PLATTSBURGH – The process for selecting Plattsburgh’s next police chief should be open to the public, city council members say.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Gibbs (D-Ward 3) said that way the council will also be more involved in who is chosen as a candidate, which is what they want instead of the process Mayor Chris Rosenquest presented to them last month.
Shortly after Peter Mitchell retired as police chief in early September after just nine months on the job, Rosenquest announced the formation of a search committee, led by SUNY Plattsburgh University Police Chief Pat Rascoe, to help find a candidate for the vacancy to find.
DON’T WANT ‘OUTSIDE PANEL’
In filling the committee, Rosenquest and Rascoe asked representatives from the following agencies to participate in the search process: the Clinton County District Attorney’s office; The Clinton County Prosecutor’s Office; Behavioral Health Services North; Clinton County Sheriff’s Office; New York State Police; Plattsburgh Police Department; and the SUNY Plattsburgh Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
The council members quickly disagreed with this approach.
“The council has to decide whether or not we approve the appointment of that person,” Gibbs said.
“So if the council is the approval vote, there is only one entity that has to interview a candidate for chief of police and that is us – not an outside panel.”
Jeff Moore (D-Ward 6) said the city has previously tried and failed to fill the position through a search committee and that Rosenquest, who has only been in office for two months, should step aside and leave it to the next mayor – or Republican. Don Kasprzak or Democrat Wendell Hughes – to solve.
“This is why I know I did that, and I’m sure Elizabeth and Julie, and hopefully the entire council, believe he can’t complete the mission,” Moore said, referring to Rosenquest.
‘Why are we wasting our time with him? He has three months left. He had four years and he couldn’t identify a chief…Chris has a terrible track record when it comes to filling that position.”
KEY SEARCH HISTORY
As previously reported by the Press-Republican, finding a permanent chief to lead the city’s police department has been a challenge during Rosenquest’s tenure.
When he first took office in January 2021, Police Chief Levi Ritter resigned in April. After the search for a new chief lasted much of 2021, Rosenquest finally named Vermont State Police Capt. Michael Manley as his choice in December.
However, the council voted down Manley’s appointment 5-1 and it was later revealed that he was ineligible for a job as New York’s police chief in the first place.
Moore and Gibbs, who both served on the council during the 2021 police search, said they were kept in the dark for much of that process and had to investigate Manley’s background on their own. If the trial is in the public eye, such future situations can be avoided, they said.
“There is no need for an executive session to have an interview. State officials, employment records — for example, if there’s been a use of force complaint, if there’s been a lawsuit — that’s all public information,” Gibbs said.
“If you want the public to have confidence in their law enforcement agency, there is no reason not to interview them in full view of the public.”
After Manley’s appointment was rejected, the police chief position remained vacant until February 2022, when Nathan “Bud” York, a retired member of the state police and three-term Warren County sheriff, was approved as interim chief during the search for a man. permanent continued.
York stayed on until the fall of 2023. After York’s departure, Mitchell, who had served on the Plattsburgh Police Department for 25 years, was named chief in December with three positive votes on the council. Mitchell subsequently resigned early last month.
WANTED INTERNAL CHOICES
Moore and Gibbs said Rosenquest bears responsibility for the revolving door of police chiefs.
Moore said the police chief situation in 2021 could have been resolved just by looking internally. He said there were two qualified people — Lt. Jared Trombley and Darin Perrotte, now chief of police for the Saranac Lake Police Department — who could have been chief and who knew the city’s needs well.
“They could have done a great job… so he messed up,” Moore said.
“One of the reasons why the community was so outraged in 2021 was the desire to grow our own talent internally and then promote it from within, because you know what you have, and you have a long history and a long memory. and these are individuals who generally live in our community, and they are involved in the community because they are not an outside occupying force. They live here. These are their neighbors.”
Gibbs, Moore and Julie Baughn (D-Ward 1) again hoped last month that Trombley would be considered for the chief position, but were told by the mayor that he had been removed from consideration before the committee was announced.
“He has proven time and time again that he cannot be trusted,” Gibbs said of Rosenquest.
“He can’t be part of the process.”
