Kenmore, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Tonawanda Town Board voted unanimously Monday night to bring charges against the Town of Tonawanda Police Club, alleging officers in the union participated in an illegal strike by writing fewer tickets over a three-week period earlier this year.
At least 200 people attended Monday's board meeting, including members of the Erie County Sheriff's Police Benevolent Association and other local police unions.
Town Supervisor Joe Emminger says the investigation into the Department was the result of preliminary findings that over 50% of the department's officers issued zero tickets for, at least, three consecutive weeks.
"We base the proof of our preliminary investigation and what was done in prior years during the month of January and February, early January, February. The numbers are significantly lower, like 90% lower this year than they were in prior years," said Emminger during Monday’s meeting.
Emminger says although the strike is over, anyone who participated could face financial penalties, because it's illegal and creates an unnecessary risk to the public.
"It's public safety 101. When I first initially found out at the end of January what was possibly happening, my first thought was, 'Oh, my God. What happens if somebody T-bones a car at the intersection of Delaware and Sheridan during this work stoppage to slow down the strike, and they find out, an attorney finds out that our police haven't been writing tickets for the last three weeks?' We would be sued, I'm sure, rightfully so, in my opinion, and it would cost us, I'm going to guess, hundreds of 1,000s, if not over a million dollars," Emminger stated.
During the board meeting, Vice President of Tonawanda Police Club Phil McDonald says the board has no grounds to believe that a strike happened, and questions if there's a quota police officers are expected to hit.
"Over the three-week period of this alleged strike, our police officers conducted the following: Seven DWI arrests were made, 162 parking tickets were issued. 166 traffic tickets were issued. 378 calls for service created for car stops. 73 traffic details were conducted. We also have received 1,961 more calls for service that then this time last year, meaning we are getting 40 more calls a day, and we continue to form these essential duties with only 89 police officers for the entire town, and down from the 103 officers several years ago,"
McDonald detailed.
No charges have been filed at this time, however, the investigation could lead to a lawsuit if the town attorney deems in necessary.