Let’s concede that among the outrageous things that have happened in the Erie County Sheriff’s Office during the tenure of Timothy Howard, the issuing of badges to honorary or reserve deputies does not rank high on the list of offenses.
However, a story in The News on Thursday demonstrated that the privilege of owning one of the badges can be abused.
According to Amherst police records uncovered by The News, a local financial adviser involved in a 2015 road rage incident waved his honorary star badge at another motorist on the I-990, then did a similar stunt a year later on Sheridan Drive. His honorary badge was taken away three months later.
Last year, a reserve deputy with a badge claimed to be a detective during an altercation with a fast-food worker. He, too, had his badge rescinded.
The badges are not “get out of jail free” cards, but when so-called reserve deputies act like the badges put them above the law, the practice of giving them out needs to stop.
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Using an honorary badge to try getting out of a traffic ticket is just wrong. It’s like thinking a ceremonial key to the city means you can unlock any building. It makes as much sense as cutting out a replica of a million-dollar check from a piece of junk mail and trying to use it to pay your taxes.
The badge itself is the problem. It looks too much like the real thing. Deputies who have gone through training and earned the right to wear a real badge object to the cosplay by pretend officers.
The Police Benevolent Association, on behalf of sheriff’s deputies, filed a grievance against the Sheriff’s Office. The PBA wants the department to provide a list of everyone who possesses one of the badges.
That includes a Republican aide in the state Legislature who was granted a deputy badge and the rank of “colonel.”
One of the civilians who has one of these badges is the businessman Gerald A. Buchheit Jr., a political donor and pal of Howard. We don’t know, based on the merits, whether Buchheit’s badge is inappropriate or not, though the PBA says he should not have the one that improperly identifies him as an “aviation captain.”
In Buchheit’s defense, he is an active pilot who provides training to the sheriff’s aviation reserve unit, but the idea of Howard deputizing a friend and political contributor gives the impression of cronyism rather than anything designed to make Erie County safer.
There’s nothing wrong with saluting citizens who go above and beyond to serve the public. Give them a dinner, a plaque or a proclamation, but the badges need to go.
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