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By
CAROL
DeMARE,
Staff writer |
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A sleek new magazine has hit the streets of Albany. The Supervisor bears a cover photo of the late police Lt. John F. Finn and the words, "14 years our brother, forever our hero." Finn was fatally shot in the line of duty while pursuing a robbery suspect two days before Christmas 2003. The first edition of the Albany Police Supervisors' Association's official publication came out this month. It'll be an annual feature of the union that represents some 52 sergeants and lieutenants. The organization is the other union within the Albany Police Department. Since its inception in 2004 — after a year of working to de-certify from the Albany Police Officers Union and its bargaining agent Council 82 — it has quietly gone about representing members and working to better the city, its leaders said. Finn worked with Lts. Dennis Dolan and Timothy Close in getting the union started. The supervisors' group does not generate publicity like the Albany Police Officers Union, which represents more than 300 patrol officers, detectives and civilians employees. Before they organized their own bargaining unit, supervisors were members of the APOU. "Our goals are the same," APSA President Mike Basile said, "to make the city safer and a good place to work. But our duties are different. In order to carry out those duties, it became an issue with everyone being in the same union." Basile, a nearly 16-year veteran assigned to South Station as a patrol sergeant, said a union can't represent the supervisor and the officer being disciplined by that supervisor. Lt. Kevin Connolly, who heads the department's Children and Family Services Unit, is the magazine editor. "We are basically a PBA," Connolly said. "We hold our own bargaining certificate and make our own decisions as a group of 50." The "main objective is to let people know we're a separate union," Basile said. "We're a unique combination of rank-and-file, we have to answer calls, as well as manage. We can serve ourselves better being our own mouthpiece." The two supervisors sidestepped criticism of the APOU or Council 82, saying they get along with its members. "We chose to go in a different direction from Council 82," Connolly said. "We wanted more control over the decision-making process that affects our membership. We wanted to take the next step with both the city administration and the public in further professionalizing police services for the citizens of Albany.'' Basile and Connolly are reluctant to discuss the controversial bull's-eye sticker that singles out cars for special consideration by parking enforcement. The stickers were passed out by the APOU for its members who use their private cars for court, but they have been found on the cars of others. The supervisors' union doesn't distribute stickers, although some members still have them from the original distribution 10 or so years ago, Basile said. "As a union, we didn't do it." The magazine — which can be found on the union's Web site at http://www.apsa-apd.org/ — aims "to further professionalize the organization," Connolly said. Money raised through advertising, from law firms, businesses, stores, restaurants and other PBAs, to produce the magazine will also assist charitable causes, including three families to be adopted this holiday season through the Albany County program, he said. And a portion of the money will benefit the membership in ways such as legal fees and negotiations, Basile said. "Not a cent of union dues was used to produce this," Connolly said, estimating the cost of the magazine at roughly $3,000. Included are articles on police work as well as features on honors and awards received by not only supervisors but patrol officers and detectives who are members of APOU. The cover story about Finn, called "From Grief to Gratitude," is written by his wife, Maura McNulty-Finn. |