Video highlights of Detective Garth Mason’s final walkout:
POUGHKEEPSIE – The City of Poughkeepsie’s police force shrunk again on Tuesday with the retirement of an experienced cop. Detective Garth Mason is the third long-time member to retire this month and bringing the department down to 69 officers available to work in the city. Police Chief Tom Pape retired last week and Captain Steven Minard retired earlier in the month.
Mason’s storied career began with his employment with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office before being hired by the City of Poughkeepsie police in 2002.
During his time with the city police department, Mason served in the patrol division, Dutchess County Drug Task Force, and Neighborhood Recovery Unit until his promotion to detective. He was a crime scene technician and former member of the Dutchess County Field Intelligence Group.
On Tuesday, past and present members of the department joined with Mason’s friends and family to bid the detective farewell after fighting crime in the city for 22 years.
PBA President Kevin Van Wagner was at headquarters to watch yet another member of the department leave. “This is the lowest number of police officers we have had in more than 25 years,” he told Mid-Hudson News. According to the union contract, the city is supposed to have 96 sworn police officers in the department. As of May 29, 81 officers work for the city. There are 15 vacant officer positions and 13 more officers out on leave for various reasons including injuries and military service, bringing the number of available officers on the force down to 69.
“This is the lowest number of officers available that I have experienced in my 13 years of service to the city,” Van Wagner said. “We negotiated with city administration last year, in good faith and approved a Memorandum of Agreement that went to the council for approval last June and they have not taken any action.” The PBA president said the agreement would make it easier to attract new officers while retaining those thinking of leaving.
“The council has been told repeatedly that staffing in the department is dangerously low and they have taken no action to make it safe. They did, however, spend four months of council meetings debating a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, instead of working toward a ceasefire right here in Poughkeepsie,” he said.
Police departments in Dutchess County are also facing a limited number of available recruits who are on the Dutchess County Civil Service list. Another police agency said that the list of potential recruits is down to 70 individuals.
“The common council is putting the community at risk by not addressing the staffing crisis,” Van Wagner said. “They have my phone number and I have not heard from any of them in months and they won’t even put a hiring notice on the city website. It shows how much the council cares about the city they represent.”
