Photo: City of Albany Facebook
In a lengthy, and unsigned, post on the Albany Police Officers Union Facebook page, the writer who Albany Police Chief Robert Sears believes to be the VP of the Albany Police Union, Greg McGee, says officers are fed up with the violence that's terrorizing the city, and are taking aim at the mayor.
The post says a group of "wannabe gangsters and senseless criminals think they can turn the city into a war zone, and officers' jobs are becoming more difficult because of policies and cuts made by mayor Kathy Sheehan and other officials.
"The mayor has allowed the department to become such an understaffed mess (due to officers leaving for other departments) that we are lucky if we can man enough cars to patrol the city," the post says. "The department is down in numbers all across the board, the morale gets gets lower and lower each day due to the mayor's actions, the cars look like a wolverine has eaten the inside."
The post goes on to say that criminals are no longer afraid to walk around with illegal guns because the mayor's answer is "let's find them a job," and a judge "will release them the next morning."
"It is time the Mayor answers as to why she has let it get this way."
The post also takes a swipe at the anti-violence group CURE. "We should be asking what exactly does CURE violence do besides show up to crime scenes and the hospital smelling to high heaven like marijuana."
In a post of her own, Sheehan says she will not respond to the "false claims," but will not ignore "the disgraceful dog whistle language" used to describe CURE, a group of men and women she says are trying to stop the violence in the community. "They are owed an apology." Mayor Sheehan's complete response is below.
The Facebook post from the Albany Police Union has since been removed from their page.
UPDATE: At noon Monday, Acting Albany Police Chief Robert Sears released the following statement: