The Cornell Review reached out to Deputy Chief Vincent Monticello, of the Ithaca Police Department, to discuss several topics including the events on October 22nd, as well as the Ithaca Police Department’s relationship with Cornell University.
Samuel Kim: Good afternoon, Deputy Chief Monticello! How are you?
Deputy Chief Monticello: Good. I cannot say a lot right now. I can say some stuff [in relation to the events on October 22nd].
Officially, all I can say right now is, as far as these false allegations that are being made, I am going to be cooperating with the Community Police Board and present them with the facts. I have said that from the beginning, I’ll cooperate with them. There is a lot of information that’s not been made public that will set the record straight on what happened that night, on the 22nd, as well as everything that’s happened prior to that.
Kim: I certainly understand, as the incidents are under investigation right now. I have some more questions, not related to the events on October 22nd, but more on the perspective of the Ithaca Police Department. At last Thursday’s meeting, the Student Assembly meeting, Assembly members voted 17 to 9 to call for Cornell to cut ties with the Ithaca Police Department. Can Cornell cut ties with the Ithaca Police Department?
Monticello: To start, we have worked well with [Cornell University]. I have been with the department for thirty-nine years, and we have always had a good relationship with the Cornell Police Department, where we share information; we help each other out. And that’s been the case in some of the major crimes that have happened, one that I led the investigation of, which was Anthony Nazaire, the Ithaca College student who was murdered in 2016.
In our relationship with Cornell, there were investigators who assisted us, and there has always been that partnership over the years. So, I find it highly unlikely that the Cornell [Police Department] is going to be told not to cooperate with us, and vice-versa. I see it as highly unlikely that we are going to cut ties.
Kim: Thank you. The second question has to do with the work that Ithaca Police does on a day-to-day basis. You alluded to the investigation of the murder of the Ithaca College student, Anthony Nazaire. In addition to these investigations, what important work does the Ithaca Police do, for our readers from outside Ithaca?
Monticello: COVID-19 has created a lot of problems and a lot of obstacles, but we try to do our best with community policing and community outreach. We’ve done a lot of community events over the years, whether it is the National Night Out or the IPD Community Barbeque, amongst other types of public outreach. We continue to do that.
Our main mission is to keep everybody safe, and unfortunately a lot of times people are looking at us as the “enemy”, but we are not. We’re there to help people. I have been in the profession for thirty-nine years, and that’s always been my goal, to help those that are in need. That includes everybody.
I hate seeing people when they are victimized for their beliefs, their backgrounds, their ethnic backgrounds, or sexual orientation. It bothers me when people are targeted for those reasons. Our officers are very professional. We’ve been under a lot of strain over the last several months, but we are acting professionally. I’ve seen our officers continue to act professionally on a day-to-day basis and go out of their way to help people.
Kim: Thank you so much for your time.
Monticello: Thank you.
