David Melendez says his training was inadequate
By HEATHER YAKIN
Staff Writer

David Melendez always wanted to be a cop, and for a little while, he was. Then, he says, he was forced to resign as a state Park Police officer by superior officers who claimed he was insubordinate. Melendez says the charges were untrue, and that he was never properly trained by the department. Paperwork in Melendez's personnel file – a performance evaluation, critical memos, fellow officers' statements – supports Melendez.
The 33-year-old Newburgh man's fight to reclaim his job has sparked a state investigation into the field-training practices of the New York State Park Police.
His complaint and the investigation are coming at a time when other former Park Police officers are suing the department – some with similar claims.
The Park Police, the enforcement arm of the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, are about 250 strong across the state. They have full police powers.
They patrol state park land and, in some places, roads between them. About a dozen current and past Park Police officers are suing the Office of Parks. A group of white officers is suing for reverse-discrimination by the black-led department. Several Latino officers are suing for "official misconduct, falsifying records, discrimination, and retaliation," said Latino Officers Association (LOA) President Anthony Miranda. Melendez cannot join the lawsuits against the state – too much time has passed since he was asked to resign from the Park Police in 1993. Melendez had put his faith in a timely investigation by the inspector general, not knowing they would take three years to finish the case. Miranda said one of the claims in the suits is the same as Melendez's: The officers were not properly trained.
"Dave Melendez was one of many. There was no real, official training given to any of them," Miranda said.
In the case of Melendez, the office of Inspector General Roslynn Mauskopf has so far refused to release or to discuss the findings of the investigation. Mauskopf's spokesman, Stephen Del Giacco, has said the report on their findings was finished by Oct. 14. Del Giacco said Mauskopf wanted to draft a letter to state Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro to advise her of the findings before the report's contents are publicly released.
Melendez, an honorably discharged Army veteran and the son of a cop, worked as a correction officer before he took the police test.
He and the other recruits went through a police academy taught by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. After they graduated on March 5, 1993, the rookies hit the streets to patrol Harlem's brand-new Riverbank State Park. Before that, the handful of officers in the Park Police New York City Region had been based in Roberto Clemente State Park.
The next step in any police program is field training, where the new officers learn basic departmental procedures for everything from traffic tickets to the use of lethal force. This is the training Melendez – and others – say never happened.
The cover sheet of Melendez's field training manual is certified by Shelly Reed Jr., Chief of Park Police for the New York City Region, as having been completed as of March 8, 1993.
Inside, Melendez's book is blank. Melendez refused to sign the book because he hadn't received the required training.
"They were putting people on the street with no experience," Melendez said. "We were working the streets of Harlem. They're lucky someone didn't get killed."
Reed did not return repeated phone calls to his office at Riverbank State Park requesting comment on the field-training issue.
Gregory Stewart, now the chief of the Park Police's Palisades Region, was in charge of the training academy at Riverbank in 1992 to 1993 when Melendez's class went through. Stewart also declined to comment. He said only that field-training for Melendez's class of trainees was done in a three-week period after the police academy.
Michael Daly, acting assistant director of Law Enforcement for the Office of Parks, said he is aware of Melendez's long-running fight to regain his job, but not of the current inspector general's investigation.
"I'm aware of an incident a few years ago, back in 1992 or 1993," Daly said, but he did not remember the particulars. "I would think whatever they (Park Police officials) did was a matter of record. If they did anything wrong, someone would have held them accountable."
Daly said some officers from other regions of the Park Police were sent to Riverbank to assist with the three-week traineeship. He said there were approximately 75 new officers in the trainee class.
By August 1993, Melendez had a per From Page 3
formance review that said he met all police requirements and standards. He also had three counselings in his file. According to department policy, as stated on the counseling forms, the action is considered advisory. It is not a disciplinary measure.
When then-Capt. Gregory Stewart and Reed asked Melendez to resign, they told him he would be terminated if he refused. Both the resignation form that Melendez said he signed under duress and the pre-typed termination notice were included in Melendez's personnel file. The Park Police cited poor job evaluations as the reason they asked him to resign.
But Melendez's personnel file supports his position and contradicts the claims of the very men who filed the reports within it.
State Assemblyman Thomas Kirwan, R-Newburgh, contacted the inspector general for Melendez, to help him get a copy of the agency's findings.
Kirwan, who is retired from the State Police, said generally a state police agency would have to carefully build a case to make a member resign. Kirwan said he didn't see that in Melendez's paperwork.
"I would have questions about why this guy was let go," Kirwan said.
In April 1994, Council 82 negotiated with the Office of Parks to remove the counseling memos about field training from the officers' files.
In 1995, Melendez started a letter-writing campaign to get the counseling memos removed from his own file. His requests were denied by the Office of Parks Labor Relations.
Melendez is now suing Council 82 for failure to represent him against the agency. He says they should have opposed his forced resignation, since he asked for union representation at the time and was denied by Reed and Stewart. The LOA is assisting Melendez with his suit.
"I'm looking to get my honor restored," Melendez said. "All I'm asking for is my day in court."