Campus police chief is placed on leave
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. » The SUNY New Paltz chief of police has been placed on administrative leave, and the department is being run by the deputy chief.
Lt. Johnny Coxum said by phone Wednesday that Chief David Dugatkin is on administrative leave. And in an email, college spokeswoman Christina Williams wrote: “Currently Deputy Chief Mary Ritayik is responsible for day-to-day operations” of the campus police department.
Ritayik did not return a reporter’s phone message.
Williams declined to say whether Dugatkin is on administrative leave, citing SUNY policy. In an email last week, she said the chief had not been suspended.
On Tuesday, Paul Larrabee, a spokesman for the Police Benevolent Association unit representing campus police, said the union’s rank-and-file members were advised late last week that Dugatkin had been placed on administrative leave.
Larrabee said he was unaware of the reason for the action against Dugatkin and did not know if the leave was paid or unpaid. Coxum referred questions about the matter to college officials.
A SUNY system spokeswoman did not respond to a reporter’s phone calls or an email.
Efforts to reach Dugatkin by phone and online were unsuccessful.
Dugatkin joined the campus police in 1990, and was promoted to chief in 2011. His salary was $99,142 in 2017, according to See Through NY.