Reopening Cobleskill’s police controversy, Mayor Becky Stanton-Terk Tuesday night lashed out at officers who resigned in July.
Mayor Stanton-Terk described her 30-minute description of those officers’ misdeeds as an effort “to set the record straight.”
“We have a lot to unpack here,” she said, before starting.
Her attack came six months after eight officers, including Chief Justin Manchester, abruptly resigned following a dispute about overtime and other issues.
Relations between officers and Mayor Stanton-Terk were strained before that over police contract talks that grew acrimonious early in 2023.
After the resignations, Mayor Stanton-Terk vowed to rebuild the Police Department, and the village board hired Jim McCrum as chief in August.
The Police Department “will be stronger going into 2024,” Mayor Stanton-Terk said Tuesday night, and the thrust is to “focus on the great work Chief McCrum has accomplished.”
But Mayor Stanton-Terk then switched gears, targeting the retired officers for their “ugly campaign against the board of trustees.”
She pointed to what she called “bullying and scare tactics,” along with damaging posts on social media.
“We wanted the Police Department to adhere to a code of ethics,” Mayor Stanton-Terk said, implying that officers didn’t.
Noting research done by Chief McCrum, Mayor Stanton-Terk listed a series of misdeeds that didn’t follow protocol, among them:
•No evidence tags on a shotgun, machete and metal knuckles.
•100 license plates not returned to drivers.
•IDs of SUNY Cobleskill students not returned to University Police.
•Three pallets of drugs not disposed of.
•Property dating to 1999 found in an evidence locker.
•Old records kept and not destroyed.
•$1,200 cash found in a file cabinet.
“We have a lot more to go through,” Chief McCrum said. “It’s going to be a long process.”
“I know it’s been grueling,” Mayor Stanton-Terk responded.
She emphasized that her long statement wasn’t hers alone and that trustees supported her.
And they did.
Trustee Larry Van Heertum said he “was glad they all resigned,” adding later that officers were “getting paid and not doing the job.”
Trustee Lance Rotolo said Mayor Stanton-Terk’s statement showed “there were two sides to the story.”
After speaking, Mayor Stanton-Terk said she held “no ill will” towards the resigned officers.
Asked to clarify, she said she respected those who joined other law-enforcement agencies; several of the resigned officers joined the Schoharie County Sheriff’s Office.