Tell Me Lies, Tell Me Sweet Little Lies


By DIA, Section News
Posted on Mon Oct 08, 2007 at 05:24:21 AM EST

More news on the Albany Police Department's apparently involvement in tax evasion and gun dealing. Of course we get no comment from the Mayor. And what do we get from Chief Tuffey? Lies. Let's take a look at the latest lies from the Chief about this scandal and then review some of the previous lies. So far if there has been something illegal happening within the department, the record shows the Chief has lied about it. The latest.
Police Chief James W. Tuffey told Albany lawmakers recently that dozens of machine guns secretly purchased by Albany police officers had all been recovered and destroyed.

But two sources familiar with the matter said several of the automatic weapons, which were obtained by Albany police officers and at least one civilian in the early 1990s, remain missing.

Last week, the chief declined to clarify his statements or to answer questions about the missing weapons. Mayor Jerry Jennings also did not respond to a request for comment.
Ok. That is the first one. Chief says all the guns are destroyed. Up next, the guns were purchased for department use. Or they weren't. They were either lying then or they are lying now.
Tuffey also told the committee the guns had never been deployed in the line of duty. "There was no policy to use those weapons," the chief said. "None of those weapons were ever used in the official (line of duty). ... We never owned those weapons, ever."

His statements contradict claims made by city officials last year that the fully-automatic weapons were part of the department's arsenal and used in crime-fighting. The city made that argument while denying a Freedom of Information Law request by the Times Union to review records related to the purchases.

"Disclosing the weapons that are used by the police force in fighting crime in the city of Albany could endanger the life of the officers using them against criminals," the city wrote.
So, there is a second lie. Seems like there is a pattern there. Like when the police chief lied and said he hadn't been briefed about the detective who was buying illegal steroids. That also appears to be a lie.

Or remember when he said he didn't know about an FBI investigation into the other detective who was involved in real estate fraud? And then later as more info came out he claimed he had heard about it.

Seems like a pattern. Like clockwork. And that doesn't even take into the many times he has told us that the violence among the young black kids shooting each other isn't gang related.

One other thing I think its important to remember about the gun dealing issue. The ATF found guns that were registered to the APD for sale in a gun shop in 2003. This wasn't very long ago that guns bought with your tax dollars were being fenced in a local gun shop. Almost makes that cash for scrap deal seem kind of harmless. Oh, and when Mayor Jennings was running for election in 2005 he told Alan Chartock that he had never had to deal with any corruption in his adminstration. While technically this wasn't a lie because Jennings was being honest in the fact that he had never dealt with any of the corruption, he certainly knew of incidents of corruption within his adminstration when he made that statement.

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Tell Me Lies, Tell Me Sweet Little Lies | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 hidden)
Theft and Lies (none / 0) (#1)
by alfrednewman on Mon Oct 08, 2007 at 05:54:06 AM EST
DIA:

I have to wonder: If the police union "hates" the chief so much do you think that someone if providing him with incorrect information and then "leaking" that he lied?  Im just curious if you think that may be happening.

More fire arms are missing? WTF? Does the police simply keep these firearms in an unlocked supply closet next to the soda machine?  I thought these things were supposed to be signed out? Anyone out there know what the procedure is for APD to issue these guns to their officers?
-------

If there are weapons missing from the police department then what else is?  In the private sector most companies perform audits and regular  inventories to make sure that what was purchased was either used for its intended purpose or is still on the shelves.

In light of the scrap for cash and now the guns for play, how about asking a common council member or two what will it take for them to demand independent audits to make sure that:

  1. The equipment and supplies purchased at tax payers expense are properly accounted for.

  2. That the equipment and supplies purchased at tax payer expense were disposed of in a properly and not simply coverted to cash or disapearing.

  3. That the contracts that were let by the city and its affiliates authorities were actually completed.

  4. That the city is actually running efficiently.

I realize that these are novel concepts here, although they are stabdard elsewhere.

And DIA: socialist posting this morning. Theft on theft. Hmmmm.
"What? Me worry? " "whatmeworry.alfred@gmail.com"

My opinion (none / 0) (#2)
by kateb on Mon Oct 08, 2007 at 06:20:22 AM EST

I think this police chief's best talent is dodging accountability.   I think the lying you mention is part of that.   But when presented with inconsistencies, he finds a way to dance and dodge.   NOW he says he has to wait until the FOIL litigation is finished. (TU vs. City)   Let's watch and see how he dodges when that's over.

BTW, what ever became of that " OGS scrap (none / 0) (#3)
by hawkny on Mon Oct 08, 2007 at 09:40:19 AM EST
 for money expose?  Is the DA still looking into it?
Did the DA (none / 0) (#4)
by kateb on Mon Oct 08, 2007 at 09:58:54 AM EST

ever start?

That man has the worst management problems I've seen.  Really.

[ Parent ]

HumptyDumpty (none / 0) (#5)
by Roscoe on Mon Oct 08, 2007 at 11:08:44 AM EST
I have to wonder whether there is enough glue in the universe to piece this city, which once was, back together again. Further, whether a properly run city, where honest people could do their jobs and government in all its aspects was transparent and honest, or tried to be, can exist in a State overburdened by decades of bad decisions, in a Country where the perpetuation of the entitlement classes is THE fundamental plank in the electoral process, by all political parties.

I use the phrase 'entitlement classes' because it includes rich and poor, union and non-union, corporations and individuals, charitable workers, and government workers, elected, appointed, or contract-protected of all stripes: every single person who depends on the government, that is, the taxpaying public, for the money upon which they live. Newspapers with their masthead on a taxpayer-paid sports arena, and their bottom line dependent on Legal Notices revenue, are in the game as well.  All of the classes include scammers, some more than others.

Some of the entitlement classes do some work for the money, no doubt. But they are all part of an equation which yields the sorts of behavior noted in this post about the Chief of Police, whether or not true.  If true, a number of people in the Chief's entitlement class, would, if prosecuted, be found guilty.  If not true, mud would have nonetheless have been splashed, and control and governance, and class access, thereby diminished. In each instance, nobody wins, and so, nobody does anything. Further, there are no complaints from other classes, since they know, intuitively, that they could be next.

All it would take is a little honesty, and a little courage, on the part of those on top of HumptyDumpty's wall to make this right. If the City Comptroller can disclose the scrap for cash audit on the eve of an election, can we expect less from the Chief of Police?

Our city can rise from the morass often noted on this site, Democracy in Albany, but only if a lean, transparent, and honest government, living within its means, demonstrates to the investment class that they can safely return.

Just do it. Maybe get some immunity first, but do it.  Please.

If Tuffey (none / 0) (#6)
by FedUp on Tue Oct 09, 2007 at 10:32:18 AM EST
really wanted accountability and honesty then the TU would not have had to file a lawsuit in order to get the FOIL documents.  

Makes me wonder if Tuffey himself either purchased a weapon, if a close relative such as his brother purchased, or if Tuffey had personal knowledge of the purchases since he was working for Albany PD / a union officer at the time.  How could he not have known????

I don't see a difference between the case in Michigan and the case here.  I hope the TU does not lose focus on this story.

[ Parent ]

I'm with Roscoe on this one. (none / 0) (#7)
by Jim Travers on Wed Oct 10, 2007 at 04:30:48 PM EST
DIA, just to set the record straight, (but who really knows what the truth is, with sooo many lies going around, and recognizing that the information's coming from a police source), about them using our tax dollars to purchase the machine guns, the earlier report by Lyons, the one that broke the story on 8/26 had this to say about the purchase:

"In fact, the machine guns were not part of any official purchase. The officers and others paid with their own money -- about $200 per weapon -- and because they were being purchased through a police force were able to avoid hundreds of dollars in federal excise taxes, police sources said. The guns were also illegal to possess under New York state law.

"It's illegal for the city to let someone else use their tax exempt status for a private purpose," city Comptroller Thomas Nitido said last year, when the Times Union began inquiring about police gun purchases.

After the ATF's discovery of an Albany Police Department machine gun for sale at the Colonie store, former Albany Police Commissioner John C. Nielsen quietly ordered an intensive audit to recover the remaining weapons. The outcome, according to sources close to the matter, was that other guns, not part of the illegal purchase, were missing from the department's arsenal and that many of the assault weapons were gone. City police, with the help of federal agents, recovered one of the weapons at a gun store in Texas.

Several of the assault weapons, which remain missing, are known to have been taken home by officers who retired. In other cases, the people suspected of buying them, including an Albany-area judge, denied ever receiving one."

The line from Monday's article that really got to me was this one:

"...Tuffey apologized as he acknowledged that the purchases were improper and said he was implementing policy changes that would prevent it from happening again."

Like the state and federal laws aren't enough?

Does Tuffey really think his policy carries more authority than the Federal law?

Why hasn't he had anyone arrested and thrown off the force for breaking so many laws?

Could it be that the chief himself still has one of these bad boys at home?

Like in the old days, but with a modern touch, we should round these corrupt officials up, give them a good paddling and place them securely in one of Wolfgang's Duks and send them adrift down the river. (Sending them up the river would only get them as far away as Troy.)

Tell Me Lies, Tell Me Sweet Little Lies | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 hidden)
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