Dear Editor,
A POSITIVE SHAME. The Positive Change Party wants what we all want. Effective, efficient, police coverage for little or no cost. The difference is we know it is impractical and not possible given the numbers we have to work with. They don’t get this simple concept.
We have three police agencies supplying us with coverage in the Village of Owego. We are fortunate to have the state police patrolling our state highways and providing major investigation, laboratory, and backup to our local police department. We are also fortunate to have Tioga County sheriff to provide some road patrol, all levels of investigation, and backup.
Both of these agencies have limited funding resources and manpower to increase their ability to help provide police services or take over the complete services provided by our local Owego Police Department (OPD); and lastly and most importantly we have OPD. They provide 24 hour street and road patrol (assuming the village board controlling Positive Change Party will let them become at full strength to do so). They interact with the public at all levels.
They often know who, what, and where through this local level policing. They provide a deterrent through their constant presence and rapport with village residents (when contemplating bad acts you know there is a police car 30 seconds away).
They provide control at hundreds of incidents, accidents, ambulance calls, fire calls, parades, social events, funerals, etc. They are the pulse of the community. They keep downtown and the businesses, restaurants, bars and streets from becoming the ‘anything goes’ big city troubles.
We the residents have a say and control over how we want this department to operate directly through our village government. No other agency will provide this level of local personal service and certainly not at an affordable cost. And cost, we can’t afford our police department. But we sure the heck can’t afford not to have them.
Our taxes are too high. Everyone’s are. But our village government has managed to hold any tax increase for the last few years to almost zero. Our police budget is around $900,000. No one can or will give us as much service for the same or less.
The sheriff is under staffed and budget constrained. He reported his deputies have a salary benefit package of $87,000 each. Staffing levels as reflected by numerous N.Y.S. studies for the Village of Owego specifically and in general show 150 percent of manpower are needed to adequately staff almost any shifts.
There are 168 hours in a week. That’s 4+40 shifts, let’s say 4 1/2 for overlap and travel. To have two officers on duty it would take nine officers; 150 percent means to cover that staffing. (The 150 percent includes sickness, vacations, injuries, personal time, etc.). You would need 13 1/2 officers, nine officials at $87,000 is $1,174,500 – that’s salaries. Not cars, and gas and equipment, guns, uniforms, more clerks or dispatch or more supervisors or anything needed for nine or 13 more employees and no physical office, etc.
Chief Vinti has asked for manpower as budgeted by the village for 2014-15. She has in the past and maintains she can supply us with the appropriate coverage with good management of current officers, new academy recruits, part timers and retired officers with excellent experience willing to work with no benefits (all her ideas and initiative, not Positive Change minority ideas or help).
So once again we have the best possible scenario given our circumstances. Positive Change, stop wasting time and human capital and energy on someone’s agenda. We don’t have any to share, every minute we spend on this and creating more dissention is time not spent on real positive things like encouraging new business and increasing tax base and getting along with each other to work together.
Sincerely,
Rusty Fuller
Owego, N.Y.
