September 11, 1024
Recently, Alfred Police Chief Paul Griffith was put on leave. There was a meeting last night at Alfred Village Hall and numerous people showed up with signs in favor of Chief Griffith. His attorney put a statement out today saying that Chief Griffith is no longer police chief, because Griffith tried to hire a new police officer who had graduated from the Police Academy in Rochester.
There was a meeting about this last night.
178 people have signed a petition on Change.org, to bring back Paul Griffith as Police Chief in Alfred.
Wlea has reached out to the Alfred Village Clerk and Alfred Village Mayor by telephone and email.
As soon as we hear from Mayor Ninos and the clerk, we will get their response published and on the radio.
UPDATE 1:39PM THURSDAY SEPT 12, 2024 – STATEMENT FROM ALFRED VILLAGE MAYOR JIM NINOS:
The Village is conducting an investigation into a personnel matter. To protect the privacy of the individual involved and maintain the integrity of the investigation, we cannot comment on personnel issues at this time. We can confirm that one staff member is currently on paid administrative leave. No Village staff members have been terminated.
Below is the statement from Griffith’s Attorney Maureen Bass:
Chief Griffith has dedicated his entire 27-year career to serving and protecting the residents of Alfred, and it is beyond distressful to suddenly face unprecedented levels of bias and political interference from the Village administration. This interference came to a head with the Chief’s unjustified suspension, preventing him from fulfilling his sworn duties and serving the Village.
The suspension was apparently triggered by the Chief’s recommendation that the Village hire a military veteran from the Police Academy who, if hired, would have become the first African American part-time police officer in Alfred’s history.
It was the first and only time in his tenure as Police Chief that the Village Board rejected his recommendation to hire an applicant.
In the hours following their decision, Village officials lashed out at Chief Griffith, attacking his integrity and demanding his retirement. When he refused, the Deputy Mayor tried to push him out by placing him in a performance improvement plan with the duties of a junior patrol officer. When the Chief still refused to abandon his post, the Mayor placed him on leave.
Chief Griffith has retained legal counsel as he considers how to best protect his reputation and ensure that the residents of Alfred continue to receive the proper, ethical and effective police protection to which they are entitled.
