Case closed on 2 years of turmoil

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January 27, 2012

Anonymous Daily Star The Daily Star Fri Jan 27, 2012, 10:26 AM EST

"Case closed."

Oneonta Mayor Dick Miller was referring to possible criminal charges against fired police officer Michael Breen on Wednesday, but Miller just as easily could have been talking about the more than two years of turmoil the city has endured with its police department.

A grand jury hearing to determine whether Breen would be charged with a crime was dismissed last week when the district attorney's prize witness failed to appear.

Otsego County District Attorney John Muehl said he had subpoenaed about a dozen witnesses, but Bradford Shanks, whom the city of Oneonta determined had been beaten by Breen during a traffic stop, did not show up.

Without Shanks there to testify about what happened at the Jan. 28, 2011 traffic stop, there was no case.

Thus ends what has been a challenging and disruptive episode for the city and its police department that began in October 2009 when it was learned that while on duty over a period of months, two police officers had trysts with young women in an apartment building, a public pool facility and outside on the hood of a police car, and allowed the women to drive police vehicles.

The two officers resigned under pressure immediately, and their immediate supervisor, who condoned their behavior, resigned some months later rather than be fired.

Calls from this newspaper's editorial board for an outside investigation of the police department were rejected by the city until January 2011, when the Breen/Shanks incident occurred.

An outside investigation by Joseph F. Loszynski, a retired deputy superintendent of the Internal Affairs Bureau of the state police, finally called for by the mayor and Common Council, found that major cultural changes needed to be made.

Rather than institute those changes, Police Chief Joseph Redmond retired in March. In May, Gary O'Neill, a former Broome County undersheriff and Endicott police chief, became interim chief. Lieutenant Dennis Nayor will take over as head of the department in April.

So, to sum up, Shanks, who was anything but blameless in his encounter with Breen, got a $130,000 settlement from the city. Breen lost his job but retains his freedom.

It took a while, but the city of Oneonta acted forthrightly to address a major problem, and presumably will do so in the future, if needed.

The police department has been cleansed of some people who did it no credit, and we see Nayor's ascension as a major upgrade in an open and better-communicating police department so vital in a college town.

We have reason to be optimistic about the city's police department. It is our sincere hope that its major difficulties are behind it.

"Case closed."