The commissioner of public safety shall be the
head of the Department of Public Safety. In case of the absence or
disability of the Commissioner or a vacancy in the office, the Mayor
may appoint a Deputy Commissioner, who shall discharge the duties
of the office until the Commissioner returns, his disability ceases
or the vacancy is filled. (L.L. No. 2-2000, § I, 10-19-2000)
[1]
Editor's Note: Ordinance No. 76, adopted 1-11-1924,
vested the duties of the Commissioner of Public Safety in the General
Manager.
There shall be in the City of Watervliet a Department
known as the "Department of Police."
There shall be appointed by the Mayor to serve
at his pleasure, a Chief of Police who shall be the head of the Police
Department.
The Chief of Police shall make all appointments,
promotions, and changes in status of all officers and employees of
the Police Department, in accordance with Civil Service Law and Rules.
The Chief of Police shall be vested with authority,
direction, and control over the Department. (L.L. No. 2-2000, § II,
10-19-2000)
The Mayor can, at his discretion, appoint a
Deputy Chief of Police to serve at the pleasure of the Mayor.
The Deputy Chief of Police shall serve as an
assistant to the Chief of Police and in the absence of the Chief of
Police, shall serve and be vested with all authority, powers and duties
of the Chief of Police as noted in the previous section. (L.L. No.
2-2000, § III, 10-19-2000)
There shall be in the City of Watervliet a Department
known as the "Department of Fire."
There shall be appointed by the Mayor to serve
at his pleasure, a Fire Chief; who shall be head of the Department
of Fire.
The Fire Chief shall make all appointments,
promotions, and changes in status of all officers and employees of
the Fire Department in accordance with Civil Service Law and Rules.
The Fire Chief shall be vested with authority,
direction, and control over the Department. (L.L. No. 2-2000, § IV,
10-19-2000)
The commissioner of public safety[1] shall have cognizance, jurisdiction, supervision and control
of the government, administration, disposition and discipline of the
police department and fire department, and of the officers and members
of said departments, and shall possess and exercise fully and exclusively
all powers and perform all duties pertaining to the government, maintenance
and direction of said departments, and the apparatus and property
thereof and buildings furnished therefor, including the fire alarm
telegraph system, and shall have the general direction and supervision
of the expenditure of all moneys appropriated to said departments.
He shall possess such other powers and perform such other duties as
may be prescribed by law or by ordinance of the common council.
[1]
Editor's Note: Ordinance No. 76, adopted 1-11-1924,
vested the duties of the Commissioner of Public Safety in the General
Manager.
The commissioner of public safety[1] shall make, adopt, and enforce such reasonable rules,
orders and regulations, not inconsistent with law, as may be reasonably
necessary to effect a prompt and efficient exercise of all the powers
conferred and the performance of all duties imposed by law upon him
or the departments under his jurisdiction. He is authorized and empowered
to make, adopt, promulgate and enforce reasonable rules, orders and
regulations for the government, discipline, administration and disposition
of the officers and members of the police and fire departments, and
for the hearing, examination, investigation, trial and determination
of charges made or preferred against any officer or member of said
departments for neglect of official duty or incompetency or incapacity
to perform his official duties or some delinquency seriously affecting
his general character or fitness for the office, and may, in his discretion,
punish any such officer or member found guilty thereof by reprimand,
forfeiting and withholding pay for a specified time, or by suspension
during a fixed period or dismissal from office, but no officer or
member of said departments shall be removed or otherwise punished
for any other cause, nor until specific charges in writing have been
preferred against and served upon him, and he shall have been found
guilty thereof, after reasonable notice and upon due trial before
said commissioner in the form and manner prescribed by law and the
rules and regulations of the department.
[1]
Editor's Note: Ordinance No. 76, adopted 1-11-1924,
vested the duties of the Commissioner of Public Safety in the General
Manager.
The police and fire departments shall as to
their membership and component parts, remain as now constituted until
the same shall be changed by action of the commissioner of public
safety.[1] The number of offices or members of either of said departments
shall not be increased or diminished without the approval of the board
of estimate and contract. There shall not be more than one police
officer for every twelve hundred inhabitants. The commissioner shall
promulgate rules and regulations not inconsistent with law for the
government of the police and fire departments, and regulating the
powers and duties of their officers and members. The commissioner
shall appoint, as vacancies in said departments occur, all officers
and members thereof, and classify and apportion them into grades to
conform to such ordinances.
[1]
Editor's Note: Ordinance No. 76, adopted 1-11-1924,
vested the duties of the Commissioner of Public Safety in the General
Manager.
No person shall be appointed to membership in
the police department of the city, or continue to hold membership
therein, who is not a citizen of good moral character, who has ever
been convicted of a felony, who cannot understandingly read and write
the English language, and who shall not have resided in the city during
the two years next preceding his appointment. The commissioner shall
make all appointments, promotions and changes of status of the officers
and members of the police and fire departments in accordance with
the provisions of the Civil Service Law of the state, except as otherwise
provided herein. In making promotions, seniority and meritorious service
in the department, as well as superior capacity shall be taken into
account. Individual acts of bravery may be treated as acts of meritorious
service. No member of the police department or fire department shall
hold any other office nor be employed in any other department of the
city government.
All members of the police and fire departments,
subject to the power of removal herein specified, shall hold their
respective offices during good behavior or until by age or disease
they shall have become permanently incapacitated to discharge their
duties.
If a charge may be made by any person against
any officer or member of the police or fire departments that he has
been negligent or derelict in the performance of his official duties,
or is incompetent or without capacity to perform the same or is guilty
of some delinquency seriously affecting his general character of fitness
for the office, the charge must be in writing, in the form prescribed
by the rules and regulations of the commissioner of public safety,[1] and a copy thereof must be served upon the accused officer
or member. The commissioner shall then proceed to hear, try and determine
the charge. The accused shall have the right to be present at his
trial and to be heard in person and by counsel and to give and furnish
evidence in his defense. All trials shall be open to the public. The
commissioner has power to issue subpoenas, in his name, to compel
the attendance of witnesses upon any proceeding authorized by the
rules and regulations of the department, and any person served with
a subpoena is bound to attend in obedience to the command thereof
and the commissioner may compel the attendance of witnesses and compel
them to testify in the same manner as in the case of any officer or
board authorized by law to issue subpoena and take testimony. If the
accused shall be found guilty of the charge made against him, the
commissioner may punish by reprimand, by forfeiting and withholding
pay for a specified time, by suspension without pay during a fixed
period or by dismissal from office.
[1]
Editor's Note: Ordinance No. 76, adopted 1-11-1924,
vested the duties of the Commissioner of Public Safety in the General
Manager.
In case any such officer or member is aggrieved
by the determination of the commissioner on any trial of charges as
specified in the preceding section, on jurisdictional grounds, he
may, within thirty days after the rendering of such determination,
take an appeal therefrom to the supreme court, at any special term
thereof, held within the judicial district in which the city is situated.
Upon such appeal the decision of the court shall be final and conclusive.
An appeal taken, as prescribed herein, shall be perfected by the service
of a notice of appeal upon the commissioner. He shall, within ten
days thereafter, make and file with the County Clerk of Albany Court
a complete return of the proceedings on such trial, for the use of
the parties and the court on such appeal.
[1]
Editor's Note: Ordinance No. 76, adopted 1-11-1924,
vested the duties of the Commissioner of Public Safety in the General
Manager.
No member of the police or fire departments
shall be liable to military or jury duty or to arrest on criminal
or civil process while on duty.
The commissioner of public safety[1] shall be the chief of police; he shall have the power
and it shall be his duty to commit any person charged with a criminal
offense until an examination shall be had before the proper magistrate;
to administer oaths and take affidavits in respect to all matters
pertaining to his official duties, and to perform such other duties
as may be prescribed by law, or ordinance of the council.
[1]
Editor's Note: Ordinance No. 76, adopted 1-11-1924,
vested the duties of the Commissioner of Public Safety in the General
Manager.
The members of the police department, other
than surgeons, in criminal matters have all the powers of peace officers
under the general laws of the state, and they shall also have the
power and it shall be their duty to arrest any person found by them
violating any of the penal ordinances of the city or laws of the state
and to take such person before the proper city magistrate. Such person
shall be dealt with in the same manner as if he had been arrested
upon a warrant theretofore duly issued by such magistrate. They shall
report violations of law and ordinances coming to their knowledge
in any way under regulations to be prescribed by the commissioner
of public safety.[1] They shall also have, in every other part of the state,
in criminal matters all the powers of constables and any warrant for
search or arrest issued by any magistrate of the state may be executed
by them in any part of the state according to the tenor thereof without
endorsement. They shall possess such other powers and perform such
other duties as may be provided by law or ordinance of the council.
[1]
Editor's Note: Ordinance No. 76, adopted 1-11-1924,
vested the duties of the Commissioner of Public Safety in the General
Manager.
All criminal process for any offense committed
within the city, and all process to recover or to enforce any penalty
for the violation of any city ordinances issued out of any court or
by any magistrate within the city, and every process, subpoena or
bench warrant issued by the District Attorney of Albany County, relating
to any offense committed within the city, and every process, subpoena
or warrant issued by any coroner of such county in any inquest held
in the city relative to the death of any person, may be served by
any member of the police department.
No officer or member of the police department
shall be a member of or delegate to any political convention, nor
shall be be present at such convention except in the performance of
duty relating to his position as such officer or member. He shall
not solicit any person to vote at any political primary or election,
nor challenge, nor in any manner attempt to influence any vote thereat.
He shall not be a member of any political committee. Any officer or
member violating any provision of this section shall be dismissed
from office.
The said commissioner[1] shall have charge of the station house and jail in said
city which shall be known as the Watervliet Jail. There shall be paid
by the County Treasurer of the County of Albany to the chamberlain[2] of the City of Watervliet on the first day of March in
each year the sum of three thousand dollars which shall be in full
for every charge and expense of maintaining said jail and for the
custody thereof and of the prisoners confined therein and of feeding
and otherwise caring for said prisoners against the County of Albany
except the salary of the physician thereof which shall be and remain
a county charge.
