Category: Stephen Ames Berry

New Herkimer Police Chief Jory Sees No Reason to “Reinvent the Wheel”

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by Stephen Ames Berry

After an extensive and lengthy search of the entire village of Herkimer NY, village trustees appointed long-time Herkimer resident and Gloversville detective captain Michael Jory to head the Herkimer police. Village trustees interviewed three candidates out of a field of 10 for the position, said Herkimer Mayor and former Herkimer police officer Anthony Brindisi. The unsuccessful candidates’ names were not disclosed.

Chief Jory replaces former Herkimer Police Chief Joseph Malone, who abruptly retired in May of 2016 following release of the results of an ethics investigation. Malone is still neighboring Mohawk’s police chief. (Chief Malone is our Pleasant Ave. Herkimer neighbor. Pleasant Ave. traffic has fallen off since his retirement.)

Chief Jory takes $31k pay cut to command Herkimer Police

Chief Jory’s 2016 Gloversville pay was $93,586, according the Gloversville Leader-Herald. His salary as Herkimer police chief is $62,500. By taking a pay cut of $31,000–about the starting pay of his Herkimer officers–Chief Jory will be spared his two-hour round-trip Herkimer-Gloversville commute.

Herkimer Police Chief Jory Sees No Reason To “Reinvent the Wheel”

Among Chief Jory’s goals are to study for the police chief’s exam and enhance policing through the use of bicycle patrols. As to Herkimer police department operations, Chief Jory says he sees no reason “to reinvent the wheel.”

Chief Jory inherits a troubled department with a rich history of failing to protect Herkimer’s citizens. Typically this takes the form of Herkimer police officers refusing to take well-documented criminal complaints, or running interference under the color of law on behalf of well-monied criminals. Happily, the New York State Police haven’t shirked their duty to Herkimer. (NYSP Crime Tip link.)

2016 – Herkimer Police Expand Failure To Protect To National Security

In 2016, the Herkimer Police expanded its traditional failure to protect into the realm of national security, failing protect a key railway bridge used as cook site by Herkimer meth makers.  The Herkimer Post staff stumbled across this during a stroll along a historic Herkimer village hiking path. Our three-part series, The Herkimer Meth Bridge, helped catalyze a joint state-federal response to permanently secure the bridge and monitor crime-ridden Herkimer, potentially sparing Herkimer and the Hudson River Valley death and destruction on a 9/11 scale.

Lac Megantic train explosion
Lac Megantic Quebec burns following DOT-111 tanker car train explosion. The train was hauling 50,000 barrels of crude oil. from North Dakota’s Bakken crude oil.

Herkimer’s pristine skies are now patrolled by state-federal surveillance drones,

Quadcopter in dronebox
Quadcopter drone nested in a remote solar-powered recharging drone box. H3 Corp photo.

supported by boots on the ground and helicopters. As a result, drug trafficking appears to have fallen sharply and Herkimer’s major child trafficking operators have reshuffled operations.

Chief Jory wants us to “see the human being behind the badge.” We have, and some of them are not very pretty. If the chief wants to enforce the law in Herkimer, he’ll need to start cleaning house, “reinvent the wheel,” and put his shoulder to it. Otherwise, he’ll be widely seen as just another Herkimer good ol’ boy, kicking back and enabling business as usual. We await.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Bad Day for Herkimer’s Douglas Barton

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by Stephen Ames Berry

Sad Sack Doll
Sad Sack Rag Doll

I’ve been sitting on Another Bad Day for Herkimer’s Douglas Barton for a while. I was abruptly reminded of it this morning as alert sirens wailed over the Herkimers and Herkimer and East Herkimer fire units roared past. Fearing that  Herkimer Fire Chief Spanfelner and former East Herkimer Deputy Chief Douglas Barton were among the responders,  I hurried home, hoping it was just an air raid and armed myself with a cognac. Here’s the posting:

April 30th was another bad day for Douglas Barton of the East Herkimer Fire Department. Earlier this year Barton lost his garage in a sudden blaze at 333 Pleasant Avenue, a rental he shares with the lovely Joyce Bartonanother bad day for Herkimer's Douglas Barton. Then came the Herkimer Post’s publication of a forensic video analysis of key moments of Deputy Fire Chief Barton’s fire. In it we asked what Chief Barton knew and when he knew it. (No answer yet.) We forwarded that link to New York State authorities.  Barton was returned to the ranks of his volunteer fire company. (Perhaps for a hoot they sometimes let him blow the air horn.)

Herkimer Police investigation at 333 Pleasant Avenue

A Herkimer Police officer appeared at Barton’s home at 333 Pleasant Avenue on 4/30/16 shortly after Barton arrived. Barton’s truck and house were photographed. His truck was carefully inspected, with special attention to the left front area, especially the wheel well. (We’ve noticed that Supreme Court Clerk Harriet Tangorra’s tenant Curtis Cool, aka Curtis Dolan of 328 Pleasant Avenue, enjoys fiddling with his own wheel well. Must be a drug street thing.)

Hard to tell without video enhancement, given the distance from the camera and the drizzle, but Douglas Barton may have been issued a court appearance ticket. 

It’s heartening to see authentic local law enforcement on Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue. It’s coincident with the abrupt retirement of our Pleasant Avenue neighbor, Herkimer Police Chief Joseph Malone, outed by an ethics investigation. Only a year ago the Herkimer Police contented themselves with at best gently chiding the Bartons when they did something foul, sometimes even supporting their reign of terror of the street by attempting intimidation under the color of authority.

Pleasant Avenue’s drug trafficking has fallen off, thanks to the feds and the state.  Decent folks are moving into newly sold homes and many of our drug scum have left. Perhaps the Bartons will soon join them. (Chief Malone still commands in Mohawk. ) 

 Author Stephen Ames Berry is a former officer of Harvard University and a veteran of the National Security Agency’s US Army Security Agency. He lives in Pleasant Avenue’s historic Camera House.