NEWBURGH – City Councilman Omari Shakur, a frequent critic of the Newburgh Police Department, is glad to see Chief Arnold Amthor retiring after a six-month stint in the embattled city.
Shakur regularly spars with the police, and on Friday, the first-term lawmaker said he didn’t want Amthor hired in the first place.
“We didn’t want this cop, we didn’t want this police chief here in the first place,” Shakur told Mid-Hudson News. “Nu-voters Movement and the NAACP, we both sent letters to our city council and to the city manager, saying we didn’t want… not that we didn’t want him, but we wanted a person of color that reflects the diversity of the city. Basically, they forced this chief on us and look what happened.”
Amthor is ending a 35-year-career in area law enforcement.
He said he had improved the policies and practices of the Newburgh department despite having stumbling blocks thrown in his way by some political interests.
