Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 Source: Daily Gazette (NY) Copyright: 2003 The Gazette Newspapers Contact: http://www.dailygazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/105 POLICE NOT OUT OF THE WOODS It would be nice if the reinstatement of Edward Ritz as a Schenectady police officer, and the announcement that he will not be charged with providing drugs to an informant, was a clear sign that the department's problems were behind it. Unfortunately, that is not the case. That's not to say it was necessarily a bad idea to reinstate Ritz. He was suspended 16 months ago, after drawing the attention of federal investigators, and it was well past time that Schenectady taxpayers got some return for the paycheck they have been continuing to provide him with. During that period, he took the Fifth Amendment in a trial when asked if he had traded drugs for information. Still, if he wasn't going to be charged with the offense, he probably had to be let back on duty. But that doesn't make him an exemplary cop. He and another officer, Kenneth Hill, seem to have a propensity for being around trouble, as when they were hanging out a year ago, off-duty, at a downtown bar at 4 in the morning, and got involved in a chase in which they said a suspect fired at them. No evidence of such shooting was ever found. More seriously, Ritz is under investigation by the office of Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney, who declines to say what for. But the possibility exists that he will, after all, wind up being charged with a crime. Unless the alleged offense is very grave, it probably makes sense to strike deals with problem cops, and let them off the hook on criminal charges in exchange for their resignation from the force. While it is possible that Ritz and Hill are innocent, if they are not, or if their conduct just falls short of the high standards that should be required for police officers, the top priority should be to get them off the force rather than subjecting them to prosecution. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth