Albany police arrest one of their own for driving while intoxicated in a department vehicle.Department Spokesman James Miller is charged with DWI after failing a field sobriety test Friday night.
Detective Miller has been a member of the force for more than 19 years and the Public Information Officer for more than a decade.
According to Albany Police Chief Steven Krokoff, this incident proves their officers are held to the same standards as the public.
“It definitely makes a strong statement that officers are not conducting business on any differentiated scale,” Chief Krokoff said. “Our officers are held to the same standards as everyone else and that was clearly demonstrated yesterday evening.”
Miller is facing a DWI charge after being pulled over in a department vehicle around 9:30 p.m. Friday night.
“After conducting a field sobriety test it was determined he was operating the vehicle under the influence of alcohol and he was subsequently arrested,” Krokoff explained.
Krokoff says a fellow officer stopped Miller near the intersection of North Pearl Street and Orange Street in downtown Albany.
Miller is also charged with driving without headlights and failure to submit to a breathalyzer.
Chief Krokoff also says Miller was breaking policy by driving a department vehicle for unofficial business.
“Those vehicles are to be used for official departmental operations and yesterday evening appeared to be operating outside of that,” he said.
The near twenty year veteran of the force is suspended without pay pending an internal investigation.
Chief Krokoff says there is no word yet on the future of his position as department spokesman.
Miller has not returned our calls for comment.
He is scheduled for arraignment on Monday morning.
The President of the Albany Police Officers’ Union has no comment.
FOX23 News spoke with local attorney Arnie Proskin about this case.
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The Albany Police Department's Public Information Officer, Detective James Miller, was pulled over and arrested for DWI Friday night.
Police Chief Steven Krokoff says Miller was pulled over around 9:25 Friday night near North Pearl and Orange Streets. Miller was driving a police department assigned vehicle at the time. Krokoff says Miller was initially pulled over for driving without his headlights on, and a subsequent investigation revealed that Miller appeared to be intoxicated.
Miller was transported to South Station and processed for DWI and failure to submit to a chemical test.
Miller has been suspended without pay from the Albany Police Department. He is expected to be arraigned Monday morning in Albany City Court.
Albany Police Chief Steven Krokoff told FOX23 today this is proof that officers are held to the same standard as the public.
There is no word yet on the future of his position as PIO.
Chris Mesley, President of the Albany Police Officers' Union had no comment.
He says because Miller did not accept a breathalyzer test it will be harder to prove that he was under the influence of alcohol.
However, Proskin says refusing the breathalyzer means a hearing with the Department of Motor Vehicles and he could lose his license.
“If he had been drinking and was drunk, hopefully his attorney will go in and say, ‘look lets put it behind us, I made a mistake, I'm sorry for it, let’s get this over,’” Proskin said. “If he didn't do it then you might have a situation, ‘I wasn't drinking, I got people to say I wasn't drinking, you may think so, but I wasn't drinking,’ then you'll have a trial and that’s a very, very long process.”
Proskin also says these cases are often dropped to a non-criminal level if the defendant doesn't have a criminal background.
