McIntosh Isn’t Your Average Bad Apple, Why is He Montagnino’s Choice for Chief?
Everyone is free to change their minds and views, yet Montagnino demonstrates a suspicious pattern of changing his views when it is politically advantageous.
In December of 2021, Jim Montagnino criticized then Public Safety Commissioner of Saratoga Springs, Robin Dalton for interviewing replacements for the city’s assistant police chief.
He was quoted in the Schenectady Gazette as calling plans for succession the “wrong move” and “not appropriate” while the department is under investigation by the AG’s office.
Yet in January of 2023, Montagnino began plans to move forward with the appointment of a new police chief with the hopes that the new chief would be trained and in the new role by that most sacred of holidays in Saratoga Springs, Opening Day at the track.
With the AG’s investigation still very much underway and now inclusive of Montagnino for his retaliatory charges against Saratoga BLM cofounders Chandler Hickenbottom and Lexis Figuereo, Montagnino announced on 5/30/23 that he is appointing Tyler McIntosh as new Police Chief.
Everyone is free to change their minds and views, yet Montagnino demonstrates a suspicious pattern of changing his views when it is politically advantageous. A significant aspect of his campaign in 2021 was a call for police reform and building trust in the community as well as opening an independent investigation into the police-incited death of Darryl Mount.
Only days after Saratoga BLM hosted a community event Say Their Names in honor of George Floyd, Darryl Mount, and countless other Black people killed by police locally and abroad, Montagnino announced the promotion of Lt. McIntosh, appropriateness-of-promoting-someone-under-investigation-by-the-AG-be-damned.
His choice is problematic for numerous reasons, which are almost easily eclipsed by his explanation for his decision. In an article in the Schenectady Gazette, Montagnino stated that in addition to McIntosh’s resume, the officer’s involvement in Darryl Mount’s death was part of the reason for his choice.
Yes, you read that correctly.
“Montagnino said that history (McIntosh’s involvement in the failed arrest that resulted in Mount’s death) did play a role in his decision.”
Montagnino stated McIntosh has “not taken the bait” despite being called a “murderer” over the years and so is suited to be chief of the SSPD, which remains under AG investigation.
Which is a strange way to say that he believes the best person to run a police department under investigation by the state for corruption and abuse of power and which has been called a ‘racist organization’ by NYCLU is someone who responds to calls for accountability in the death of a young Black man with indifference and no empathy.
But, Jim always did have a way with words.
Like at the February 7, 2023 City Council meeting, during which he responded to repeated requests by Chandler Hickenbottom to address how Saratoga Springs was any safer for Black people than Atlanta after the murder of Tyre Nichols.
After a long period of deflection, Montagnino stated that the Scorpion unit were a “gang” whereas the SSPD is carefully vetted to remove people who are “thugs at heart.”
*For white folks following along at home, this is racially charged language used to criminalize and vilify BIPOC people.
**Also, the SSPD remains under investigation by the AG’s office despite their apparent careful vetting.
***And furthermore, Montagnino just promoted Lt. McIntosh to Chief not despite but BECAUSE OF his involvement in the deathly beating of a young Black man and lack of emotion during calls for accountability.
To add to the ever-thickening plot, Montagnino again contradicted his past statements by announcing to the media that he plans to discontinue said psychological exams for officers. This came days after his announcement of appointment for new police chief.
The reason? Too many officers are failing the exams.
Get Involved:
Fundraising for legal fees here
Go to bit.ly/thepeoplesmeeting for our action toolkit to drop their charges
Attend City Council Meeting 6/6/2023 at 6 pm
Write letters and OpEds. Shy? We can help. Contact us at: theactivistsadvocate@substack.com
Deep Dive- Let’s Connect the Dots
When you start to connect all the dots, you see a pattern emerge. You could even call it a thin blue line…
Let’s go back to the February 7th meeting. Montagnino’s racist statement and sheer gaslighting of Hickenbottom resulted in uproar from a number of people in the crowd at which time Mayor Kim and other council members voted to end the meeting.
Two weeks later, Montagnino filed a disorderly conduct charge against Hickenbottom and then not long after filed more serious charges against Lexis Figuereo for speaking out at a meeting despite the meeting not being shut down.
Ongoing responses from the community have called for him to resign and drop the charges, and now even his fellow city council members have called out his racist and sexist actions.
It’s been a lot to keep track of, and easy to overlook an important detail. In addition to speaking out about the murder of Tyre Nichols on February 7, in addition to calling out the council for their lack of action on the 50 point plan and publicly showing up to support BIPOC people in the community, Saratoga BLM spoke out AGAINST the potential appointees to the position of police chief.
The decision to issue legal charges did not come days, but rather weeks, after the meeting ended. And it’s an election year.
Should we suspect that Jim intentionally pursued Chandler, and then Lex, legally to distract, disempower, and disrupt the movement while he pushed through his promotion for the next chief?
Perhaps, in addition to posturing as a law and order candidate to compete with opponents, Jim’s makeover from reformist to apologist-who-doesn’t-think-anyone-owes-an-apology found perfect scapegoats in BLM activists, while also setting the stage for this promotion.
As for the decision to override psychological evaluations, disregarding a psychological examination because too many people are failing them should be a red flag that deeper exploration is indicated, not an abandonment of the process of screening for underlying psychological issues that could endanger the community.
Once again, Montagnino appears to depend on the public having collective amnesia toward his past statements. He has again shown that he is willing to shoot first and distort the truth later, a pattern that has already caused justifiable rifts between the community and SSPD and resulted in the Attorney General’s office investigating patterns of misconduct and racism in the police department.
Montagnino is not listening to the community, he continues to assert his bizarre and toxic plans without regard for the toll his words and actions have already taken and continue to take on the city.
In justice and solidarity,
The Activists Advocates
For more information: