I received an email yesterday from someone who was concerned that the Borough Council was going to accept a letter of resignation from Anthony Santoro, the cop that was convicted of stealing about $1,500 from parking meters, and not fire him.  The main concern was that this would allow him to keep his pension.

I checked in with Borough Council President Paul McConnell about this and there is a vote to determine Santoro’s status as a Borough employee next Wednesday.  Council can basically vote to fire him, vote to accept a letter of resignation or continue with indefinite suspension.  At this point a letter of resignation has not been submitted.

McConnell stressed that Council’s vote has no bearing on Santoro’s pension.  The ability to strip a police officer of his or her pension is governed by state law so Council is handcuffed (yes, a police joke) on what it can and can not do.  Santoro pleaded to a misdemeanor which is believed to not meet the level of criminality required by state law to strip a police officer of his or her pension.

So basically the Borough can vote to fire him next week and he will still get to keep his pension due to state law.