POLICE NOT OUT OF THE WOODS

It would be nice if the reinstatement of Edward Ritz as a Schenectady
police officer, and the announcement that he will not be charged with
providing drugs to an informant, was a clear sign that the department's
problems were behind it. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

That's not to say it was necessarily a bad idea to reinstate Ritz. He was
suspended 16 months ago, after drawing the attention of federal
investigators, and it was well past time that Schenectady taxpayers got
some return for the paycheck they have been continuing to provide him with.
During that period, he took the Fifth Amendment in a trial when asked if he
had traded drugs for information. Still, if he wasn't going to be charged
with the offense, he probably had to be let back on duty.

But that doesn't make him an exemplary cop. He and another officer, Kenneth
Hill, seem to have a propensity for being around trouble, as when they were
hanging out a year ago, off-duty, at a downtown bar at 4 in the morning,
and got involved in a chase in which they said a suspect fired at them. No
evidence of such shooting was ever found.

More seriously, Ritz is under investigation by the office of Schenectady
County District Attorney Robert Carney, who declines to say what for. But
the possibility exists that he will, after all, wind up being charged with
a crime.

Unless the alleged offense is very grave, it probably makes sense to strike
deals with problem cops, and let them off the hook on criminal charges in
exchange for their resignation from the force. While it is possible that
Ritz and Hill are innocent, if they are not, or if their conduct just falls
short of the high standards that should be required for police officers,
the top priority should be to get them off the force rather than subjecting
them to prosecution.