Another Police Agency Accused of Going On Strike In New York

Law enforcement agencies in the Empire State have been in the news quite a bit over the last few months.

In December, news broke about a savage beating that at least 10 New York State Correctional Officers gave an inmate that led to his death and the subsequent indictment of those officers. Then, a few weeks later, Correctional Officers from several prisons across the state went on an illegal strike that looked like it would end with prison guards going to jail. Now, the news is breaking that officers from the Town of Tonawanda Police Department may have participated in an illegal strike, which is now being investigated by government officials.

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According to reports from WIVB-TV and WKBW-TV, several officers from the Town of Tonawanda Police Department are accused of participating in a work slowdown strike by drastically reducing the number of traffic stops and issuing significantly fewer tickets than they normally would, given historical trends.

Town officials believe that the strike was retaliation after town Police Chief James Stauffiger disciplined an officer for an infraction of police rules. Various police officers and the town police union, the Tonawanda Police Club, are accused of leading the work slowdown in defense of that officer, who subsequently resigned from the police department after being disciplined.

The Tonawanda Police Club denies that any strike or work slowdown occurred and that this is just another ploy by the town and the department's police Chief to mistreat officers.

According to New York State's Public Employees' Fair Employment Act, commonly known as the Taylor Law, public officers are legally barred from striking or participating in any adverse job action, like work slowdowns. When evidence of something like this occurs, government officials must investigate and submit their findings to the officials.

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After investigating, town officials allege that the police union and various officers did strike ax work slowdown from Wednesday, January 15, 2025, through Wednesday, February 5, 2025. According to WIVB-TV, town officials claim that officers drastically reduced the amount of tickets they wrote during this time period.

During the two-week period, town police officers only wrote 123 tickets, while during that same time period, over the last four years, officers averaged nearly 540 tickets. While town officials have denied that the Tonawanda Police Department has a ticket quota, they point to this nearly 80% reduction in tickets as proof of their strike accusations.