Dozens of officers in a small-town New York police department near the Canadian border have been fined for allegedly taking part in an unauthorized labor strike during a snowy stretch this winter.
The union described the fines as retaliation and an abuse of power that denied the officers due process.
One of the officers says the allegations aren’t true. He went to work, participated in on-duty training and even made a drunken driving stop during a span when it snowed “every day.”
“They’re upset that we didn’t make them enough money and meet their perceived ticket quota,” said Andy Thompson, a Tonawanda Police officer and the president of the department’s union, the Tonawanda Police Club.
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Tonawanda Police Chief James Stauffiger, whom the union is asking town residents to oust, said Thompson’s allegations are “without merit.”
“I stand behind the charges filed against the union with the Public Employees Relations Board and the individual officers,” he told Fox News Digital. “The process needs to unfold fairly and thoroughly.”
Thompson is among the nearly 50 officers accused of going on strike without authorization for one hour a day over a nine-day stretch and has had two hours of pay docked for each of those days, according to a letter he received that was signed by Tonawanda Town Supervisor Joe Emminger.
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“We didn’t strike. We showed up to work every day. We did our jobs every day,” Thompson told Fox News Digital. “We didn’t write enough tickets, and we didn’t put enough money in the town’s coffers. And they decided they’re going to fine each officer.”
Ticket quotas are illegal under New York law, he noted, and workplace retaliation can be, too.
Between late January into February, the town got so much snowfall it ran out of road salt, and there was an increase in police calls. Officers were also required to spend 16 hours doing mandatory training with new department-issued guns, all during a staffing shortage after seven officers retired or left at the start of the new year, Thompson told Fox News Digital.
This year, Tonawanda Police has issued 123 tickets, according to a filing with New York’s Public Employment Relations Board. Between 2021 and 2024, the department issued between 439 and 653 over the same period. Town leaders alleged in the document that the decrease is the result of officers striking without permission in violation of the state’s civil service laws.
“It’s unheard of,” said Mike O’Meara, the president of the Police Conference of New York, the state’s largest police union. “They’re making this up as they go along.”
He called the town’s labor complaint against Tonawanda officers “unprecedented,” as well as the fines, which are double the hourly wage of officers for each hour they were allegedly striking.
“It may be somewhat unprecedented to claim that a reduction in the issuance of traffic tickets constitutes a strike,” said Jerry Cutler, author of “Legal Guide to Human Resources” and a Columbia University lecturer. “However, the critical issue from a legal standpoint is whether the employees have abstained from performing their duties in the normal manner.”
Experts say that, feud aside, it boils down to whoever has more convincing evidence.
“A reduction in ticket volume may point to a concerted effort to interfere with the employer’s operations, in which case the action would likely be found to constitute an unlawful strike,” Cutler told Fox News Digital. “Alternatively, the evidence may suggest some legitimate reason for the reduced ticket volume – or that this is not an apt means of comparison – which would lead to a finding that the law has not been violated.”
Department leaders say officers went on strike to protest disciplinary measures taken against Tonawanda Officer Bikramjit Singh, a U.S. Army veteran accused of mishandling evidence while investigating a potential drug deal.
“He had his body camera on. He opens this water bottle. There’s a bag in there,” Thompson said. “He looks at the bag. … He says it’s garbage. He wraps it up in his glove, and he disposes of it.”
However, a suspected drug dealer and suspected drug user later told police there were drugs in the bag, and department officials moved to have Singh fired for throwing it out, Thompson said. The alleged drugs were never recovered, but Singh wound up resigning since being fired could have cost him his law enforcement certifications, Thompson said.
Tensions were already simmering between the rank-and-file and Stauffiger, an Emminger appointee who they accuse of unfairly forcing Singh out and withholding paperwork that would allow him to find new employment in law enforcement in another department.
Stauffiger, a 30-year member of the department, was appointed chief five years ago as part of an effort to eradicate corruption from the department. Thompson, too, represents new leadership, having been president of the union for just over a year.
“There’s no due process, and this whole thing was done between the supervisor and the law firm that represents the town, who also donates large amounts of money to the town supervisors’ campaign and the Town of Tonawanda Democratic Party’s campaigns,” Thompson said, citing public records. “So, it’s more of a witch hunt than anything.”
Emminger did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did the town’s law firm.
Thompson believes the allegations mark the first time the state’s civil service law has been used to punish police officers for failing to meet “quotas” after he says the town lost money due to a decrease in traffic citations issued during the snowfall.
“This is going to end up being case law by the time this is all over,” Thompson said. “This has never been done to a police union before.”
The union has launched a public campaign urging residents to demand that local leaders remove Stauffiger, who they accuse of retaliation and harassment and withholding “basic gear,” including winter coats.
According to the union, during the time officers were allegedly on strike, the department still made seven drunken driving arrests, issued more than 300 tickets and responded to nearly 2,000 more calls for service than the same period a year earlier with 14 fewer officers.
“The real losers are town residents,” O’Meara told Fox News Digital. “They’re saying, ‘Make sure you tag the residents of this town.’”