“It’s the end of my service,” Lt. Scott Garin said via radio as he ended his career with the Ithaca Police Department (IPD) just before a “Walk Out Ceremony” at the Ithaca Police Hall of Justice on Clinton Street around 3 PM Saturday, March 26th. Several dozen police officers in dress uniform joined with members of local government, first responders and the public to thank Lt. Garin for a 21 year career that began under Ithaca Mayor Alan Cohen in the year 2000. Garin was a member of the Ithaca-Tompkins Specialized Response Team and additionally managed the Ithaca Police Recruitment Team. He also recently served as Sergeant at Arms for the Ithaca Police Benevolent Association (IPBA) Executive Board. Following Garin’s “Last Call,” he was honored with a congratulatory radio salute from the dispatcher.
IPBA President Tom Condezella believes Garin’s departure is a continuation of a trend at the department and symptomatic of how police reform is being handled within the city. “Ithaca has now lost seven Police Officers to resignation or retirement since this process started early last year.” Sgt. Condzella, who served on the Reimagining Public Safety Working Group, believes the exodus from the department is a direct response to Reimagining Public Safety. In an IPBA press release, Condzella is quoted as saying “People are getting out while they can and are choosing environments where they are respected and treated professionally by their employer. Some have just had enough, this isn’t good for our community. We continue to lose our best, brightest, most diverse and most promising and experienced Officers. I believe that Scott leaving is just another unfortunate example of that.”
At the June 1st, 2021 meeting of the Tompkins County Legislature, Reimagining Public Safety Working Group & Ithaca Common Council member George McGonigal acknowledged that IPD was unable to recruit new officers while simultaneously losing officers to recruitment from other agencies. This trend has continued into 2022, with IPD unable to recruit even a single officer to join the department via lateral transfer, despite a new contract and $15,000 bonus offer that is set to expire in June.
Garin’s departure follows on the heels of a tumultuous meeting of the Ithaca Community Police Board (ICPB.) IPD Chief Joly spoke of being forced out of Reimagining Public Safety meetings, noting that aspects of the implementation plan might be illegal. The board membership agreed to author a letter in advance of the next Common Council meeting, objecting to the board’s inability to participate in the Reimagination process. “It seems more than an oversight. It seems very intentional at this point, as the Chief alluded to as well,” ICPB board member Mike Simons said.
Joly explained that last year “the City (of Ithaca) had an opportunity to offer a Chief’s exam, but they decided not to because of Reimagining. I don’t know how that decision was made, but that’s what happened. What’s been going on for the last year is we are missing one third of the management staff of the police department.” This has resulted in IPD lacking a Deputy Chief overseeing the Professional Standards Unit, providing up-to-date policies for officers. “Which puts us at an extreme disadvantage. The longer that we operate like this, realistically the less, the…more opportunity for something to slip through and for us to not be 100% on top of the actions of the officers.”
“I hope we start having more conversations before any of these policies are enacted or accepted by council, ” Joly said. “It’s almost as though this department is being ignored while they work on a better one.”
