ROGER MARIETTA: Female Albany police leaders commended

Last Tuesday, a city commissioner complained about the assignment of female officers to lead the Albany Police Department Gang Task Force. I can assure you that his comments are his own only and do not reflect the rest of the City Commission. It was shocking coming during Law Enforcement Memorial Week when we honored Officer Tracy Fleming, who died in the line of duty.

I know that during the tenure of Capt. Benita Childs as Gang Task Force Leader, the number of gang-related arrests went up. I am very familiar with the outstanding efforts of many APD female officers including retired Deputy Chief Wilma Griffin, Capt. Bradford, Capt. Childs, Capt. Luster, Lt. Mathis, Officer Kicklighter, Sgt. Barnes, Officer Williams, Officer Martinez, Officer Lewis and others, such as Officer Phyllis Walters, Teresa Moored, and many who I have never met but that have done an excellent job protecting and serving the public.

Some of these officers not only served with distinction on the Gang Task Force, on the ADDU, as district commanders, leading AmeriCorps Police Cadets, serving on Animal Control, and other tasks, such as language interpretation and neighborhood watch liaison.

We need the female officers in our police department. I hope we will officially encourage and commend all our female officers.

ROGER MARIETTA

Albany

EDITOR’S NOTE: Roger Marietta represents Ward IV on the Albany City Commission.