Dennis A. Delano, one of the Buffalo Police Department’s best-known officers, acknowledges he knows little about the ways of Albany.

But as he officially announced his Republican candidacy for the State Senate on Tuesday in the lobby of Statler Towers, the veteran Cold Case Squad detective said 30 years of asking questions will prepare him well.

“I’m not going away, I’m going to Albany,” he said. “And I’m going to find out what these guys have been doing with our money all these years.”

Delano, 56, has been suspended from the Police Department for several months for allegedly passing unauthorized information to WGRZ Channel 2. But he admitted Tuesday that the publicity that has catapulted him to fame since helping to crack two cases and free two people jailed for crimes they said they did not commit is the springboard he will use to challenge the longtime Democratic incumbent, Sen. William T. Stachowski of Lake View.

“You’re absolutely right,” he said when asked if he was running on the fame that has made him a recent household name. “Otherwise, do you think someone would make me an offer to run for office?”

Indeed, Delano was accompanied by two of the main figures of his recent career— Albert Capozzi Sr., father of Anthony J. Capozzi, who was cleared of his conviction as the Bike Path Rapist, and Lynn DeJac, whom Capozzi was instrumental in freeing from prison for the 1993 murder of her daughter.

Both the senior Capozzi and De- Jac told reporters they would do all in their power to help Delano get elected to the Senate, with both crediting him for clearing up cases that resulted in what they called wrongful imprisonments.

“He’s done a lot for the people . . . and they appreciate that,” Albert Capozzi said. “He’s our champion, too.

“My son would still be in prison right now,” he added, if not for Delano’s efforts to clear him via DNA evidence.

And DeJac, who was released earlier this year after 13 years in prison, was freed after a new review of the evidence showed her daughter had died of a cocaine overdose, prompting officials to rule the girl’s death was not a homicide after all.

She assigned “100 percent” responsibility to Delano for her release from prison.

“Like he said, he’s got facts to back up everything,” DeJac said. “He doesn’t go on a whim, a prayer, a hope, he has actual facts.”

That’s the kind of approach, she said, needed in the Senate.

But Delano has a tough assignment ahead of him. Democrats outnumber Republicans in the 58th District, 96,000- 39,000. Stachowski already has snared the Conservative and Working Families endorsements and has all the advantages of 27 years of incumbency.

And the veteran lawmaker said Tuesday he looks forward to what could amount to the most serious challenge of his career.

“Everyone I run against, I take seriously,” Stachowski said Tuesday. “But I believe our record of constituent service is what makes the difference.”

“As part of the Western New York delegation, we’ve delivered lots of things to Western New York,” he added. “I’ll be stressing the positive.”

Delano, meanwhile, emphasized during his announcement speech that he will be a different kind of senator. He said he doesn’t like politicians and never aspired to be one.

But he reiterated that he believes Western New York has been shortchanged by state government and that his main focus will be to determine where the area’s tax dollars are spent.

“I want to find out where all our money goes,” he said. “We need to look at the records.”

Delano also said that his status with the Police Department has not been finalized and that he remains suspended with pay. He said he wants the department to address his situation as soon as possible, indicating he will probably retire once it is clarified.

“The ball is in their park; I’m waiting for a hearing,” he said. “I want to present my case because I believe I can prove I did not do anything wrong.”