Who Can We Ask For Help?

Several years ago, during an informal Common Council meeting following Robert Perry's DPW report, I asked him what his opinion of the truck route was and how it was affecting the city and his department's work.  He quickly replied, "No comment."

During last week's informal Common Council meeting, I asked Police Chief Franklin what I thought would be a simple question for her to respond appropriately to.  Boy was I mistaken about, and disappointed in, her too!

The question had to do with something which her predecessor, Ed Moore, had offered during his farewell address to the Common Council 14 months ago.  Of the 4 or 5 serious concerns Ed left with the council, one was of particular interest to me.  It had to do with the command structure at HPD.   He said the following (taken directly from the YouTube video of the meeting and edited a bit for space):  "It has been suggested over the years to eliminate or modify the position of Police Commissioner.  Currently code 19-2 empowers the commissioner as the head of the department.  Code 19-9 defines the commissioner as having supervision and control of the department.  Meanwhile, code 19-16 makes it the duty of the chief of police to simply oversee the bookkeeping of the department... This bifurcated command structure serves to confuse our officers... I would suggest narrowing the police commissioner's duties to a role as final arbiter on disciplinary actions.  This way our citizens, through the elected mayor, will have input regarding officer conduct, the biggest issue in the forefront today.  Leave the administration of the job to a paid police professional."  (Ed mistakenly referred to these chapters as being in our code.  They are in our charter.)

If you read just one section from chapter 19 of our charter 
to understand how out of date it is and how flawed and
"confusing" HPD's command structure is, it should be section 2.

At last Monday's meeting, I read Ed's words out loud to Mishanda Franklin and then asked her if she were aware of what Ed had said, if she would care to comment about it and if anything were being done about, as Ed saw it, the problematic command structure at HPD.

While I don't remember exactly what Mishanda's response was, it was essentially no different than Robert Perry's response to my question about the truck route.  She said something like, "I can comment about this, but not here." 

Read sections 8 & 9 and ask yourself how someone other than
a male became Chief of Police and how, according to her,
the Commissioner of Police "does not work for HPD."

In other words, our current Police Chief was unwilling to speak in front of the Common Council and the public about an issue of concern that her predecessor was completely comfortable speaking about in front of the council and the public.  On his way out the door, Ed Moore was gracious and candid enough to essentially say to the council, the public and the mayor:  "Here is a problem you may not be aware of that I am fully aware of.  I am warning you that the command structure at HPD is flawed and something needs to be done about it.  If you don't do anything about this, you risk more trouble.  Take some time to update the charter and the code before something stupid happens. Thank you and good luck."  Of course, Ed didn't have to wait until his final council meeting to mention this.  Well, better late than never, I guess.

Over one year later there hasn't been any discussion about this issue in front of, or from, the council; the Police Commissioner is still never at meetings and he is still nothing more than a cipher; and Mishanda Franklin essentially says to the council and the public, "I have no comment about something important which my predecessor brought to your attention over a year ago," the words and thoughts of a true leader, appointed by another great leader found on the second floor of 520 Warren Street.  Oh, the tangled web!

More "confusion" just means less accountability and
less ability to get things done properly and efficiently.

At a council meeting early this year, Margaret Morris was confused about Police Commissioner Shane Bower's role as it related to a traffic safety issue.  In fact, she had no idea that he was the person to get the issue taken care of!  In an embarrassing display of municipal dysfunction that HUDseen reported on at the time, Chief Franklin had to let Margaret and the rest of the council know -- for the second time -- how things are and are not structured at HPD:   "The Police Commissioner does not work for HPD.  He works for the city administration."  Mishanda did not bother to apologize for the confusion coming from chapter 19 of the city charter.  (I don't believe I ever heard Ed Moore say that the police commissioner "does not work for the police department."  It doesn't sound right coming from anyone's mouth, does it, like an oxymoron?)

In that chapter, titled Department of Police, the term Commissioner of Police can be found 25 times in the text, plus 8 times in the section headings.  The term Chief of Police, on the other hand, can be found just 9 times in the text plus twice in section headings.  33 versus 11 -- guess who is in charge and attends council meetings? And guess who isn't in charge, doesn't get paid a dime, doesn't attend meetings and doesn't have an office or a desk to sit at inside HPD headquarters?  

Outside of Hudson, it is rare for a small police department to have both a Chief and a Commissioner of Police.  The City of Ithaca, NY Police Department has a Chief of Police but no Commissioner.  The Village of Catskill does not have a Police Commissioner, either.

To finally put a pretty bow on all this lovely nonsense, our police chief recently came in front of the council to codify how her department handles the booting and towing of vehicles.  This is the only amendment to the city code or charter as it relates to HPD that I have heard of since Mishanda Franklin became the ostensible head of the department 14 months ago.  Apparently, our police chief is very comfortable with the city's charter defining the Police Commissioner as the man in control of the department and the Police Chief as the man in control of very little who works under, and takes orders from, the Police Commissioner.  Meanwhile, Mishanda is not at all a man and not at all comfortable talking in front of the public or the council about her department's upside-down, "confusing" command structure.  But in regard to how the city boots and tows vehicles and how it is written in the code?  Now there is an issue that demands immediate attention, one that the 11-member council can easily get behind!  Make the amendment now so there is no more messy confusion about the booting and towing of vehicles!  Whatever Ed Moore said over a year ago is simply water under the bridge.

Perhaps someday when she is giving her final HPD report to the Common Council, Mishanda will be comfortable enough to warn them about what Ed Moore already warned a different council about in May of 2023 on the eve of his retirement.  (Ed showed that informing the council of a problem at HPD is most easily done on the way out the door so that someone else can deal with the problem. "Oh, by the way, you might want to fix this problem I've known about for years ...")  Of course, every member on the council will have been replaced by then and none of them will want to do anything about the issue either.  They will all thank Mishanda for her service while, as always, the unpaid Police Commissioner -- who is supposed to be in charge of HPD -- will be missing in action, perhaps relaxing on a beach in Florida with a big smile on his or her face. 

According to the Hudson charter, this friendly fellow has
 been in charge of HPD for the past 3 and a half years, yet 
he doesn't even have an office at the HPD station.  Go figure!
Last year, then Police Chief Ed Moore warned the council 
about this guy and the "confusing," unpaid position he holds.
Ed's cautionary words seem to have fallen on deaf ears,
including his successor's and the mayor's.