Correspondent
CANTON — The first item on the agenda of the Police Committee was a question from councilman Schrader regarding body camera and car camera use in the department. The police committee meeting took place on Wednesday, Oct. 14, in the borough council room of the borough building.
Chief Doug Seeley stated that the department has no functioning body cameras or cameras in cars and it would cost an estimated $5,000 per car to install them.
It was mentioned that Troy PD was currently looking into cameras and Canton may ask them to see what they can come up with.
Chief Seeley also asked that the 2019 vehicle remain unmarked in order to better surveil without being instantly recognized.
Discussion opened regarding citizen fears that Chief Seeley was using his link to the video cameras outside the police building to watch people.
Seeley assured he does not look at the cameras unless he believes there is something untoward going on outside.
Upon further discussion, Solicitor David Brann spoke as a representative of the borough and Chief Seeley, regarding accusations leveled at Seeley.
Brann said he was “worried about accusations that happened months ago or longer.”
“I don’t want this to turn into an institution of inquisition. The Spanish did that 350 years ago. Salem Massachusetts did this. I worry people are coming to these meetings bringing up personal issues with Chief Seeley in an attempt to get him fired,” said Brann.
Canton resident Shaun Miller spoke up regarding an incident where he believed Seeley had responded inappropriately on May 25.
Miller and Seeley engaged in a back-and-forth regarding the details of Seeley responding to an underage drinking call by Miller regarding his daughter.
Brann spoke up saying that Seeley had responded to the letter of the law and charged Miller’s daughter like he wished.
Miller took issue with what he claimed was Seeley “coddling” his daughter.
Another resident, Sarah Shannon, spoke up regarding her son.
She claimed she told Seeley all the way in 2011 that her son was abusing and dealing drugs and the Chief had done nothing to address it.
Chief Seeley, along with officer Kurtz, explained that accusations are not evidence and “knowing” something is different than being able to prove it in court.
Seeley explained that a person can’t be arrested just from heresay and Shannon reiterated “I am saying right now my son is a drug dealer and you need to open an investigation into him.”
Councilman Christopher Schrader brought up the final topic for personel at the meeting. He began the discussion by stating that Chief Seeley engaging in a “passionate back-and-forth with residents” could, in itself, be a reason for his dismissal from his position.
Schrader cited Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania case Braun v Borough of Middleburg that listed six reasons a chief of police can be demoted, suspended, or removed from their position. In this case, Schrader suggested Seeley was guilty of “intemperance and inefficiency.”
“Find me a case where such a broad definition of intemperance has been used as a reason for dismissal,” said Solicitor Brann to Councilman Schrader.
Schrader replied that as a member of the council, he (Schrader) could get Brann himself to look for such a precedent if he gets consent of the rest of the council.
This led to an argument from other members of the audience rebuking Schrader.
John Raub (attending as a citizen, not as an employee of the borough) called on Schrader to “explain exactly what Chief Seeley did that you can fire him for.”
When Schrader didn’t answer, Raub asked “Don’t you know how stupid that makes you look?” which was met with several shouts from others at the meeting.
Other audience members questioned the viability of the accusations and photos printed in a recent edition of the Daily Review newspaper.
A short exchange followed, where Review reporter Bri Ostrander spoke that she’d received the photos of assumed drug paraphernalia Seeley had supposedly not disposed of properly long ago (from a source she wouldn’t divulge) long before she’d been approached to publish the inflammatory story regarding Seeley.
Ostrander said she could get the pictures and check the date and time stamp on them to see exactly when they were taken to confirm their authenticity.
The committee last discussed the actual budget item-by-item noting little change from the previous fiscal year, notably ammunition allocations were slightly up while tazers were slightly down, mostly just needing new batteries.
Officer Kurz spoke about Canton’s wages for full time officers. “I work here because I love it here. But in the academy, I knew two or three guys who wanted to apply here but they didn’t because of the starting wage.”
Canton’s starting wage is $16.55/hour for full time officers. It was mentioned that Troy’s starting wage is $3.50 more while in the valley it’s closer to $26 starting.
Kurz said “I love working here and the pay is fine but I could be making similar pay managing the McDonalds in Troy. I just don’t want Canton to miss out on quality recruits that come their way.”
Secretary Amy Seeley said she would research the wages of similar sized municipalities to see how they compare.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:40.