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RYE POLICE COMMISSIONER CONNORS AND CITY MANAGER OP SHEW RECEIVE
VOTES OF NO CONFIDENCE FROM THE RYE PBA
On
April 30, 2008 the Rye Police Association held a Special Meeting.
More than ¾ of the membership, including Police Officers and
Supervisors, voted unanimously to give Commissioner Connors a Vote
of “No Confidence” to lead the members of the Rye Police
Department. Another vote was taken and all the members voted
unanimously in favor of having “No Confidence” in City Manager OP
Shew's service and commitment to the citizens of Rye and to the
employees of the City of Rye Police Department.
Our message to
Commissioner Connors is clear and unwavering. “You have alienated
your officers” and there are undoubtedly multiple reasons as to how.
This unanimous vote was not the action of a few disaffected members,
but rather represents a true accounting of the opinions of the Rye
Police Association as a whole. Members of the Rye Police Association
attributed this “Vote of No Confidence” to Connors’ inadequate
leadership, incompetence and mismanagement as well as his
inflexibility, autocratic self absorbed demeanor, condescension,
deception, manipulation and politically driven behavior.
Connors and
City Manager OP Shew have refused to acknowledge the Rye Police
Association and our leadership as the sole representative of all
sworn members of the department in all matters pertaining to our
working conditions. They have continually circumvented the union
while placing our members in harms way numerous times. They have
forced us to go to court and seek other legal remedies on what
should be routine matters. This is intentionally done to harass and
intimidate union officials. These improper practices that are forced
upon our union has needlessly cost the Rye taxpayers well in excess
of $1,000,000 in legal fees while also bringing morale to a
critically low level.
Connors has
violated our member’s rights and has suppressed union participation
by conducting frivolous and petty investigations into those who have
spoken out about his incompetence and mismanagement. Connors has
selectively abused the investigation process against certain members
while overlooking serious violations committed by members of his
administration. The Rye
PBA complained to Connors and Shew numerous times since August of
2007 as to the holding cell being out of service. The holding cell
plays a vital part in our daily operations. We also complained
numerous times about the women’s and men’s jail cells being blocked
and other dangerous conditions concerning the detention areas that
was causing a significant risk of serious injury to our members and
to any detainees. All of our pleas to Connors and Shew were ignored
while our members were needlessly placed in harms way by Connors and
Shews incompetence, misconduct and mismanagement. After being
ignored for seven months and shortly after the detention of numerous
sex sting suspects placed our member’s safety as well as the safety
of the public in serious jeopardy, the Rye PBA submitted several
complaints to the New York State Corrections Commission in March of
2008. The Commission came to the Rye Police headquarters and
performed an inspection based on our complaints. The Commission
confirmed our complaints and ordered Connors to immediately correct
the dangerous conditions. The Commission also ordered Connors to
stop dangerously blocking the entrance/exit to the prisoner
transport area every day with his City of Rye provided vehicle,
which the Rye PBA had brought to his attention numerous times to no
avail.
Connors and OP
Shew have also placed our safety and the safety of the public
in jeopardy in their handling of our Police headquarters building.
While we suspected our members were falling ill due to a serious
mold and airborne pathogen problem that we reported numerous times
to them, they ignored all of our pleas and refused to have the
building tested. The Rye PBA paid an expert to come in and test the
air in our building. The expert confirmed what we suspected all
along; there was a serious mold and airborne pathogen problem within
Rye Police H.Q. Our members were getting sick and the members of the
public were needlessly placed in harms way because of Connors’ and
OP Shews’ incompetence, mismanagement and misconduct. Several months
ago toxic fumes were released into the ventilation system forcing
two of our members being rushed to the hospital. A member of the
Rye PBA Executive Board responded to check on the condition of the
two members. It became very evident that negligence played a part in
this ordeal and the member started an inquiry and was documenting
the negligence. The Rye Police Department response was to order this
member to leave the area immediately. This callous and combative
response against a member of the Rye PBA who was performing official
union duties is standard operating procedure for Connors. Recently,
there was some work done on the floor inside Police H.Q. Despite it
being determined that the old floor contained asbestos and Connors
being notified of this, the old floor containing the asbestos was
cut up without the proper safety precautions. A large amount of
asbestos dust was allowed to enter the public lobby and the desk
area. It also entered the ventilation system. Our members in the
area were exposed to this asbestos. Not only was this dangerous work
allowed to take place without any oversight or supervision by
Connors and the City of Rye, to this day Connors and OP Shew
have done nothing to remediate the asbestos dust from the
ventilation system. In general, contractors are given clearance and
unsupervised access to areas that are supposed to be secure
resulting in member’s equipment going missing.
Recently, the
traffic safety concerns around the RHS and RMS became a main topic
in the community following a tragic accident. For several years
prior to this tragedy, the Rye PBA reported several RHS and RMS
traffic safety concerns, as well as presenting some possible
solutions to these concerns, to Connors. Connors ignored all of our
suggestions to correct these potentially dangerous conditions. In
addition, a past Rye PBA Vice President who was also a past Rye
Police Traffic Sergeant, respectfully reported his findings and some
productive solutions to remedy the traffic safety concerns to
Connors. Connors took the Sergeants suggestions as an insult and
publicly belittled and chastised this Sergeant who at the time had
served admirably and honorably for more than twenty years. A year
later, when the Rye School Board wanted the traffic safety issue
addressed, Connors submitted the same outlined suggestions as
detailed by the Sergeant. The Rye City Council then had the audacity
to call Connors an "innovator".
The members of
the Rye Police Association want to take pride and follow our
Commissioner. Our membership can be very forgiving if we think that
the appointed Police Commissioner is honest with the membership,
respects them, will stand up for them, will now and then say “job
well done” and is concerned about their safety and well being.
Unfortunately, this is not in Commissioner Connors makeup so the end
result was the membership of the association having a unanimous,
unwavering and determined Vote of "No Confidence" in Connors. OP
Shew’s actions and inactions in our dealings with the City of Rye
including blatantly, intentionally and improperly not responding to
our Grievances, failing to meet with us since his arrival here five
years ago, questions about his residency, his competence and his
commitment to Rye were the driving forces behind our members
resounding unanimous Vote of No Confidence in Shew.
We would like
to assure the citizens of Rye that even though we are dealing with
very difficult times within our department and with City Manager
Shew, we will continue to maintain the same great dependable service
that we have provided for all of these years.
In closing, we
ask that the Rye City Council assist us and rectify this situation.
Respectfully,
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