State Police Study Trashes Nazareth Borough Council

It only took a year. In August 2014, Nazareth Borough Council finally received a state study of its police department. a year after it was requested. It's the second one they've had done. An earlier report, prepared by investigator Dan Monek, was too critical. So the Borough officially denied it existed at all. Those denials are refuted in a civil rights lawsuit filed by Officer Stephen Schleig, who specifically refers to that investigation and asserts that borough officials buried it. This study, like the Monek report, portrays a top heavy police department struggling under a bizarre chief and a meddling Mayor and Council. Which is exactly what I've been saying. It will be difficult to deny the existence of this report. I have a copy as a result of a right-to-know request filed with Pennsylvania's DCED (Department of Community and Economic Development). You can read it yourself below.

Some of the points made?

* "[T]ension between the police department and Borough Council seems to have escalated when Chief Trachta was appointed ... .." - There's a shocker.

* "Many Mayors feel the Chief is a professional law enforcement officer and leave the day-to-day operations of the department in his/her hands. This was not and is not happening in Nazareth Borough." - That leaves us with a Mayor, who is after all a carwash salesman, explaining why it's a bad idea to release a description of a missing child. "We can't just blindly give out a description when things are still unfolding," Mayor Strye, a carwash salesman, told The Morning Call last year in the middle of missing child investigation that turned out to be a hoax. He should have left that to police.

* "Micromanaging is taking place in many areas, such as budgeting and discipline. Disciplining some of the officers seems to have gotten sidetracked."  - In the two meetings i attended last year there were more executive sessions than in any of the larger municipalities I cover combined. I recall hearing that there were seven matters in one meeting that related to the police department alone. That is simply insane, and I really am concerned that borough fathers want to keep a tight grip on the police department because of fears that police enforcement could lead to a disruption of the social clubs. As this report notes, there are ten social clubs in Nazareth. Mayor Carl Strye was President at one of them for approximately thirty years. Larry Stoudt is a steward or bartender at another of these social clubs and was placed on ARD after being charged criminally with attempting to use police resources to determine the identity of a state police informant at one of these clubs. There are allegations of skimming and drug activity at these clubs as well. Police should be under no obligation to disclose their operations to Council members or the Mayor.  

* "Some of the Borough Officials commented over the cost of litigation. One official said that legal fees are $400,000 and they used to be $40,000. Another said that $1.3 million dollars has been spent in arbitration costs since 2008. All this activity, which has nothing to do with actual police work, has resulted in confusion and tension for everyone." - This is a direct result of micromanagement as well as a police chief who is out-of-control

* "The Chief received a new contract with no increase in pay plus a deduction for health care benefits. It also might be noted that the Deputy Chief, who was hired part time is making $40 per hour versus the salary of the Full Time Chief, who makes a salary of approximately $33 per hour.The Chief’s salary is not at issue here but the Mayor and Council are certainly sending a message. However, the Chief does not appear to be deterred in any way from running the day-to-day operations of the Nazareth Police Department." - You don't have to read too much between the lines here. Borough Council obviously has no regard for Chief Thomas Trachta, and pay him $7 per hour less than Deputy Chief Randy Miller. They would prefer that he go away. Yet incredily,they gave him a new contract.

* There is one officer patrol between the hours of 0300 and 0600, 0300-0900 on some mornings and 2200-0900 Saturday nights into Sunday morning. There should be two officers working on all shifts for officer safety reasons." - They won't do this because they are trying their best to crush the FT force, which is union.

* "During the on-site interviews there were a few comments made regarding officers spending a lot of time in certain areas of the Borough. Two locations that were mentioned were the Fire Department and the athletic fields in the area of the parochial school. If this appears to be a problem it should be brought to the attention of the Chief so the matter can be addressed with the officers." - These concerns were probably expressed out of a desire to keep cops away from the Vigilance and Holy Family Social Clubs.

Nazareth Borough Police Study by BernieOHare