TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Town of Tonawanda Police Club said some officers in the town are now receiving letters from Town Supervisor Joe Emminger.
The letters are in response to an alleged illegal strike, which the town claims involved a "ticket writing boycott" earlier this year.
The town board voted to take action against the union and launched an internal investigation.
The town's investigation, recently completed and confirmed with 7 News, alleges that officers stopped or reduced ticket issuance for three weeks due to frustrations with department leadership. The findings were forwarded to the state’s Public Employment Relations Board, charging the officers with violating the state's Taylor Law, which governs public employee labor relations.
The letter states that in violation of the Taylor Law, officers will lose double their hourly pay for the time on strike.
The union president previously spoke to 7 News about the period the officers were accused of striking, saying a large portion of officers were busy with other jobs.
"This period that they're talking about, it snowed every single day," Andrew Thompson, president of the Town of Tonawanda Police Club, previously said. "We're dealing with accidents, we're dealing with 1,900 more calls."
During last week's town board meeting, Thompson accused Emminger of ignoring serious internal issues.
"You told me two things: you know the department is in trouble and you choose not to fix it," Thompson said. "You've allowed a toxic culture to fester because it's easier to look away than lead through it. That's not leadership, that's failure."
Emminger spoke with 7 News about the town taking disciplinary action, explaining how even though the officers showed up for work, this was still considered a strike.
"There was never a complete shutdown of their work, but there was a slowdown of their work proces,s" Emminger said. "That, by Public Employment Relations Board (PERB)'s definition of a strike by public police agency, not writing tickets falls in that category. Like your children, you love your children, but sometimes you gotta hold your children accountable."
Both Emminger and Thompson say numerous complaints have been made against the Chief of Police. Despite a vote of no confidence from the union, he remains in command of the police department.
Officers can object to those letters.
