by Mike Crissey, Associated Press
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) - While the city police department here has avoided the travails that led to the departure of its last police chief, efforts to improve the department have been marred by an overworked police force that has had to arrest one of its own on murder charges.
Despite the setbacks, new Police Chief William Clark and city officials say the department has begun to distance itself from the morale, mismanagement and misconduct problems that plagued it in the past.
“We’ve suffered some setbacks and we are looking to the future. Every organization has to,” said City Manager Jeff Silka, who replaced Karl Kilduff to become Clark’s boss. “He has my complete confidence that he will get us there.”
The past accusations, which led to the departure of the last police chief, ranged from the serious - accusations of racial profiling and brutality and the overdose of an officer - to the absurd, including officers’ drunken, late-night skinny dips in the town fountain.
Clark replaced Robert Huntley, who left among accusations of favoritism, racial profiling and brutality, in September. Since then, the 50-officer force has lost one-fifth of its ranks to resignations, retirement or injury.
To cover the five officers who have retired or left and five officers reassigned for injuries, officers have worked so much the department has used 70 percent of its overtime budget halfway through the year.
And the city has only handled one event so far in its hectic summer season, which includes a motorcycle rally, a bicycle race and a folk festival.
“For the most part, we are still plugging along here. But the officers are getting run down,” said Sgt. Andrew Litvin, president of Johnstown’s police union.
The department also has to deal with serious charges being brought against one of its own. Craig A. Knepper, 35, of Johnstown, resigned from the force after being jailed on charges he shot his girlfriend, Susan L. Fyock, 33.
Knepper, who had been a police officer since 1989, allegedly became enraged June 11 and shot Fyock in the leg and head when she tried to end their relationship, state police said.
But city officials say they consider the problems isolated and believe the department is improving.
“The police department has had its fair share of incidents and hardships over the years and we are working to change the culture,” Silka said.
Benny Britt, the city’s only black councilman and head of the council’s public safety committee, said Clark has made the department more receptive to citizens, especially blacks.
“They are more open under Chief Clark. He has always had an open-door policy to let people talk with him,” Britt said. “Huntley as a chief was not open to suggestion. If people had a complaint against his force, he didn’t want to hear it.”
Black residents and police have had a strained relationship since 1999 when two black teenagers were pulled over as they returned from a church service in Pittsburgh.
Although Huntley’s departure followed the profiling allegations, they were merely the outer layer of a snowball of bad publicity that began rolling downhill in 1997 when three drunken off-duty officers were caught frolicking, nude, in a town fountain.
In February 1998, Detective Sgt. Richard Rok was accused of kicking a handcuffed suspect in the head. That prompted a federal grand jury investigation which saw Rok plead guilty in January. He is suspended without pay and awaiting sentencing.
In other incidents, an officer allegedly overdosed on cocaine and resigned. Another was involved in the controversial killing of a pit bull.
City officials said Clark has continued to work toward improving the image of the police force, which was called dysfunctional and “emotionally unstable” in a city-commissioned study by the Police Executive Research Forum.
That study two years ago cited favoritism, micromanagement and low morale among officers.
“There aren’t easy fixes. They are long-term fixes, where you don’t waive a magic wand,” Clark said. “Hopefully, we have resolved all of the crises we have. Once we get through this together this agency itself will be stronger.”
Eraina Randolph, 37, a registered nurse who has lived in Johnstown all her life, says she knows the police department is trying to resolve its past problems. But she says it still has a long way to go.
“There’s a level of trust that isn’t there,” said Randolph. “It’s too early to tell. If he (Clark) is half the man he says he is, we may get back on track.”