Nov 5
2025
Niagara Falls cop blows whistle on nepotism, OT abuse
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Niagara Falls Police Department. Photo by James Neiss, Niagara Gazette.
Claims that Niagara Falls police officers abused departmental overtime and padded their pensions.
Allegations of civil service law violations and nepotism involving administrative unit supervisors.
Questions about employees’ use of public grant funds provided by the state to curb gun violence in the city.
Concerns that a “completely absent” police chief has turned a “blind eye” to administrative “thievery.”
In a six-page message dated Sept. 1, Niagara Falls Police Lt. Troy Earp unloaded a litany of complaints about the inner workings of the Falls police department. A copy of Earp’s email, obtained by the Niagara Gazette, shows he shared his scathing message with Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino, City Administrator Anthony Restaino, city police Superintendent Nicholas Ligammari and more than 20 other individuals, many of them police department employees.
Copies of Earp’s full message, which he sent under the heading “questionable behavior within the police administration grievance,” were posted on the eve of Election Day to the Facebook page of endorsed Republican Sixth District Niagara County Legislature candidate Dante Richardson. It was later shared to the Facebook page of The Niagara Reporter.
Richardson posted the information under the caption: “They Don’t Want You To See This,” suggesting Falls residents “deserve to know the truth” about where their tax dollars are going.
“I showed you how $38.8 million of the city budget goes to pay city employees, but what if a big chunk of that is being drained by a corrupt police department administration that’s abusing overtime, pocketing grant money, and treating public service like a personal hustle?” Richardson wrote.
In his email, Earp expressed concerns about:
- “Fraudulent” overtime and “pension padding” that he suggested contributed to at least two city police officers earning more than $200,000 each last year.
- Payment of grant funds to police administrators who were assigned to supervise the city’s state-funded anti-gun violence activities.
- Promotions based on personal relationships instead of qualifications. Earp said the wife of an administrator received a promotion in violation of both internal departmental policy and civil service laws. He also claimed a daughter, a wife and business partners of members of the police brass were “taken care of.”
- Officers and departmental resources, including a city laptop, being used by a private security company run by a member of the police force.
- The “completely absent” Chief Ligammari, whom Earp said patrolmen have nicknamed “Sleepy Joe” due to his failure to communicate and to address “privileged behavior” by some staffers.
Earp noted in his email that the mayor and city administrator “put great trust” into the police administration to carry out their duties responsibly and wrote that his message was “in no way aimed at them.”
He also suggested it would be “impossible” for the mayor and city administrator to know that “so many are forced into silence by promotional lists, complacent union leaders, and the threat to pause your career advancement should you question any of it.”
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomEarp described the police department administration as being more about “going after the messenger and not the problem.” He said administrators have consistently shown that their “main priority is putting money in their own pockets.”
“Everyone working in the police department knows that this administration fails every day at their only job, which is supporting the workforce,” Earp wrote. “They substitute their job duties by coming up with money-making schemes on overtime. That’s all our administration is. I know it and so does everyone, down to the newest rookies. There’s zero accountability, zero consequences, just overtime sheets to pad their pensions. If I’m lying, then surely several people on this email thread will correct me, but I highly doubt it because we all know it’s the truth. What kind of environment does this type of behavior breed?”
The Gazette did not publish the names of any of the police department personnel referenced in Earp’s message, except for Ligammari, as it was unable on Monday to independently corroborate the claims contained in his message.
Earp did not respond to a request from the Gazette for comment.
On Monday, the Gazette sent an email seeking comment on the content of Earp’s message from Mayor Restaino, City Administrator Restaino, all five members of the city council and the city’s lead attorney, Corporation Counsel Tom DeBoy.
DeBoy responded that the email appeared to be “in relation to a personnel matter” and therefore the city had no comment.
In an emailed response, Council President Jim Perry said he was not aware of Earp’s email until a copy was sent to him by the newspaper. He added that he did not know who really wrote it and stopped reading it after he saw “a couple of things that were not right.”
“I will not go into details because I do not want to get into this mudslinging, but I have never had a problem discussing any issues I have wanted to speak to the chief about,” Perry said.
Perry described Richardson, who published the letter online, as having a “questionable” reputation.
“I have seen stories he wrote about me that were totally false, and others were twisted to leave out relevant facts,” Perry said. “A reason I no longer read ‘The Reporter’ is because he has been the primary writer and has written stories that were totally false. It is a shame that anyone still reads that online trash.”
Councilman Myles had a different reaction, on Monday sending an email requesting that the administration provide him with copies of documents related to the city’s receipt and allocation of funds tied to the Gun Involved Violence Elimination Initiative. The program, commonly known as GIVE, provides communities with state funds to support local anti-gun violence activities.
Myles asked the administration for copies of program expenditure reports, internal and external audit reports, and correspondence regarding the program between the mayor’s office, the police department and the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. He also asked for a list of all city employees who have received compensation, including overtime, stipends or bonuses, under GIVE. Due to the seriousness of Earp’s allegations, Myles requested that the documents be provided to him within five business days.
“As a duly elected member of the Niagara Falls City Council, it is my fiduciary and ethical responsibility to ensure that all grant funds — especially those intended to address gun violence and community safety — are being used for their intended purposes and in full compliance with both state and federal requirements,” Myles wrote.
During an interview on Monday, Myles said the city’s police department has a lot of good officers who put their lives on the line every day. However, he said he believes it is important for city officials to investigate any potential wrongdoing, including among police officers, when public tax dollars and resources are involved.
Myles said the saddest part of the “sickening” situation is the apparent lack of any response from the administration, which received Earp’s email about the inner workings of the police department in September.
“Here we are in November — two months later — and there hasn’t been any internal investigation? The citizens, of course, deserve much better.”
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