Westchester County/Ossining Town PD Merger Starts

[aviator70 16]

The Town of Ossining police department's phones were taken over by Westchester County Police, the first step in the takeover of the entire department.

"Any calls that come into our main line, is going to get forwarded to Westchester County Department of Public Safety," Ossining police sergeant Vincent Ragaini. "It's a call for service, they simply dispatch our unit to the call."

Ragaini, who will soon be in a county police uniform, says Ossining residents will barely notice the change.

"They'll be no disruption in police , no slow down in police service," said Ragaini.

The takeover is expected to save the Town of Ossining about $900,000.

http://newyork.cbslo...g-police-dept/#

[JohnnyOV 2]

How is this merger going to effect the Ossining FD Dispatch when their dispatchers are not "on the air"

[x635 4,066]

Are the Town Of Ossining PD Cars going to be marked for Ossining, or are they going to be converted or disposed of?

[helicopper 1,050]

How is this merger going to effect the Ossining FD Dispatch when their dispatchers are not "on the air"

Does the Town of Ossining PD dispatch the FD or is that the Village?

[FDVA356 23]

The Village of Ossining PD dispatches Osisining FD, OVAC and the Tri-Community Fly Car not the Town PD.

Question: Maybe Chris can answer this. In the event of the County PD or say Croton PD requesting additional County units to the Parks of our area, is this going to strip the Town assigned County units or will they come from the greater distances?

[helicopper 1,050]

The Village of Ossining PD dispatches Osisining FD, OVAC and the Tri-Community Fly Car not the Town PD.

Question: Maybe Chris can answer this. In the event of the County PD or say Croton PD requesting additional County units to the Parks of our area, is this going to strip the Town assigned County units or will they come from the greater distances?

Mutual Aid is governed by a written mutual aid plan that specifies what resources will be sent to any large scale mobilization anywhere in the County. I'm not aware of any revision to that plan as a result of this merger so my guess (and I'm by no means speaking officially or reflecting upon anything more than opinion) is that the response will be the same (some from the Town and some from elsewhere). No community is stripped of resources in a mutual aid response so I suspect that this will continue to be true.

[jack10562 414]

In the event of the County PD or say Croton PD requesting additional County units to the Parks of our area, is this going to strip the Town assigned County units or will they come from the greater distances?

I believe PD mutual aid is not anywhere near as frequent as occurs with FD's.

I would think any "mutual-aid" depending on the nature of the request, would come from the nearest available resources, and replenishment would be back filled from the next nearest, and so on, just like what happens with FD.

[INIT915 1,119]

I believe PD mutual aid is not anywhere near as frequent as occurs with FD's.

I would think any "mutual-aid" depending on the nature of the request, would come from the nearest available resources, and replenishment would be back filled from the next nearest, and so on, just like what happens with FD.

I'm not sure FDVA was talking about traditional mutual aid. Rather, more akin to what happens occasionally in Cortlandt. There, the contracted patrol (8 am-12 midnight), on occasion takes in traditional "County PD" type jobs that don't actually pertain to Cortlandt. I say it's rare, but you do hear that over the air on occasion.

FDVA can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's what he was getting at.

[Guest 29-Indigo]

For the radio buffs, it seems like "13-Adam & 13-Bravo" are the call signs of the Town of Ossining cars on the WCPD frequency.

I'm sure when the need arises, say at Croton Point or George's Island, next Summer, one of the "Town" cars could be pulled to backup another WCPD car. In my eyes, this will work out better then what's in place now - at least you have more cars on the same radio channel.

[FDVA356 23]

Thats exactly what I was getting at, the incidents that happen at Croton Point, Georges Island, Croton Dam and the contracted Cortlandt area. So rather then getting a car from south end of county (county PD), they maybe coming from the closer Town of Ossining. Well, anyway thanks for your comments and I forward to see how the transition goes, but I'm sure it will be great for the community in long run. Consolidation seems like the way to go, save the tax payer $$ and cuts down on duplicating resources. Maybe EMS and FD can start doing the same in the future in this area.

[helicopper 1,050]

Thats exactly what I was getting at, the incidents that happen at Croton Point, Georges Island, Croton Dam and the contracted Cortlandt area. So rather then getting a car from south end of county (county PD), they maybe coming from the closer Town of Ossining. Well, anyway thanks for your comments and I forward to see how the transition goes, but I'm sure it will be great for the community in long run. Consolidation seems like the way to go, save the tax payer $$ and cuts down on duplicating resources. Maybe EMS and FD can start doing the same in the future in this area.

Sorry, I misunderstood you. As I understand it, and I'm not privvy to inside information, the County will have a contract or IMA with the Town and be obligated to maintain certain staffing. If a unit in the Town is pulled for an emergency, I imagine that it will have to be backfilled but that's speculation on my part.

It's an interesting evolution and also points to the potential for regionalizing police communications in the county to improve response times, officer safety, etc.

[Mofire24 27]

Seth

All of the Ossining Town PD cars will remain marked as Ossining Town PD under January 1st then there will be marked county cars there. So from now till years end it's still the Town of Ossining PD

[jr51070 7]

And the new county car paint and marking scheme will be out shortly. As far as mutual aid, when somebody calls for help, trust me, it comes and comes quick, there should be no worries about delays.

[SSCharged E100 7]

Does the Town of Ossining PD dispatch the FD or is that the Village?

Town PD does not dispatch the FD only the village PD can