In People v. Gallagher (143 AD2d 929 [2d Dept 1988], lv denied 73 NY2d 891 [1989]) defendants were a detective and a police officer with the Suffolk County Police Department and were charged with crimes related to a false police department report. A New York State Temporary Commission of Investigation was investigating allegations of misconduct and deficient administration involving Suffolk County law enforcement officials. With respect to the charges at hand, the District Attorney had disqualified himself on the ground that he and members of his office were material witnesses. The court appointed Harvey Arnoff as Special District Attorney who decided to hire a detective assigned to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. The Chair of the Investigation Commission wrote to the appointing judge to complain that Arnoff lacked prosecutorial experience and had hired an investigator from the same office that was involved in the investigation. The court then vacated the Arnoff appointment and appointed another Special District Attorney who obtained indictments of the defendants. The Appellate Division ruled that it was proper for the court to have revoked the appointment of Arnoff, the initial Special District Attorney. Apart from the fact that the Chair of the Investigation Commission objected to the appointment, Arnoff's decision to hire a detective from the same office that he would be investigating created the same conflict that had precipitated the initial disqualification of the elected District Attorney. But there was more. The Second Department added: "Moreover, the media provided widespread coverage of the feud between Arnoff and the Commission which ran the further risk of jeopardizing the public's confidence in the investigation. Under the circumstances Justice Stark's removal of Arnoff was as necessary to protect the public interest from 'actual prejudice arising from a demonstrated conflict of interest or a substantial risk of an abuse of confidence' . . . , as was the disqualification of the Suffolk County District Attorney in the first place. Nor can it be said that the gravity of the potential for prejudice lessened because it might cut either or both ways against a defendant or against the People" (People v. Gallagher, 143 AD2d at 932 ).