ALTAMONT — Joshua Davenport has been suspended again.

This time, the part-time Altamont police officer will be suspended for 30 days without pay; in January, he had been suspended for a week, without pay, following a harassment complaint.
"There are various instances, I’m talking in the plural, not just one," Guy Roemer, the village’s attorney, told The Enterprise yesterday when asked if this latest suspension was related to a January complaint lodged by Colin Abele.
A former Ketchum’s convenience store clerk, Abele wrote a letter to the editor in January that said: "Officer Davenport has repeatedly and consistently used foul, abrasive, and threatening language when approaching me at my place of employment."
Abele also alleged that Davenport had threatened to give him traffic tickets for things he hadn’t done. "He informed me the reason he had lied about this was to ‘remind’ me who held the ‘upper hand’ in the village," wrote Abele. "Because I had been ‘runnin’ my mouth about the cops.’"
After looking into the complaint, Alatmont’s public safety commissioner, Anthony Salerno, said, "Some things have been substantiated" They have been addressed," although he declined to say what was substantiated and how it was addressed. Davenport was suspended for a week and was then reinstated and has been working on patrol in the village.

After going into an executive session at Tuesday night’s village board meeting, the board voted unanimously to bring disciplinary charges against Davenport, an action which was recommended by Salerno.

Davenport could not be reached for comment.
"The village is taking a position that discipline should be undertaken," said Roemer, who said a hearing should be held within the next 30 days.
Salerno, Roemer, and Altamont’s mayor, James Gaughan, all declined comment on what led to Davenport’s suspension or why the village is seeking disciplinary action, but, Roemer said, "unless he resigns, we’ll proceed."