PRESENT: Chair: Ryan. Members: Carsky, Kaplowitz, Mosiello, Swanson, and Wishnie. Staff: Bass, Hoch, and Vita.

ALSO PRESENT: Chief John Kapica, Town of Greenburgh Police Department.

Mr. Ryan called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m.

The minutes will be held over until the next meeting.

Mr. Jim Feeney, a member of the County Cause and Origin Team had to cancel his appointment today and will be rescheduled at a later date.

Chief John Kopicka asked to come before this Committee to discuss the Westchester County Police Act.

Mr. Kopicka thanked Chairman Ryan for inviting him to this committee meeting. He explained that he has served 28 years in law enforcement in the Town of Greenburgh. He served as Union President for eight eight years and has is familiar with the contents of the County Police Act. He has been a "victim" of the act, and he has a good understanding of both the union and management view of the law. He agrees that the act needs to be amended. It is a complicated law, but it is a law by which police departments are established and discipline is administered in Westchester County.

Chief Kapica said the Act has been challenged on many occasions and the union’s main complaint is its disciplinary provisions. The WCPA allows for payless suspension for an undetermined period of time unlike the NYS Civil Service Law, which limits unpaid suspensions to 30 days. If an officer is found not guilty, he must be reimbursed for his earnings.

*For additional information, a tape is on file

Whenever an officer is arrested, the District Attorney requests postponing the prosecution of administrative charges until the criminal matter is disposed because it can jeopardize successful prosecution of the criminal matter. A department usually honors the request of the District Attorney.

Under the Civil Service Law, after 30 days, that person must receive his salary even if he does not return to work. Officers often try to extend their hearings passed the 30-day period in order to collect a salary. This is unfair to the department, as well as taxpayers.

Chief Kapica asked the committee to review the language of the legislation and opt for a middle ground between suspension without pay and removal.

The second issue that is a concern is a provision in the law that allows the Chief of Police to assign as many Detectives he deems necessary and to eliminate those positions when necessary.

Chief Kapica noted that the Westchester County Personnel Department has taken a position that the WCPA, or any other special law, supercedes Civil Service Law as part of tenure of detectives. He explained that detectives are appointed positions, with no civil service examination given in Westchester County. There is not tenure, because there is no test. Many detectives who are good police officers could never rise to Sergeant or Lieutenant because they cannot pass the exam.

The Chief disagrees with the union’s position of this issue and the discretion would lie in town and village municipal laws.

Mr. Ryan said this information brought before this committee was extremely important and he will review the different sections of Civil Service and Municipality Law and compare the two. He will look into all the information brought before the members of this committee and will discuss the matter again at a future meeting. He asked Chief Kapica to forward any other information he deems necessary.

Mr. Ryan thanked Chief Kapica for a very informative meeting and he will ask him to join the Committee for another discussion in the future.

In wake of the recent school shootings, Mr. Wishnie brought the members’ attention to the Internet and how easy it was to receive information on how to make a bomb. The committee agreed that this was an unfortunate situation and would like to take steps to prevent it in Westchester County.

With no other business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 10 a.m.