Harry Corbitt was sworn in today as New York's 13th State Police superintendent, taking over the ranks of a department beleaguered by scandal and the recent suicides of two of its employees.
Corbitt, who has been on the job since his confirmation last month by the state Senate, is the state's first African-American police superintendent. He replaces interim Superintendent Preston Felton, who is also black but resigned last month and never took the post permanently.
Corbitt, 60, who joined the department in 1978, vowed that the department will retain its character and integrity despite the difficult times. He pointed that besides his appointment, he made a dozen promotions today that expand the department's diversity -- several executives for the first time are women and minorities.
Just a reminder:
"Today's another building character today, one of significant historical relevance," Corbitt said during the ceremony attended by Gov. David Paterson.
State Police are under investigation by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo into allegations that members of the department have conducted political espionage on state leaders to damage their reputations.
Cuomo initiated the probe last month at the request of Paterson, who like Cuomo said they were told by state leaders of a possible "rogue unit" with State Police assigned to political hit jobs.
Yet Corbitt said he is unaware of any political attacks undertaken by State Police. "During my tenure in the State Police I have never heard of a rogue unit, never received any information and I talked to several superintendents and they have shared the same opinion," Corbitt told reporters.
"I don't believe there's a rogue unit, but that's what investigations do. They uncover the truth.
So I'm going to leave that to the AG's report."
Paterson put his faith in Corbitt, whom he nominated for the post soon after Paterson took office in mid-March. “We are trying to establish the State Police as it has always been: one of the leaders in law enforcement agencies in the world,” Paterson said. “And whatever is going on (in terms of possible corruption) relates to very few people, and we don’t even know that anything has been established and that anyone has violated the law or procedures yet.”
State Police have also been under a cloud since the two suicides in little over a week of two officials there. Gary Berwick, a recently retired State Police major, committed suicide May 15 at his Orange County home after he was reportedly to be questioned as part of Cuomo's probe.
On Friday, Garry Veeder, a longtime forensic scientist for the State Police, committed suicide in his Albany area home.
Veeder's death appears to be unrelated to Cuomo's investigation, yet Veeder was reportedly tied to an investigation of evidence handling at the State Police crime lab.
http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080527/NEWS10/80527034/1001/NEWS
A reminder:
From NY Daily News:
Daniel Wiese, who is close with former governors George Pataki and Eliot Spitzer, is being probed about his role as Pataki's head of security and whether he maintained power within the agency after leaving.
Key Wiese allies, including Gary Berwick, who succeeded Wiese in heading Pataki's detail, and former acting Police Superintendent Preston Felton, maintained power within the agency after his departure.
No comments:
Post a Comment