Greenburgh Police Garage Debated

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I'm all for it. There's no reason that GPD's specialized vehicles, nor it's ambulances, flycars, and cruisers, should be housed outside. Protection from the elements for these vehicles is sorely needed.

Greenburgh police garage debated

By REBECCA BAKER

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: April 25, 2007)

GREENBURGH - Not only are the police department's most expensive vehicles getting battered by weather, they're getting burglarized by vandals.

Greenburgh Police Chief John Kapica said the town's year-old $400,000 mobile command unit was broken into last week while parked in the driveway of the town water department on Stadium Road.

"They broke the window and damaged the window frame," he said. "They attempted to steal two flat-panel TVs and managed to take one. They also took a digital video recorder."

The taxpayer-funded vehicles, totaling more than $1 million, also are getting damaged by snow, rain and ice because they are kept outside; Greenburgh has no room to store them inside, Kapica said.

A $97,000 garage behind the police station would solve the problem, according to the chief. His request was denied by Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner in his $5.5 million capital spending plan.

Feiner said he simply could not give Kapica, or any of his department heads, everything on their combined $7.2 million wish list.

"Every one of the requests that were denied was worthwhile," he said. "There's just different competing interests."

Feiner's proposed capital budget will be the subject of a public hearing tonight in Town Hall. The other Town Board members, who often find themselves at odds with Feiner, are considering funding the police garage.

"We really need to rectify the problem, and if we can in this budget, we should look into that," board member Steve Bass said.

Kapica said a garage would double the lifespan of the department's crime scene truck, technical rescue vehicle, special weapons truck, armored vehicle and cascade truck, among other equipment. The $250,000 cascade truck, used to refill the compressed air tanks of firefighters, already has water damage, he said.

The $97,000 would build a concrete foundation and a prefabricated steel building strong enough to handle a foot of snow on the roof and winds more than 60 mph.

"It seems just senseless to let these things out in the weather and have them destroyed," he said.

Feiner would rather buy three fabric-covered structures for $8,550 to protect the special operations vehicles until the town can build a permanent structure. His spending plan would give the police department $273,200 for vehicles, equipment and technology.

Feiner's capital budget also includes nearly $1.5 million for new public works vehicles and equipment, $1.2 million for curb and road improvements and $950,000 to bring the yard-waste dump on Taxter Road up to state standards.

Feiner said he wanted to keep next year's capital spending close to this year's levels, in part because taxpayers will start paying off the Greenburgh Public Library project next year.

"You can't spend $20 million on a library and give department heads whatever they want and have another tax cut and maintain the bond rating," he said. "Sooner or later all of this is going to catch up."

Meanwhile, Kapica likely will get his request for $26,000 to overhaul the police department's crowded evidence room and increase storage by 80 percent.

The state cited the department in 2003 for its evidence storage, and Kapica said a second citation could put the police department's five-year accreditation at risk and raise the department's liability insurance. The Town Board, in its work session yesterday, was leaning toward restoring funding for the evidence room.

"We understand the importance of storing evidence," Bass said. "We don't want to compromise any investigations."