Chief Flatley News Today

Court Dismisses Wrongful Termination Suit Of Ex-Southold 'Top DWI Cop' - North Fork, NY - An ex-Southold "Top DWI Cop" who has long maintained that he was wrongfully terminated, saw his long-running civil suit dismissed this week.

A distant photo of the retirement party, published with permission from a local resident who drove past the event. At least six Southold Town Police Department employees are being questioned in an ongoing probe of the department’s response to community complaints about a sergeant’s retirement party last May, according to billing records filed with the town. As of Feb. 23, a police sergeant, one police officer and two dispatchers had been deposed by outside counsel hir...

TIM GANNON PHOTO Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and local police officials announce a grant to improve police communications in 2017. The Suffolk County Legislature approved $1.75 million in funding last Tuesday to upgrade police communication equipment on the East End, including a communication tower planned for Jamesport, an area police say has bad reception.  The project, initiated by Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini, is called the East End Law E...

Police chief responds to task force report, questions cost of body cams Funding for body cameras is a cost Southold Chief Martin Flatley raised as a concern. (Credit: Ryan Johnson/Flickr) Among the recommendations outlined in Southold’s police reform report are the need to diversify the police force, establish an internal affairs bureau to better investigate complaints and begin equipping officers with body-worn cameras. “There are some items that are definitely a...

Southold Town hires four new officers, promotes pair to sergeant Four new officers are joining the Southold Town police force. At a meeting Tuesday, the Town Board appointed Patrick Anderson, Fiona Faherty, Ryan Flatley -— whose father is Police Chief Martin Flatley -— and Kyle Krause as new probationary officers at a starting salary of $51,607.  They will each be placed on an immediate, unpaid leave of absence until the next scheduled police officer training begins at the S...

Pictured Above: At a June 1, 2020 vigil for George Floyd at Stotzky Park in Riverhead The lack of officers of color and of communication between the police and communities they serve has been on the minds of residents who’ve spoken up at the latest law enforcement public listening sessions in Riverhead and on the North Fork, as East End town task forces prepare reports required by New York State. These task forces are being convened all over the state under an executive order issued by Govern...

Riverhead Town facing police shortage following retirements, delay bringing in new recruits Riverhead police on the scene of a school threat last year. (Credit: Tara Smith) When the Riverhead Town Board hired 10 new police officers last Tuesday, it was responding to one of the highest number of retirements in recent memory, according to Police Chief David Hegermiller.  The chief added that he expects at least one more retirement soon. But the new hires won...

From left, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, Southold Town police officer Garrett Lake and police chief Martin Flatley during the 2016 awards ceremony. A former Southold Town probationary police officer’s suit against the town over his firing in May 2016 has won a victory in the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court, which has ordered the town to turn over videos sought by the former officer’s attorney. Garrett Lake had argued in court papers that he was fir...