What's happening
This bill allows police departments in Westchester County towns and certain villages to suspend officers without pay for up to thirty days pending disciplinary trials.
Why it matters
Expands disciplinary tools for police oversight. By allowing suspensions without pay for up to 30 days, town and village police boards in Westchester County gain an intermediate option for addressing alleged police misconduct before a formal disciplinary decision is made, potentially enabling quicker responses to serious allegations.
Raises stakes for officers facing charges. The risk of losing pay during a pending trial may serve as a deterrent against certain misconduct and could impact officers’ financial stability even before a final determination, highlighting the seriousness of disciplinary proceedings.
Protects officers’ rights if exonerated. If an officer is cleared of charges, they are entitled to back pay (minus any outside earnings during suspension), ensuring that those not ultimately found guilty do not suffer permanent financial harm from the temporary suspension.
Clarifies legal recourse. The bill updates language to specify that officers can seek a court order—rather than a more ambiguous or outdated remedy—to enforce back pay if they are reinstated, strengthening due process protections for officers.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Suspend Police Without Pay
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 40
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Committed to rules
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.271
- Referred to local government
- Referred to local government
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4661
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 23, 2017
Introduced by Sen. MURPHY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government
AN ACT to amend chapter 104 of the laws of 1936 relating to providing for the establishment, organization and operation of police departments in the towns of Westchester county and chapter 891 of the laws of 1972 relating to continuing special provisions relating to police departments of certain villages, in relation to suspension of an officer pending a trial of disciplinary charges
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 7 of chapter 104 of the laws of 1936 relating to providing for the establishment, organization and operation of police departments in the towns of Westchester county, as amended by chapter 812 of the laws of 1941, is amended to read as follows:
§ 7. Discipline and charges. Except as otherwise provided by law, a member of such police department shall continue in office unless suspended or dismissed. The town board or board of police commissioners shall have power and is authorized to adopt and make rules and regulations for the examination, hearing, investigation and determination of charges, made or preferred against any member or members of such police department, but no member or members of such police department shall be fined, reprimanded, removed or dismissed until written charges shall have been investigated, examined, heard and determined by such town board or board of police commissioners in such manner, procedure, practice, examination and investigation as such board may, by such rules and regulations from time to time prescribe, except that the trial of such charges shall not be delegated and must be heard before the full town board or full board of police commissioners or a majority of the members of either of such boards, and the affirmative vote of a majority of such members shall be necessary for a conviction on any such charges. Such charges shall not be brought more than ninety days after the time when
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09947-01-7
S. 4661 2
the facts upon which such charges are based are known to such town board or board of police commissioners. Any member of such police department at the time of the hearing or trial of such charges before such town board or board of police commissioners shall have the right to a public hearing and trial and to be represented by counsel at any such hearing or trial and any person who shall have preferred such charges or any part of the same shall not sit as a member of such town board or board of police commissioners upon such hearing or trial and any and all witnesses produced upon the trial shall testify under oath.
Any member of such department found guilty upon charges after five days' written notice and an opportunity to be heard in his defense, of neglect or dereliction in the performance of official duty, or violation of rules or regulations or disobedience, or incompetency to perform official duty, or an act of delinquency seriously affecting his general character or fitness for office, may be punished by such town board or board of police commissioners before which such charges are tried, by reprimand, forfeiture and the withholding of salary or compensation for a specified time not exceeding twenty days, by suspension from duty for a specified time not exceeding twenty days and the withholding of salary or compensation during such suspension, or by dismissal from the department. Such town board or board of police commissioners shall have the power to suspend, without pay, pending the trial of charges, any member of such police department for a period not exceeding thirty days. If any member of such police department so suspended shall not be convicted by such board of the charges so preferred, or if on review his conviction shall be reversed, then, notwithstanding such charges and suspension, he shall be entitled to full pay from the date of suspension to the date of reinstatement less the amount of compensation, if any, received by him from any other employment or occupation during the period beginning with such date of suspension to the date of his reinstatement and he shall be entitled to [an] a court order [as provided in article seventy-eight of the civil practice act] to enforce such payment.
§ 2. Subdivision 9 of section 18 of chapter 891 of the laws of 1972 relating to continuing special provisions relating to police departments of certain villages is amended to read as follows:
9. Discipline and charges. Except as otherwise provided by law, a member of such police force shall continue in office unless suspended or dismissed. The board of trustees or municipal board shall have power and is authorized to adopt and make rules and regulations for the examination, hearing, investigation and determination of charges, made or preferred against any member or members of such police force, but no member or members of such police force shall be fined, reprimanded, removed or dismissed until written charges shall have been made and preferred against him or them, nor until such charges have been investigated, examined, heard and determined by such board of trustees or municipal board in such manner, procedure, practice, examination and investigation as such board may by such rules and regulations from time to time prescribe, except that the trial of such charges shall not be delegated and must be heard before the full board of trustees or full municipal board, or a majority of the members of either of such boards, and the affirmative vote of a majority of such members shall be necessary to a conviction on any such charges. Such charges shall not be brought more than ninety days after the time when the facts upon which such charges are based are known to such board of trustees or municipal board. Any member of such police force at the time of the hearing or
S. 4661 3
trial of such charges before such board of trustees or municipal board shall have the right to a public hearing and trial and to be represented by counsel at any such hearing or trial, and any person who shall have preferred such charges or any part of the same shall not sit as a member of such board of trustees or municipal board upon such hearing or trial. Any and all witnesses produced upon the trial shall testify under oath. Any member of such force found guilty upon charges, after five days' written notice and an opportunity to be heard in his defense, of neglect or dereliction in the performance of official duty, or violation of rules and regulations, or disobedience, or incompetency to perform official duty, or an act of delinquency seriously affecting his general character or fitness for office, may be punished by such board of trustees or municipal board before which such charges are tried, by reprimand, forfeiture and the withholding of salary or compensation for a specified time not exceeding twenty days and the withholding of salary or compensation during such suspension, or by dismissal from the department. Such board of trustees or municipal board shall have the power to suspend without pay, pending the trial of charges, any member of such police force for a period not to exceed thirty days. If any member of such police force so suspended shall not be convicted by such board of the charges so preferred, or if on review his conviction shall be reversed, then, notwithstanding such charges and suspension, he shall be entitled to receive full pay from the date of suspension to the date of reimbursement less the amount of compensation, if any, received by him from any other employment or occupation during the period beginning with such date of suspension to the date of his reinstatement and he shall be entitled to [an] a court order [as provided in article seventy-eight of the civil practice act] to enforce the payment thereof.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend chapter 104 of the laws of 1936 relating to providing for the establishment, organization and operation of police departments in the towns of Westchester county and chapter 891 of the laws of 1972 relating to continuing special provisions relating to police departments of certain villages, in relation to suspension of an officer pending a trial of disciplinary charges
Purpose
Provides that a police officer in the county of Westchester can be suspended without pay for not more than 30 days pending a trial of disciplinary charges.
Summary of provisions
Section one amends section 7 of chapter 104 of the laws of 1936 to read that a town board or board of police commissioners shall have the power to suspend, without pay, pending the trial of charges, any member of such police department for a period not exceeding thirty days.
Section two amends subdivision 9 of section 18 of chapter 891 of the laws of 1972 is amended to read that a board of trustees or municipal board shall have the power to suspend, without pay, pending the trial of charges, any member of such police department for a period not exceeding thirty days.
Section three establishes the effective date.
Justification
This legislation is designed to comport the Westchester Police Act with New York State Civil Service Law, specifically sections 75 and 76, which govern procedures for disciplining public employees, including police officers.
Currently, establishment of and disciplinary proceedings for police departments created in the towns and villages of Westchester County are governed by the Westchester Police Act, which sets special provisions applicable only to the county's police departments. This eighty-five year old law creates a great disparity in the way disciplinary measures are enforced against police officers in departments in the county verses the those in the rest of the state. Section 75 of the Civil Service law includes similar language to the Westchester Police Act; however, it provides that the employee may be suspended without pay "for a period not exceeding thirty days," a key provision absent in the Westchester Police Act. Court decisions have interpreted the absence of this language to read as though the municipalities in Westchester may indefinitely suspend, without pay, a police officer pending a trial of disciplinary charges.
Disciplinary procedures for police officers in Westchester County should comport with those held across other areas of the state. The current state of this outdated law has resulted in lengthy suspensions which is often more costly to the municipality than if the matter was adjudicated timely, as required under the Civil Service law. The impact of omitting the language, "for a period not exceeding thirty days," could not be foreseen when the law was crafted in 1936 as it predates the protections established under subdivision 3 of section 75 of the Civil Service law, which established this language, and was amended as recently as 1984. This bill will conform the provisions governing the police departments within Westchester County to those enumerated in the Civil Service law. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
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