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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.

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

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.