Town of Tonawanda Board unanimously votes to take legal action against police union

KENMORE, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Town of Tonawanda Board unanimously voted Monday night to hire a law firm to bring charges against the police union, known as the Town of Tonawanda Police Club, following its allegations of police officers participating in an illegal strike that started last month.

The board is alleging that the town’s police officers ignored violations or wrote fewer tickets as part of an three-week strike, which it said violated the state’s Taylor Law. Members of the union, who were present at the meeting, said the accusations are baseless.

“How can our members go to work every day and focus on fighting crime when our employers don’t have our back?” said Phil McDonald, the vice president of the Town of Tonawanda Police Club.

According to Town Supervisor Joe Emminger, the strike began in mid-January.

“Our preliminary investigation did show that they were numerous officers who had not written any tickets over a three-week period,” Emminger said.

Over 100 people attended the board meeting in solidarity with the police union, including members of unions from the Erie and Niagara County Sheriffs, Buffalo, Amherst, the city of Tonawanda and Lockport.

“Over the three-week period of the alleged strike, police officers conducted the following: Seven DWI arrests were made, 162 parking tickets were issued and 166 traffic tickets were issued,” McDonald said.

Officials believe the job action was the police union’s response to an officer being disciplined in mid-January. That officer has since resigned.

The town said state law requires them to investigate and file a report within 60 days of the job action.

“What happens if somebody T-bones a car during this work stoppage to slow down the strike and an attorney finds out that our police haven’t been writing tickets for the last three weeks?” Emminger said.

The town alleged during that three-week period, over 50 percent of the police force issued zero tickets combined. If proven true, Emminger said any officer who participated in the strike, along with the union, could face financial penalties, adding the alleged strike is over and officers are back to status quo.

“The question that should now be asked of the chief is, ‘Does the police department have a ticket quota?'” McDonald said.

“There is no quota as we based the proof of our preliminary investigation on what was done in prior years,” Emminger said. “The numbers are significantly lower significantly lower, like 90 percent lower.”

At one point, the meeting lost control, with some screaming above the crowd and calling on town leaders to resign. A few attendees were asked to leave. Once the vote was made, everyone in support of the police filed out of the meeting immediately.

The union said this was done in retaliation after its president exposed bullying and mismanagement from higher ups in the department.

Emminger said the next steps are for an official investigative report to be released within the next 60 days.

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Dillon Morello is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has been part of the News 4 team since September of 2023. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter.

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