Plattsburgh State University Police delivered President John Ettling a vote of no confidence in his management against Chief of University Police Arlene Sabo, Assistant Chief Jerry Lottie and Vice President of Student Affairs Bill Laundry.
According to a press release sent from James McCartney, president of New York University Police Officer’s Union, the vote was delivered at 3:30 p.m. last Friday.
The vote of no confidence stems from the claim that the university police system is de-centralized within SUNY, the press release reported, which allows for police management “to operate outside of the rules with no consequence or repercussion.”
Sabo, Lottie and Laundry declined to comment.
McCartney said in the press release, “We do not take this vote lightly; this no confidence vote illustrates a crucial need for change at SUNY Plattsburgh.”
Within the vote of no confidence, Sabo, Lottie and Laundry are accused of refusing to work in good faith with the labor force; failing to support its officers; mismanaging policy, procedures, staffing and case management; and having had a history of poor decision-making and creating a hostile work environment through tactics such as manipulation and intimidation.
Within the document, it states that Sabo, Lottie and Laundry have harassed officers, saying that in the past, officers have been told they cannot talk to each other while on duty and have been “questioned and ridiculed” because of union involvement. It went on to say that Sabo and
Lottie “constantly belittle, intimidate and threaten officers.”
The document also states that Sabo, Lottie and Laundry are in the middle of a civil lawsuit for violating the rights of an officer within the department. It went on to state that incidents at PSUC have been “down-played or covered-up” while negative influences to the overall safety of the college have been ignored.
Also, the document stated that Sabo and Lottie “favor politics over justice and safety when evaluating officers’ actions and arrests,” and that there has been an abuse of power.
In addition, the document states that Sabo, Lottie and Laundry “seldom discuss labor issues,” and that there has been a breakdown of communication, leading to a “my way or no way” stance from the three.
Ettling said he has contacted people from the human resources department and the legal department within the SUNY system on how to go about resolving the issue. He said he has also spoken to Roger Johnson, assistant chancellor for State University Police, on the matter.
From advice received from people within these departments, Ettling said he is in the process of empanelling “a small group of experts in human resources and police work” to look into the charges presented within the document.
Ettling said he has names of three people with “considerable experience” and who are “widely respected” in regards to human resources and police work to handle the matter.
He said he sent e-mails to these three possible mediators on Tuesday to see if they are willing to come to campus to look into the allegations.
All three of these people are from outside the PSUC campus.
“The advice was to get people from outside the campus, so we’ve got people who’ve never worked here but are familiar with human resources and police work,” Ettling said.
Larry Mills, executive director of human resources, will be in charge of setting up meeting times with the involved individuals and transporting and lodging the three possible people who will look into the issue, he said.
Ettling said he could not release the names of these individuals as they had not yet responded to his e-mail.
Ettling said he planned to meet with Sabo, Lottie, Laundry and the police officer who speaks for those who issued the vote of no confidence Tuesday afternoon to tell them of his plan to bring these three people to campus.
Jody Dagget, secretary for the New York State University Police Officers Union at SUNY Potsdam, said this is the first time New York state’s University Police has issued a vote of no confidence.
However, due to the de-centralization of the University Police system, Dagget said it is possible that the same types of problems are occurring at other SUNY campuses, but that they are not at the level of severity as they are at PSUC.
Due to the de-centralization within the system, the 28 SUNY campuses have University Police who operate with completely different sets of rules and regulations.
While not all the allegations within the vote of no confidence at PSUC are indicative of problems at other campuses, Dagget said each campus has its own problems since each campus can essentially “do their own thing.”
“There’s not one set of rules that all University Police have to abide by,” Dagget said. “If there were a set of rules that were SUNY-wide, if it was centralized, you wouldn’t see this no confidence vote.”
Dagget said the vote of no confidence will not kick-start a statewide attempt to centralize the system, but that hopefully, this “cry for help” will bring to attention a problem that needs to be solved.
“There’s really no way for these guys to resolve the problem that they have at the local level,” Dagget said.
Dagget did say, however, that this issue at PSUC will be in the mind of the union in the future.
“When something like this takes place, we are going to cite this example of why we need change,” Dagget said.
As of now, Ettling said he is unaware of how this issue will pan out and will have to wait for the panel to come up with conclusions after their time on campus.
“It was surprising and, needless to say, disappointing. I’m sorry to see it come to this,” Ettling said of the vote. “I want to get this done as quickly as possible, but they are three different people with jobs all over the state.”
Be the first to comment on this article!