In May, the Herkimer Village trustees voted to continue providing a Village police officer to serve as SRO at the high school. This after long opposition by Herkimer Mayor Dana Sherry, who wanted to scrub the position due to cost–a problem the county school board obviated by funding it. Sherry then argued that if the village officer were injured in the line of duty, the village could be on the hook for a liability claim. She stated numerous times that the village is cash-strapped.
There was a groundswell of support for the position: folks packed an overfflow trustees’ meeting, signed petitions, and even started a GoFundMe site. A main reason was the current SRO, Officer Jessica Alberts, widely admired by students, faculty and parents. Alberts goes the extra mile for everyone. She’s of an age that students confide in her as a friend and mentor. Kids always know who really cares about them.
As a former teacher, I know how rare it is to have an involved SRO. Those I worked with were mostly older officers nearing retirement. Solid, conscientious guys. However, had we had a younger, involved SRO kids would have confided in, I suspect we’d have avoided several drug overdose deaths among our more vulnerable teens, as Officer Alberts has done in Herkimer. There’s some very moving testimony to this by grateful students in the video of the May meeting. Jessica Alberts has saved and changed some young lives.
Unmoved by this, Mayor Sherry continues her opposition, citing the risk of financial liability and vowing to fight on. It’s a specious argument.
Liability is not an issue: Police officers injured in the line of duty are typically covered by a combination of employer-provided and government-sponsored benefits, including Workers’ Compensation for medical expenses and lost wages, the federal Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Program for disability and death benefits, and specific departmental Line of Duty Injury (LODI) benefits that may cover medical treatment and other financial support. These programs seek to provide financial relief to officers and their families during recovery or in the event of a permanent disability or death.
If anything God forbid were to happen to Officer Alberts, she’s covered, as are all our officers. Surely the mayor knows this. She refers to NY Municipal Law 407c. Had she read the law, she’d see that Section Two states that the wages of an injured officer will be replaced by insurance.
So why is the Mayor continuing her opposition, which she reiterated in a recent FB post? As it’s none of the reasons she’s given, it must be, as the police union pointed out in a letter, “politically motivated and personally driven.” Mayor Sherry appears to be an inflexible fiscal conservative.
In another indication of her fiscal fanaticism, Sherry has moved to sell the Herkimer Public Library building, after its trustees rejected her demand for a rent increase from $400 a month to $3,500. The library serves as a community center and a quiet oasis for reading, research and gatherings in the heart of the village. Sued by the library trustees, Sherry reacted with an abrasive social media post, bristling with strident accusations of “Propaganda”, “Fake News!”, “Bullying!” and shaming.
As with the SRO dispute, Sherry seems to believe money management more important than student safety or quality of community life.
Her constant cry that the village is impoverished? No longer: the booming home sales, new cars everywhere and construction projects sprouting up attest that Herkimer is doing very well. Climate change has made us a national go-to spot.
Sherry’s misperception that the business of government is business, if allowed to triumph, would have endangered the lives of students and teachers and may yet scuttle our library. Abrasively defying the will of the community won’t help her gain reelection, should she run.