ALBANY — Eight State Police members from the Buffalo area, including a sergeant and a lieutenant, were sent to Pittsburgh last month for a two-day assignment to staff the wake and funeral of the stepmother of an assistant deputy superintendent.
The wake and funeral services were for the mother of Lt. Col. Nicholas Banbury, who became a trooper in 1997 and has been an assistant deputy superintendent since 2023.
It’s not unusual for State Police to send a couple of uniformed troopers to the funeral services of a relative of one of their members. But the assignment in Pittsburgh, which included an overnight stay and overtime pay, was extraordinary due to the number of uniformed troopers that were assigned, as well as the participation of a lieutenant, according to interviews with former high-ranking State Police officials…