2017-04-11-dn-solvay.JPG

Solvay police displaying a decal of the Punisher, an anti-hero comic book and TV or movie character who is a vigilante.

( Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com)

Solvay, N.Y. -- The fate of The Punisher decals on Solvay's police vehicles is still up in the air, despite a vow by department officials to keep them.

Mayor Ron Benedetti said Thursday morning that he's not against the police having a decal on their vehicles. However, "am I really in favor of this one? No I'm not," he said. "I will look into this, no matter what the police chief said."

The vigilante comic book character's skull logo overlaid with a black and white American flag with a thin blue line running through appeared on the Solvay Police department's vehicles 11 months ago, Benedetti said.

He hadn't noticed the logo until a Marcellus man saw a police vehicle with one on Monday and emailed him about it, the mayor said.



Solvay Lieutenant Derek Osbeck told Syracuse.com|The Post-Standard Wednesday afternoon that the decals would not be removed. "There would be no reason to. Why would we remove it?" he said.





Benedetti said he has received on phone call and five emails on the subject, including one from a village resident. The emails ran four to one against the decal, he said.

He has also read the comments posted on two online stories about the decals, the mayor said. By Thursday morning Syracuse.com recorded nearly 180 comments on the stories which have been shared nearly 2,000 times on Facebook.



Benedetti said he plans to speak with the village's trustees about what they want to do about the decals, which were paid for by members of the police department.

While he objects to the vigilante symbolism of the decal, Benedetti said his biggest objection is that the department did not run it by village officials before displaying it on police vehicles.

How did the department come to have an decal, not authorized by the village, on its cars?



Department officials told him they had attended a meeting where vehicles from other police departments displayed decals, and they wanted one for Solvay too, Benedetti said.

Officers narrowed down the choice to two: The Punisher logo or a gray and black American flag with a thin blue line running through it. They chose The Punisher.

Benedetti said he doesn't like either logo. The gray flag logo is a desecration of the American flag, he said.

Other police departments and the military have placed a version of The Punisher's logo on their equipment. The Punisher was created in 1974 by Gerry Conway. In the story line, the character becomes a vigilante after his wife and children are killed by the mob. The Punisher uses violence, murder and torture to fight evil.

After a Kentucky police department put a similar Punisher logo on its cars in February, Conway tweeted to fans that the character is a complex anti-hero, one that the police should not seek to emulate.



A statement issued Wednesday afternoon by Solvay Police Chief Allen Wood and Osbeck said that while the department's decals are similar to The Punisher logo it "is our way of showing our citizens that we will stand between good and evil."



"There is no vigilante justice that takes place in our community or within our department," the statement said. "The insinuation is insulting to those that stand up against evil and are willing to fight for and protect those that are in need."





Contact Charley Hannagan anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-2161.