ALTAMONT — Anthony Salerno, a long-time Albany police officer who still works for the city force, became Altamont’s public safety commissioner in 2005.

He was appointed after three members of a committee that advised restructuring the police department — Mayor James Gaughan, and trustees Kerry Dineen and Dean Whalen — were elected to office.

Salerno said at the time that teaching kids lessons before their mistakes have serious consequences is one of his missions. Salerno also said he knew parents would respond to this brand of community policing differently.

In September of 2005, a parent of a 15-year-old wrote a letter to the Enterprise editor, and complained that an incident with her son was blown out of proportion by Salerno.

At the time, Salerno said that he was told of two youths throwing a gas cap against a street sign and that one of the youth’s parents approved of how he handled the situation.

No charges were filed in the case but Salerno said the police would not be involved if nothing had happened. Salerno said his main concern is for the welfare and well-being of village residents, and this includes addressing even minor problems in the hope they don’t become reoccurring.

“Not everyone is going to like me,” Salerno said then. “You will see a concerned commissioner and police department that leads the village down the right path.” Part of his plan, he said, involves addressing minor infractions in the village.

“I don’t want officers driving around and not addressing things,” he said.

In 2006, another parent, Terri Gockley, complained to the village board about Salerno.

Gockley, a single mother of two and a teacher at Guilderland High School, told the board that Salerno was responsible for “excessive and bullying treatment” of her son.

Her son, Christopher, who was 18 at the time, had been arrested after, police said, he hosted a party in which 60 underage people were served alcohol. Gockley said she didn’t excuse her son for what he did. She was never more proud of him, she said, than when he stood in court and accepted his punishment.

The harassment had begun several months before, 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.

Later, she 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.”

Gockley also said that Salerno’s behavior on the night of the arrest was “disturbing.” Salerno threatened her with felony charges and said, if she didn’t cooperate, her face would be on the front page of the newspaper, she said.

Salerno denied any misconduct the night of the arrest and said that, before that, he only remembered questioning Christopher Gockley once.

Gockley’s complaint was looked into by a committee, made up of

Mayor James Gaughan and Trustee Kerry Dineen, which cleared Salerno. Gaughan said at the time, “The conduct of the commissioner was proper.”

— Melissa Hale-Spencer