We owe ourselves ‘due diligence’ when it comes to decisions in the village

Dear Editor,

I don’t know for sure if the Village needs a Police Department. I don’t know if the Village needs – as in can’t get along without – a Justice function. I do know these are big decisions that could have profound repercussions, and that they should not be taken without sufficient study and be understood and agreed to by the majority of residents. 

Changes of this scope and magnitude will absolutely outlive the Board and residents who cause and who allow them. We owe ourselves, as well as future residents what is called “due diligence.” With the retirement of Chief Vinti, and the current board’s evident desire to leave the Police department less-than-adequately funded, I fear the goal is to allow it to die without sufficient review.

When the County signed off on the grant request to the Governor’s Office last year, I was under the impression that the money was to fund a study of these repercussions; no mention of a study of the effects of dissolution has been discussed. 

Did we mislead the County and the State? Are we being misled? Or is the desire of the mayor and Village Board to save money its’ own reward? Is there any credible evidence of savings? Is there a metric whereby in a year or in five years there will be a definitive answer to the question: Did it work as advertised? What precisely are proponents of dissolution claiming? And why must we give up local control of code enforcement?

At the time of the discussions with the County, I was struck by something Legislator Standinger said. Legislator Bill Standinger is retired from a career with the N.Y. State Police and is familiar with the County and its various police agencies. He observed that policing an urban area is qualitatively different from the policing of the countryside, the typical function of the Sheriff’s department. (For example, there are in excess of 600 rental units in the Village). 

It is different in the skills required, the allocation of time, familiarity with the residents, neighborhoods, and crimes being committed. Familiarity is key. Please consider that the entire nation is currently in the throes of what is termed an “opioid epidemic.” This may not be the best time for wholesale changes in the way we police the largest municipality in our County.

And the time cannot be right before we understand clearly and in detail what we are being asked to give up, and what, if anything, will replace it.

Sincerely,

Mark Trabucco

Owego, N.Y.