Should We Be Concerned With Our Current Police Chief, Too?

Not long before former HPD Police Chief Ed Moore resigned 3 years ago, HUDseen ran a piece or two calling into question his cognitive soundness.  I noticed him saying things at council meetings that made no sense.  He didn't seem like he was able to pay attention.  Something was amiss.  Then he said goodbye after ten years as our top law enforcement official, handing the baton to Lieutenant Mishanda Franklin.  Moore, a Germantown resident and former NY State cop who grew up in Hudson, had been called in from recent retirement to right the ship at the troubled HPD, long plagued by dysfunction and misconduct. 

Franklin and then Police Commissioner Shane Bower, himself a former Hudson cop, praised Moore for his service when farewells were made in May of 2023.  Bower stuck around for just over two more years, never attending any council meetings, not doing much of anything (and not getting paid for it) except signing the annual declarations when overnight parking enforcement was suspended for the summer.  He signed his final free weekend parking declaration last April or May, then left his position in October, saying that, as I recall, his job was done and there was no need for a police commissioner at all in Hudson anymore.  Bower's message was clear:  There is nothing for me to do here anymore; I'm bored as hell.  I want no part of HPD anymore.  Hudson will be fine without a police commissioner forevermore.  He may have been speaking the truth about that last part.  Not only do we still not have a police commissioner after more than nine months since Bower's quick departure, but there hasn't been one iota of public discussion about who will take over the position or, for that matter, if anyone ever will.  

I have consulted with our city charter, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that he is not happy with this situation.

For the past nine months, our current police chief has also been our acting police commissioner, a role Mishanda Franklin doesn't seem to mind acting (she never complains or mentions anything about it publicly, at least).  Early on in her role as our police chief, when Police Commissioner Bower was still hanging around waiting to be handed something to sign, I heard Mishanda say on two occasions that it was a conflict of interest for the police chief or anyone at HPD to order the installation of traffic control devices (lights, signs, crosswalks, etc), and that such an order can ONLY COME FROM THE POLICE COMMISSIONER.  When a traffic sign or other device was suggested by a council member, Franklin would repeat, "I'll ask/tell the commissioner."  Indeed, that is exactly what our city code says -- that only the police commissioner can order the installation of traffic signs, etc.  (Sorry, I don't have time to look it up!)  Not the DPW Superintendent, not the police chief, not the code enforcement officer, nor the mayor.  The police commissioner and that person (him!) only!  In other words, Franklin, taking on both roles, is a walking, talking conflict of interest and has been for nine months, with no end in sight.  

Franklin has also made it clear on at least two occasions that "the police commissioner does not work for HPD, he works for city administration," implying that the commissioner works for the mayor but that she, as our police chief, does not.   Meanwhile, Article 19 of our charter clearly states multiple times that Hudson's police commissioner is in charge of HPD and that the police chief is second in command.  (Are you reaching for the aspirin bottle yet?)

How badly do we need charter and code reform?

C19-7:  "Whenever a vacancy occurs within the Chief of Police, the Commissioner of Police shall appoint in his discretion a person deemed by him to be suitable and competent to fill the same." (my underlines)

If, for whatever reason, Mishanda Franklin were to leave her two positions tomorrow, who would appoint her replacements?  Her himself, before he or she leaves?  Or would it be him herself, before he and/or she leaves? Or would it be they themselves before they leave?

C19-16: "It shall be the duty of the Chief of Police, under the direction of the Commissioner of Police, to superintend the Police Department of said City."

HUDseen recently highlighted a few questionably worthwhile things our police chief said at last week's monthly meeting of the so-called SAFETY Committee.  Then something much more concerning came later in the code enforcement portion of that same meeting, not at this week's meeting of the so-called Code & Infrastructure Committee where, once again, no one from our Code Enforcement Department was in attendance.  (It's hurting even more, isn't it?  Are you reaching for the whiskey bottle yet!)

SAFETY Committee chair Henry Haddad, speaking directly to CEO Nick Fox who was seated at the table across from him, revisited the issue of business signs on utility poles which he had first brought to Nick's attention at June's meeting, though you wouldn't have known it from Nick's responses (more on that in a future article, I hope!).  "We do have an enormous amount of signs that are posted on streetlamps, street poles and utilities," Henry began with.  Then, and I'm not kidding, Henry referred to Nick as "the code master."  Nick responded quickly, I think without a hint of irony, "I'm not the code master."  Henry then went on to pinpoint the sign problem being especially acute at "3rd and Saint Mary's on Allen Street."

Nick Fox replied, "I agree."

Then, Police Chief Franklin, also seated at the table and having completed her HPD report minutes prior, interjected with a question that Haddad spoke over a few words of, asking, "Not the new poles, right, [unintelligible] but the old ones?"

Instead of asking Mishanda Franklin what the heck she was talking about, how that question was relevant to the discussion, why it would matter if signs were stuck to old or new poles, or what the issue with the signs had to with HPD, Henry simply replied, "Yeah."

Old pole?  New pole?  "Yeah!"

When the rules and processes (the code, the charter) that a city is supposed to -- expected to! -- function by are a complete antiquated, laughable, irrelevant mess, expect just about every aspect of government action to be a complete fucking mess as well!  When a city ignores its own rules, expect the absolute worst over and over and over.  Expect nothing to improve.  Expect there to be little to no proper communication.  Expect that city to suddenly find itself in serious financial trouble.  Except the city to constantly make expensive mistakes.  Expect mayors to have to explain their actions and to accomplish nothing.  Expect no one to feel comfortable filling the unpaid role of police commissioner, also known as -- at least on paper -- the person in charge of the police department.  Who the hell would want to get involved in such a dysfunctional mess where no one knows up from down or old utility pole from new utility pole? 

More important, perhaps, is this.  If you are leading a troubled police department and want to keep your job, the less oversight you have is probably a good thing, isn't it?  Who needs a police commissioner keeping his eyes on what police officers and top brass are up to on a daily basis?

A few months ago, I FOILed for all documents related to any and all police officer misconduct investigations at HPD for all of 2025 and the first three months of this year.  The reply I got startled me.  In a letter included in the email response, written by Lt. Jeffrey Keyser, I was told that if I wanted to see all 407 pages of the documents, I would have to pay $100.75 in copy fees.   I have not paid the $100.75.

In response of a FOIL request I made over one year ago, I received, at no cost to me, (presumably) all of the documents related to a 2022 internal investigation at HPD regarding an incident involving an off-duty police officer by the name of Randy Strattman, who is still at HPD.  That investigation file contained 29 pages.

Does anyone know what 407 divided by 29 is?

HPD polices itself.  We are kept in the dark!  Are you at all surprised?  Do you know what the results were of any of HPD's internal investigations of officer (or brass) misconduct in the past year and a half?  Do you know if any officers were dismissed as a result of any internal investigations?  Do you have any idea what happened to HPD Officer Reid Ferris, who was hired 4 years ago but hasn't been seen around town in a police cruiser for at least one year?  Did you ever hear Mishanda Franklin tell the Common Council that Officer Reid Ferris had left the force, explaining why he left?  How about Officer Luis Martinez, who left a few years ago after just a year and a half at HPD, perhaps the smartest and nicest cop I've ever met in my life?  Did you hear anything about his reason(s) for leaving HPD?  Did both of these officers do something so awful that they were fired following an investigation?  Or did they just not want to be part of HPD anymore and so they quit to head to a police force where they felt more comfortable?  Do you know how many officers have been investigated recently and who they are (or were!)?  Shouldn't you know?  Shouldn't we all know? Do you know if any HPD investigators or top brass have been investigated recently?  Wouldn't you like to know what the investigative process is like at HPD and who is involved?  Do you know if there are any internal investigations going on at HPD right now and who and what the subjects of the investigations are?  Wouldn't you like to know?  Next time you see me, slide me a $100 bill and I'll let you know as soon as I get the FOIL response.  Unless, of course, I die in mysterious circumstances beforehand. 

Page 1 of 29.  Why was the public not 
informed of this so-called investigation
 at the time it was made?

Ferris, Strattman, and Martinez