During the last board meeting -- Town of Tonawanda Councilwoman Jill O’Malley showed sympathy for the town’s police officers. She made it known her displeasure for the repeal of a decade’s old civil rights law, Section 50-A, which now makes all police disciplinary records public.
Despite the sympathy, she is not calling for Chief James Stauffiger to be fired. The Tonawanda Police Club, the union, is citing strained relations with Stauffiger as a reason that he "has to go." O'Malley challenged the crowd in attendance at Monday’s board meeting to provide an example where a police chief and staff don’t have internal issues.
“I have one last question for all the law enforcement in the room. If there’s a place that is good. If there’s a place where a chief of police has a great relationship with his or her boots on the ground in this state, please tell me where it is so I can see it," she said.
When asked by BTPM after the meeting concluded to clarify her comment she doubled down, telling BTPM that officers typically have some type of issue with the chief regardless of who it is.
“When I have asked different officers, they usually have some type of gripe with their chief. I think it's common. There’s a variety of reasons for that,” said O'Malley.
Recent town board meetings in Tonawanda have become heated, following an investigation and complaint filed by officials alleging town police officers broke Taylor Law by conducting a three-week “ticket strike,” earlier in the year.
Supervisor Joe Emminger previously told BTPM he believed the slowdown in traffic tickets was retaliation for a misconduct investigation against former officer Bikramjit Singh.
The town board is still in the process of obtaining outside counsel and completing their investigation before a hearing with the Public Employment Relations Board.
