Group seeks changes to police contract
Urges city lawmakers to reject next pact if the suggestions are not implemented
A community group says it has reviewed the Kingston police union’s most recent contract and “found several problematic portions.”
In a March 31 letter to the Common Council, Rise Up Kingston said it reviewed the city contract with the Kingston Police Benevolent Association that expired at the end of 2016 “in an effort to find ways to increase accountability, transparency and security.”
“We have found several problematic portions of the contract that we believe need to be removed, amended or otherwise improved upon in order to achieve these goals,” the letters sates. The 15-page letter then outlines suggested changes.
The city currently is negotiating a new contract with the police union.
Rise Up Kingston encouraged city lawmakers to vote against the new contract, whenever it is reached, if the changes recommended by the group are not included.
In an email Thursday, Mayor Steve Noble said he had received the group’s suggestions and was reviewing them. He said, though, that he could not comment on ongoing ne-
gotiations.
Police Officer Harry Woltman, who serves as the PBA’s vice president, also said he would not respond publicly to the suggestion from Rise Up Kingston. He said if the city wants to negotiate the issues laid out, the union will do so.
“We won’t do any of our negotiations publicly,” Woltman said.
Among the suggested changes are replacing portions of the contract that state police employees will not be ordered or requested to submit to a polygraph test for any reason and will not be required to submit to tests to determine their blood alcohol content “except as may be provided otherwise by a specific statute.”
Instead, Rise Up Kingston suggests a substance and alcohol abuse policy and testing procedure. Part of the suggested change is to require all police employees to submit to alcohol and/or drug tests immediately following the discharge of a firearm, the
involvement of a police vehicle in an accident involving injury that requires immediate hospital attention, or a vehicle chase in which a serious accident occurs.
A police employee also should be required to submit to testing “whenever there is a reasonable basis” to believe he or she is improperly using or is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the group says.
A separate suggestion calls for changing an article in the contract that requires the city to indemnify all employees against losses arising out of legal judgments for acts that occurred while on the job, provided the losses were not the result of the “willful and wrongful act or gross negligence” of the employee.
Rise Up Kingston suggested the provision be changed to read, “The employer hereby indemnifies and shall provide insurance coverage, if available, for employees acting within the scope of their authority and in the proper performance of their duties, protecting them from legal actions against them ... and which shall cover compensatory damages on both the state and federal level.”