Attorney was contacted, a waiver was signed and the insurance company was notified, all legal & allowable. This is not in any way a training program, as Mr. Sacks would like you to think, it is an informational program only. Councilman Tompkins & Councilwoman Gabaccia inquired about this & were satisfied that the proper steps had being taken. If Mr. Sacks was so concerned, why did we not hear from him? And yes one of the young men happened to be a current Police Commissioner’s son, but should he not be allowed the same opportunity as anyone else in a non-paid status? Unfortunately, the other young man changed his mind and we were unable to assist him. Ride alongs are not something any Police Department advertises and neither do we, this is a selective process that the Police Chief goes through with the person of interest to see if they would qualify after they have inquired and are interviewed by him.
So, Mr. Sacks, no secret or back door meetings, no more posting of minutes from the previous Police Commissioner’s meetings, no nepotism, and no, I am not the chairman for the Police Commission.
Once again Mr. Sacks you have managed to print an editorial without getting the true facts and have done a disservice to your readers by giving them more misinformation in your paper.
Finally if minutes haven’t been posted for over 5 years, why is it an issue with you now and one that has not been bought up before? I can only assume that this is a politically motivated editorial to mar my reputation as a fair an honest person during my campaign for Town Supervisor.
Jeff Nayer
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