ALTAMONT — Terri Gockley used to support the Altamont Police Department and its new commissioner, Anthony Salerno
"In the past year," she told the village board at its meeting Tuesday night, "I’ve had to change my opinion of that."
Gockley, a single mother of two and a teacher at Guilderland High School, claims Salerno is responsible for "excessive and bullying treatment" of her and her son.

Her 18-year-old son, Christopher, was arrested last month after, police say, he hosted a party in which 60 underage people were served alcohol. Salerno denies any misconduct.

It began several months ago, Gockley said, when Salerno followed her son, as he pulled out of a friend’s driveway and into his own nearby. Salerno asked the young man what he was doing, Gockley said, and Christopher Gockley responded that he was unloading band equipment.
In November or December, Gockley said, Salerno followed Christopher Gockley and his friends into the Stewart’s parking lot and asked them, "Why didn’t you walk""
At first, Gockley said, she thought the commissioner was just looking out for the village teenagers. However, by the third time he pulled Christopher over, she said, "It was my understanding that the police commissioner had an issue with my son and his friends."
Each time her son encountered Salerno, Gockley said, her son was polite and addressed the commissioner as "sir."

Christopher Gockley was arrested Feb. 24 at his home for first-degree unlawfully dealing with a child, a misdemeanor. According to the Altamont Police, he hosted a party at his home in which alcohol was intentionally served to over 60 people under age 21. Mrs. Gockley said she had brought her daughter to a concert that night.

Gockley said she doesn’t excuse her son for what he did. She was never more proud of him, she said, then when he stood in court and accepted him punishment.
However, Gockley said, Salerno’s behavior that night was "disturbing."

First, Gockley said, police would not give her a straight answer on if there would be charges against her or her son. At the police station after the arrest, Gockley said, Salerno threatened her son with felony charges and told her, if she didn’t cooperate, her face would be on the front page of the newspaper.

Salerno told her, by way of recommendation, Gockley said, that when his nephew was arrested, he walked into the police station, slapped him in the face and left.

Also, Gockley said, Salerno implied that police knew about several previous drinking parties held by her son at her home. This was the first she heard of it, Gockley said.
"If he is the police commissioner and he’s here to serve our teens, I would ask the board, at what point were they going to tell me"" she said.

Throughout the night of the arrest, Christopher Gockley and his friends were respectful and cooperative, Mrs. Gockley said.

Referring to articles in The Enterprise, Gockley told the board Tuesday, "We have punished other officers for similar conduct"I implore you to investigate."

Altamont Mayor James Gaughan listened quietly to Gockley’s presentation. He thanked her and asked her to file a formal complaint, which she said she would.
"I will be in touch with you to follow up on your comments," he said.

Salerno was in the village hall for his monthly commissioner’s report earlier in the meeting, but he left for a meeting with a member of the Albany County Sheriff’s Department, he told The Enteprise yesterday, so he did not hear Gockley’s complaints.
"If I was there, I think we all could have mediated things a little better," he said.

Salerno denied any misconduct the night of Christopher Gockley’s arrest.
On the arrest itself, the commissioner said, "In my position, I can’t condone binge drinking and underage drinking".My only concern was for the welfare of the children there."

The police department found out about the party from a neighbor’s complaint, he said.

Salerno said he remembers questioning Christopher Gockley several months ago, after he saw him pulling in and out of his driveway, but gave up when he learned it was his own home. Besides that, Salerno said, he doesn’t recall ever encountering Gockley until after the party in February.

The Altamont Police Department has been under fire in recent years. Residents had been complaining about excessive police presence in the village of 1,700, which is covered by the Guilderland Police Department, the Albany County Sheriff’s Department, and the State Police. A citizen’s committee appointed by the village board recommended keeping the department in the village, but was critical of a full-time commissioner that couldn’t make arrests and of so many part-time officers.

Subsequently, the former commissioner, Robert Coleman, offered his resignation and Salerno, an Albany Police detective, took over last fall.

Salerno announced the completion of the first phase of his restructuring of the department last month. Nine part-time officers remain, he said, and the department now has the ability to take the lead in any kind of criminal investigation.

In January, Salerno disciplined one of the part-time officers, Joshua Davenport for harassing a clerk at Ketchum’s Service Store. Davenport was suspended without pay and sent to human-relations training.