The Tonawanda News
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When a police officer entrusted to protect and serve the public instead oversteps the law, the punishment must be swift.
Instead the response by City of Tonawanda leaders to a police brutality scandal has been an exercise in dithering and excuse-making.
Capt. James Litz, a once-respected 32-year veteran of the city’s police force, shockingly pleaded guilty in federal court, admitting to a judge he choked and beat a defenseless handcuffed suspect outside his home in 2003. Federal prosecutors were prepared to present evidence in three other instances of over-the-top brutality, though through the terms of his plea deal, Litz admitted to just the one charge.
Making matters worse, Litz is married to Police Chief Cindy Young.
Litz slipped in his retirement papers shortly before the federal indictment against him was unsealed, ensuring he will receive a lifetime six-figure pension and health insurance paid for by the taxpayers whose trust he violated, whose neighbors he admitted to — or is accused of — brutalizing.
He should have been dismissed from the force seven years ago had his boss brought the incident to light. But because his wife was his boss, Litz will instead receive these generous benefits even as he sits behind bars.
Now city leaders are contemplating Young’s fate. Like her husband, Police Chief Young had been, prior to this incident, a pillar of the community and a trail-blazing female officer. Named a Tonawanda News Woman of Distinction in 2008, Young once had the respect of all city residents.
Like her husband, her actions constitute a betrayal of that trust and respect. It has become clear beyond any reasonable doubt that she knew of her husband’s transgressions and did nothing, at once sending a message to subordinate officers and later to the community, that police officers are above the law.
Officers who were present during Litz’s vigilante action were certainly placed in an unenviable position. As Edward Qualey, a Hilbert College professor and expert on criminal justice observed in a recent interview with the News, Litz used “his captain’s position and (told) his subordinates to get out of the way because he’s going to do what he pleases.”
City leaders including Mayor Ronald Pilozzi and Common Council President Carl Zeisz have offered nothing by way of a pledge to taxpayers that Young won’t be offered the same benefits her husband will now receive. Pilozzi has wavered on whether Young’s conduct should even be investigated. Zeisz in an interview with the News last week, affirmed the need for an investigation, but refused to say that Young should be suspended during its course, or that she should be prevented from retiring with her benefits — and reputation — intact prior to its conclusion.
To be sure, there are good cops still patrolling the streets of Tonawanda. There are, however, facts about this department that cannot be ignored. Capt. Litz brutally beat a defenseless suspect and his wife, the chief, stood silently by her man.
Litz and Young violated a sacred trust the public must have in its law enforcement. To restore that trust — to restore the confidence that justice is paramount in Tonawanda — city fathers must send this unequivocal message: Police brutality will not be tolerated here; we will remove from service those who have done it and those who allow it to happen.
