Transparency Matters To Us
While looking into the state's decertification registry, the I-Team discovered discrepancies in the names the Erie County Sheriff's Office reported to the state, compared to the names of deputies it fired. 7 News then began asking questions of the Sheriff.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Hundreds of police and peace officers in New York State lose their license each year for misconduct or incompetency. It's a process known as decertification.
You can find names on the state's list of decertified officers from just about every police agency in Western New York, including Jamestown.
The 7 News I-Team exclusively obtained video from a decertification the Jamestown Police Department did not want you to see. The I-Team was initially denied access to the body-camera footage it sought through a Freedom of Information Law request.
We appealed that decision with our lawyers in order to show you police misconduct, and what happens when police don't think anyone is looking.
The actions of two Jamestown police officers led to them being permanently stripped of their ability to be on the force anywhere in New York. But it remains unclear how many additional officers should be on the state's list.
Bodycam footage shows inaction by Jamestown officers
The wind was whipping through the cold winter streets in Jamestown in late January 2019.
Officer Emma Ward led Michael Patterson outside of a home, arresting and charging him with endangering the welfare of a child.
Inside, a baby, who police documentation said was sitting in a dirty diaper for days, can be seen wrapped in a blanket, cradled by social services.
This all happened hours after a 17-year-old girl called police, speaking to Officers Tyler Stimson and Andrew Grover inside that same home. Stimson and Grover responded to the welfare check, listening to that teenager describe a nightmare after her mother, who she says abuses drugs, seemingly disappeared days earlier.
"I don't know where she's at," the 17-year-old told police. "I've been here taking care of the babies."
The mother allegedly left no food, diapers or wipes for the babies.
And despite that, Stimson and Grover left the home with the children behind and making no arrests.
"I don't want to see my brothers and my little sister go through this," the teen said. "I really don't. I don't care if people think I'm doing the wrong thing, if you want to be technical, I'm doing the right thing."
The I-Team obtained the police report Stimson filed that said the children were in good health and spirits, contradicting everything recorded on the body camera video.
The children were not okay, and you hear that from Officer Ward, who responded to the same home hours later.
"You saved 'em," Officer Ward said to the 17-year-old.
"Someone from our agency — I read their whole... what they wrote up. I'm thinking I'm coming here just to appease whomever the caller is," Ward said.
These contradictory entries, as police call them, could have had real consequences. An internal investigation found Stimson and Grover were "derelict in their duties as officers."
"This is a major oversight, and lack of good judgment," Stimson wrote.
Stimson was fired. Grover resigned as a result. Both lost their licenses to be police officers anywhere in New York.
They are just two of more than a thousand officers statewide who have lost their license from the state Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) since the decertification process started in 2016.
Erie County Sheriff's Office omissions
Questions remain about just how many additional officers should be on that list, especially within the Erie County Sheriff's Office.
The I-Team learned at least four deputies never lost their certification, as of late August, despite misconduct: John Gugino, Jason Stachowski, Michael Blajszczak and Robert Dee.
Sheriff John Garcia, who took office this past January, would not grant 7 News an interview. He instead issued a statement explaining, "a review of the registry has been and remains underway."
That was August 26. It just so happens that same day, when the I-Team started asking questions, the sheriff's office submitted paperwork to the state to decertify Gugino for pleading guilty to possession of cocaine in July.
Then, on August 30, the sheriff's office decertified Stachowski for pleading guilty to promoting prison contraband — giving an inmate a cell phone — in April.
State law says separation of service from an agency is to be reported "immediately." By failing to report a separation for misconduct, an officer has the ability to seek employment elsewhere.
Because Sheriff Garcia wouldn't agree to meet, I-Team Producer Sean Mickey found the sheriff at an unrelated news conference to follow up about the process.
I-Team Producer Sean Mickey: Sheriff can you promise that your department will follow through with New York State's decertification regulations?
Sheriff Garcia: The Office of Sheriff you mean?
Mickey: Yes.
Garcia: So, we have in fact done so. Our Professional Standards Division has decertified those that were fired from the Office of Sheriff here in Erie County or that resigned under allegations and so far they've gone back to 2016.
Deputy Dee, who is alleged to have forcibly touched the intimate parts of a female inmate, violated an order of protection, among other allegations kept his certification until days after Mickey and the I-Team questioned Garcia.
The sheriff's office said Deputy Blajszczak was decertified with the state in 2019. But a spokesperson for DCJS says Blajszczak was actually just reported for decertification on August 30 — two and a half years after he should have lost his license, and again, after the I-Team started asking questions.
"The state should consider amending the process so there's less of an ability for police to essentially police themselves," said Miles Gresham, an attorney and policy fellow for the Partnership for the Public Good.
In October, 2021 he wrote a policy brief about how municipalities punish police.
He explained, "no matter how grievous their misconduct, police officers can evade discipline and keep their jobs in a disturbing number of cases."
"It's been shown that when police police themselves, bad police get away with very bad things, and again, it erodes confidence in our police," said Gresham. "And that's dangerous. I want the public to have confidence in our police."
In total, the I-Team found 71 police and peace officers who worked for departments across Western New York have been decertified since 2016 — the year the law went into effect, mandating police departments inform the state of an officer's separation of service.
Over 1,700 police and peace officers were reported to the state as "removal for cause" as of September. This status is based on self reporting.
I-Team Investigator Ed Drantch: So should individual departments be able to self report still, or should the state come in and say this officer has lost their certification?
Miles Gresham: The state should be allowed to do that. I think, you know, again, if you're a nurse, and you commit some kind of horrible misconduct, you lose your ability to practice, a journalist, a lawyer, why shouldn't it be the same for police?
Last year that law was beefed up and the state can now ask for documentation and hold a hearing if it believes a separation was reported incorrectly.
The new regulations, however, aren't retroactive.
Deputy convicted of assault keeps license
Take for instance the case of former Erie County Sheriff’s Deputy Kenneth Achtyl, convicted of assaulting a Buffalo Bills fan, while on duty, outside Highmark Stadium in 2017.
Achtyl still maintains his license, despite his conviction and separation from the sheriff's office, meaning he could be hired by a different department.
The state did question the sheriff's office, saying they have, "reason to believe that the circumstances surrounding his resignation may fall within our decertification regulations."
But the sheriff's office denied any issue with how Achtyl's separation was reported to the state — all of this before Sheriff John Garcia took office. But he insists they've gone back years to decertify deputies.
"And we've gone back to 2016," said Garcia. "Which is, by the way, the year the law was created."
At least for now Achtyl is able to keep his license, unlike what happened in Jamestown, where police say, "if no further intervention by law enforcement or CPS had taken place, it is questionable when or if (the child) would have gotten food."
The children were put in the care of another family member and the mother who disappeared, returned — later arrested and also charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
See the full list of decertified officers
List of WNY law enforcement officers decertified for cause or who resigned/retired following allegations of misconduct, compiled by WKBW. The list is complete as of September 13, 2022.
Ed Drantch is an Investigative Reporter and Sean Mickey is an Investigative Producer for WKBW.
I-Team Photojournalist Jeff Wick contributed to the images and video in this report.
Have a tip for the I-Team? Email them at iteam@wkbw.com