Posted on August 4 at 2:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Mayor Stratton should have Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett check out Amazon.com for Tasers. They cost $300 and come in a wide range of designer colors. Sorry, no video camera.

With the money they save over the $1000 models, they can hand out video cameras and have the rest of the officers (the ones NOT zapping the suspect) record the incident for posterity.

If going on the cheap is what they want, a blast of MACE in the face will relax most agitated individuals.

Rubber Bullets have proven to be successful and at the low end of the cost spectrum.

Bean Bags and nets, launched from a shotgun, can be effective without permanent damage.

There are polymers that are so slippery that walking is impossible, foams to impede one's progress and super glues to stop them in their tracks -

*IF* you want, if you care enough, to take them alive.

It's a matter of attitude, like the need to 'double-tap' the client when he is armed with knives and is 20 feet away, so a touch of recurrent psychological testing might save lives, too.

On Shooting debate: Could Tasers have ended incident?

Posted on August 4 at 11:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)

It's a good thing he is or the DA would up his charges to homicide.

If it wasn't an accident, it'll be interesting to see if the charges include terrorism and arson, when they catch the culprit.

On Car explosion kills Schenectady man; cause still under investigation

Posted on August 3 at 1:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)

As I said, the result reached by Ofcr Ritz may have been within the law, but was it a necessary outcome?

No non-lethal equipment? Shame on the city.

Not enough training in non-lethal interventions? Shame on the dept.

According to the article, the PD escorted the deceased for a half mile before they terminated the incident, ample opportunity to surround and contain him with cruisers. Keep him from civilians and officers and wait him out. There's no rush.

Why didn't they have the high tech tools that could have ended the crisis without a fatality? Did they think it was too much money to equip the cops with tasers, sprays, intense strobes, rubber bullets and bean-bag or net-firing guns? How much is one life worth (or to put it in terms the politicians can grasp - or how much will the settlement cost)?

The cop did a great job, considering, but there was still much room for improvement.

Peter -

He did miss! The cop fired two shots - one to the stomach, the other into the ground.

Sean -

The only obvious thing here is that you are a jerk.

"One less killer on the streets - I have no problem with that. He was intent on harming others - why should he be given a chance he wasn't going to give anyone else?"

Killer? He had hurt nobody, but you have no problem with executing him on the street? No trial? No Judge or jury?

You tell me I can't surmise the cop's intent, but you 'know' he intended to harm others.

Listen up, hero, he should get the same chance that they would give your son if he were disoriented and in obvious need of psychiatric care.

And don't give me that 'walk in my shoes' crap. I don't need to wear your boots to know that you just waded through the manure lagoon.

You know nothing about me, so don't go there. I don't make fun of you being so insecure that you feel it necessary to impress others with the zenith of your career as your screen name.

On Man shot dead by Schenectady police officer

Posted on August 2 at 11:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)

The Republican Congress had to drag the kicking and screaming Democrats to vote for the CRA of 64 over the protests of Sen Byrd and other Southern Democrats. Johnson realized the inevitable and understood the PR coup that his party would gain from the appearance that they, not the Republicans, were why the law was passed.

It is not possible to legislate equality by enforcing inequality.

On Op-ed column: Affirmative action has long way to go in hiring for city projects

Posted on August 2 at 9:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Sure, why blame the Schenectady PD for not providing their cops with the NON-LETHAL tools to deal with a psycho at 20 feet?

A zap with a Taser or a blast of Mace would have served to disorient and subdue the man, making it unnecessary for the officer, who was afraid of being hospitalized again, to kill him.

The actions were within the law, but it's still immoral to kill when there is an alternative.

On Man shot dead by Schenectady police officer

Posted on July 26 at 10:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Re: the picture

I've never seen his commercials, so it's obvious which is Caroline, but which one is Billy? The guy in the shirt or the Chuck Schumer look-a-like in the jacket?

On Billy Fuccillo’s drive is H-U-G-E

Posted on July 23 at 11:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)

From what I read, the cop wanted to know who Gates was and Gates gave him two forms of ID. The cop accepted them and returned to his car. The incident would have been closed if Professor Gates had not followed the cop back to his car spewing insults.

This whole situation occurred in the most liberal town in Mass. and there was a PD supervisor watching, who made no attempt to stop the arrest. It was a judgment call by the cop, who decided he had been verbally abused enough. Anyone, black, white, green or purple, who runs their mouth at a cop (or anyone else, for that matter) runs the risk of being arrested. The Prof pushed too far.

Sometimes it's appropriate to put the victim mentality aside and thank the cop for doing his job. That applies to Mr Gates AND President Obama, who has stated that the cop should apologize. That's like having the Emperor judge the gladiator and turn thumbs down.

The President has 'disrespected' the cop, the system, the rest of Americans and his office by sticking his nose in where it does not belong.

His job is to represent ALL of the people and not get involved in matters that are outside of the constitutional responsibility of the President. There is an official chain of command and process to handle what happened and it NEVER includes the President of the US.

Barack, the man, has every right to his opinion, but when Obama, the President, speaks, the opinion he offers must be Presidential and in the best interests of the nation, not the man or the minority he is placing above the law.

The last thing America needs is cops who are afraid to interact with some groups and people who are emboldened by the President putting the cop in his place. Both men are role models and should act like it.

On Did Cambridge, Mass., police act appropriately in arresting black scholar Louis Gates?

Posted on July 17 at 9:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Concerned1 -

Not many stories about you? That would depend on who one asked. If you worked in the same place for 38 years and were the boss, I’m sure there would be legends about you, too. And some of them would be from people who hated your guts.

Now we hear that the ‘victims’ have brought suit. What better way to get a settlement than to have the alleged perpetrator found guilty, thanks to your testimony. No conflict of interest or ethics issues there?

The DA is still peddling the tale about the defendant being suicidal, but Raucci was never evaluated by a Psychiatrist or on a suicide watch.

The DNA was found at only one scene and it has never been challenged. OJ’s DNA was supposed to be a match, too. Wait ‘til it comes out that the victim with the unexploded firecracker was in the defendant’s office the day that the police were notified, when they had access to an ashtray of his butts.

Sure, the guy may be guilty and we know he was an overbearing pain to some, but what if his accusers are, too? This whole mess could be the clashing of a bunch of pains and heaping the blame for many of the incidents on the wrong guy. If it turns out that they have a history of being abrasive, their behavior might have prompted others to key their car or slash their tires, which they immediately ‘knew’ was done by their arch enemy.

The victims have been anonymous, making it hard for the defense to investigate them and find people who know them. If he is remaining in jail, the secrecy is no longer necessary and the public should get to see what they look like. That could cause an outpouring of witnesses that want to testify that they ‘did the guy’s ride’ because he ‘acted like a teacher.’ What a Perry Mason conclusion that would be.

So much for fanciful speculation, but how is this guy going to get a fair trial? If the commentators here are representative of the jury pool, he’s finished before the trial even begins.

On Judge: Raucci bail decision to be made in a week

Posted on July 16 at 12:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)

<< Sen. Carl Kruger said that without all of the Democrats they don’t have the minimum 32-senator majority to pass legislation. >>

These idiots STILL don't get it. Legislation should be good for ALL of the people. This business of one party rule leaves out the millions of people who voted for the minority party. The key is to WORK T*O*G*E*T*H*E*R!

How far would this policy get if the politicians banded together based on race to pass laws to benefit the white majority of Senators, or on religion for the Christian majority of Senators or on sex for the male majority of Senators and ignored the needs of the rest of the people? The voters would not stand for it, yet they accept this crap.

The so called 'coup' shows just how far the Democrats have strayed with their power games. Unable to accept the loss of the majority, they shut down the Senate and refused to play. They ignored their duty to serve the people by passing necessary legislation and wasted a month, yet they took their $1 million in salaries.

Stay home for a month and see if you still have a job, let alone get paid for the absence.

The solution is to throw ALL of them OUT!

Just do not vote for anyone who (1)is in elected office, (2)has a law degree or (3)is a member of any of the major parties. Choose from the remaining candidates, based upon their background and ideas, not on which corrupt gang they will hang with when they are elected.

Lawyers have a conflict of interest when they make laws and, after they return to private practice, when they are involved with the laws. It's like insider trading in the stock market - unethical and illegal.

The need for the career politician is long past. With today's communications, the people have access to what the issues are and what our elected representatives are doing, which will make it easier to eliminate those who decide the wants of the lobbyists supercede the needs of their constituents.

Term limits are unnecessary. If we hire a good one, they stay. If not, we find a different one. Common folk, who know what is important to the people, not some group of elitists.

On Lawmakers work late into night

Posted on July 13 at 5:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I sure am glad we didn't get suckered into buying into that Global Warming fairy tale.

The American taxpayers would get taxed in the name of fixing something that doesn't exist.

If the threat were real, there's no way that the world's most prolific polluters, India and China, could be exempt from rules to clean up the environment.

Since the threat doesn't really exist, they can tell us the fix isn't working and take more money.

Good thing we're not having a hot summer to fool the gullible folks.

On It may be July but, baby, it's cold outside