Two municipal officials believe the Pennsylvania State Police
have overstepped their bounds in dealing with local residents, and
have gone so far to say the actions of some troopers border on
harassment.

Bradford City Mayor Tom Riel and Bradford Township Supervisor
Chairman Don Cummins spoke with The Era Tuesday about concerns that
they say are keeping residents home at night, afraid of being
pulled over without reason. Both men made it abundantly clear that
their problems lie in the means the troopers are using, not in the
fact that the troopers are enforcing the law.

“They have an ‘ends justify the means’ mentality,” Riel
said.

His concern is that he feels the troopers are pulling over
vehicles randomly, without probable cause, to see if they can catch
someone who is driving under the influence of alcohol.

“Nobody wants a dangerous drunk driver on the road,” Riel said.
“In achieving those arrests, they are trampling on people’s
personal freedoms. They’ve pulled over countless people who have
done nothing wrong while fishing for people with booze on their
breath.”

Cummins said his concern was more that the township has a
full-time police force which taxpayers fund for half-a-million
dollars each year.

“How many people do we need patrolling?” Cummins asked. “We’re
in a recession. Do we need to keep hammering our people for little
violations? They’re ticketing for frivolous offenses. There’s no
discretion. No compassion. No understanding. Everything is a
ticketable offense.

“I’m concerned with people who abuse their power and authority,”
Cummins said.

The Era contacted the Troop C headquarters in Punxsutawney for
comments, but neither Troop Commander Capt. Kimberly Leemhuis nor
Kane station commander Sgt. Jeffrey Wilson were available for
immediate comment.

Riel said he’s heard from city police officers and from many
city residents who have had enough.

“They told one woman the light on her license plate was out. She
looked and it wasn’t. They said, ‘Well, you swerved then.’ Another
person failed four sobriety tests. They administered a breath test
and found no alcohol,” Riel recounted. “They’ve told people they
weren’t using their turn signals – when they were not turning.

“If you aren’t doing anything wrong and there’s nothing wrong
with your car, the state police have no right to stop you,” Riel
said. “Their way of thinking is they do have a right because ‘it’s
a small price to pay when you look at the numbers we’re getting.’
The public was outraged when this went on a few years back in
Corydon Township.”

The mayor said he has no problem when the state police pull
someone over with legitimate cause.

“The problem I have is that they are fabricating reasons to pull
people over. It is a violation of constitutional rights. The state
police don’t believe people have them,” Riel said. “To think that
members of the state police subscribe to that mentality is
chilling.

“If people are not doing anything wrong, they shouldn’t be
randomly pulled over because they are on the road late at night,”
he said.

Riel said he contacted the state police commissioner’s office
and was told the same thing he heard locally – the end justifies
the means.

He then called Gov. Ed Rendell’s office and spoke to the public
affairs liaison. He also brought the issue to the attention of the
American Civil Liberties Union.

“I don’t think violating someone’s civil liberties is a small
price,” Riel said. “It’s un-American. It’s unconstitutional. They
are out there enforcing the law while breaking it at the same
time.”

He and Cummins both said that for anyone, being pulled over by
police is nerve-wracking. When it’s late at night, the lights atop
a patrol car are flashing behind one’s vehicle and the trooper is
coming up to the car carrying a gun, it’s scary, Riel said.

“This is about a reasonable expectation to drive down the road
and not be harassed by the state police,” Riel said.

Cummins said an older woman in Bradford Township had spoken to
him about a recent event when she was driving to church on a Sunday
morning and a state police car was “tailgating” her.

“It’s a tactic,” Cummins said. And he says he’s seen troopers
sitting near bars and restaurants waiting to stop patrons when they
leave.

Cummins spoke to Wilson at the Kane barracks, who denied that
happens.

“He said they have zero tolerance for that,” Cummins said. “I’ve
witnessed it happening myself.”

Cummins said the Bradford Township and city police departments
have very capable officers, and both departments are full-time.
State police, he said, are to patrol areas where there is no police
presence. He acknowledged that the officers all share a working
cooperation, and added that he’s seeking for that cooperation to
continue.

It’s the overlap in services that he believes is
unnecessary.

Meanwhile, Foster Township representatives and police said there
is no issue with state police in their township.

When contacted late Tuesday, state Rep. Martin Causer,
R-Turtlepoint, said he has spoken with Riel, but has yet to hear
any complaints from citizens regarding the actions of the state
police. He said he does not get involved in law enforcement issues,
but should anyone have a comment or complaint about any state
agency, they can contact his office and he’ll make sure the
complaint goes to the agency’s leadership.

Complaints can also be filed with the state police Internal
Affairs Division with instructions on the state police Web
site.