Overhaul Is Set for N.Y. Governor’s Police Unit
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE / The New York Times
Published: June 11, 2008
The state police unit that protects and travels with the governor will be overhauled in an effort to ensure that governors do not exert improper influence over the troopers or compromise their security decisions, one of several officials briefed on the changes said on Tuesday.
The overhaul follows a year of scandal and tragedy for the unit, known as the executive services detail, an elite team that has close access to the governor and has come under intense scrutiny recently. The unit faced sharp criticism in March after revelations that Gov. Eliot Spitzer had sex with a prostitute while traveling on an official trip.
Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo continues to investigate allegations that troopers may have been used to gather damaging information about elected officials. Mr. Cuomo’s inquiry is closely examining the conduct of the executive detail and a former commander, Daniel Wiese.
The changes, which are continuing, are a result of an internal audit ordered by the state police superintendent, Harry J. Corbitt, after Mr. Spitzer’s resignation. The official who spoke about the recommendations said Gov. David A. Paterson was embracing them.
The overhaul is intended to modernize a force that has grown over the decades from a small group of bodyguards and drivers into a 200-person operation that provides security at the State Capitol, at the governor’s private residence and at the executive mansion in Albany.
The most significant change will end a practice in which governors personally selected the commander of the detail, a coveted assignment within state police ranks and a position sometimes viewed as more powerful than that of the state police superintendent. Instead, the head of the detail, who usually carries the rank of major, will be selected by the superintendent from among the agency’s senior officers and will be required to have supervisory experience, among other qualifications.
The danger of the previous practice, some former state troopers said, was that those picked to be on the detail or to command it would feel indebted to governors or their senior staff, leaving them vulnerable to pressure to assist them on matters not strictly within the purview of the state police.
“You are there at the sufferance of the governor,” noted Tom Kirwan, a Republican state assemblyman and a retired state police lieutenant. “You’re not there because the superintendent picked you. You’re there because the governor picked you.”
