MICHAEL A. KORCHAK
ENDWELL, NY 13760
PHONE: (607) 238-3353

May 7, 2019

Broome County Legislature
60 Hawley Street
Binghamton, NY 13901
To: Broome County Legislators

In an article that appeared in last week’s Press and Sun Bulletin, Senator Fred Akshar admitted
that while working as a Captain at the Broome County Sheriff’s Office, he had sexual relations
with a crime victim in a case where he was the lead investigator. The defendant was
unfortunately granted a new trial after appeal. Fortunately, Special Prosecutor Chris Grace
secured a conviction for Murder in the First Degree after retrial.
However, Mr. Akshar’s behavior in conducting a relationship with a crime victim was improper
and compromised his positon as a witness subject to cross examination by a defense attorney.
Mr. Akshar was not called as a witness at the retrial. In that same article, Broome County Sheriff
David Harder stated that he was “unaware of Akshar’s involvement” and “there is nothing against
it in our policy or any other agency’s policy as far as I know”.
In light of this, I respectfully request that the Broome County Legislature review the current rules
and procedures and subsequently draft language to prohibit such conduct in the future. A good
example of an appropriate guideline meant to prohibit these types of actions can be found in the
“International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Standards of Conduct”.
“An officer shall not engage in social or romantic relationships with confidential informants or
victims or witnesses involved in active cases.” Active would include trial cases still on appeal.
These guidelines could be presented to each of our local police agencies in the hope that they
would adopt this language or similar guidelines into each of the department’s standards of
conduct for police officers.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please contact me at your earliest convenience. I look
forward to hearing from you.
Respectfully,

Michael A. Korchak