Resident charges police intimidation, retribution for questioning officer's business deal with town

The sole person in the audience after the Town Board had concluded the agenda of its meeting Friday evening dropped a bombshell after the supervisor asked for any public comments or questions before concluding the session.

Ben Heinz strode to the podium and angrily demanded to know why Police Officer Tom Cronin had not been investigated for Mr. Heinz’s allegations that he had intimidated him because, according to Mr. Heinz, he had questioned the legality of Officer Cronin’s services to the town towing cars, a sideline business. According to Mr. Heinz, the town code prohibits town employees from contracting with the town for sideline work.

No board members nor the town attorney commented on the assertion.

Mr. Heinz alleged he had been threatened most recently on August 9 by the wife of the officer. He also  claimed that about two years ago the officer had forced Mr. Heinz’s vehicle off the road and that last year the officer had sat in a police car blocking his driveway for hours.

Mr. Heinz said there had been witnesses riding in his car two years ago and all had wondered why the town had never contacted them to obtain information about the incident. Likewise, people had heard the officer’s wife threaten him, he claimed.

“People in this town are terrified of them,” Mr. Heinz said of the police, explaining why no one else has publicly complained about what he called a well known problem. He said he had worked in the police department as a TCO (traffic control officer) and knew how the process worked: if a complainant leveled a charged against someone, it was investigated. In this case, he claimed, there has been no investigation.

“Why is the police department above the law?” he asked angrily.

Mr. Heinz said he had brought his complaint to the supervisor recently but nothing had been done. Supervisor Jim Dougherty responded that he had summarized Mr. Heinz’ complaints in an email to Police Detective Sergeant Jack Thielberg. “He says it’s in process,” Mr. Dougherty said.

Town Councilman Paul Shepherd thanked Mr. Heinz, a longtime volunteer fireman, for bringing the matter to the board. Mr. Shepherd said it was the first time he’d heard the allegations. “This is a difficult thing to do,” the councilman said, adding he was sorry “you had to get to this point … It offends me it has to come to that.”

“I cannot stand the thought …  anybody’s afraid in this town of the people who are supposed to keep them from being afraid,” Mr. Shepherd said.

Mr. Heinz has filed a notice of claim against the town “due to the actions of the police,” he told the board.

Board members, who also sit as police commissioners, agreed to convene a meeting of the police commission after Tuesday’s Town Board 1 p.m. work session on September 4. The meeting could be open to the public initially, Town Attorney Laury Dowd explained, but if an individual officer’s performance becomes a topic the law allows the commission to reconvene in a closed executive session.

Further details will be reported in the September 6 edition of the Reporter.