Putnam considers merging PDs

[letsgo1547 50]

Your right, this topic was about PD. As a resident of putnam county do I feel there is adequate law enforcement, yes. You can't drive through my town without seeing local PD, sheriff department and state PD. You always seem to get 2 rmps on each run, but when it comes to the FD something needs to be done.

[v85 212]

I think another question is if consolidation would really fix the understaffing and response issue.

For example if you go from having an understaffed engine and truck coming from 5 minutes away as first due; to having a somewhat staffed engine coming from 10 minutes away (the truck and closer station were "right sized" during the consolidation process) has anything really been fixed?

Same thing with the police. If a town has 2 officers and a sergeant on every shift, and they merge into the county and make the town a post staffed with 1 officer (who can be assigned to calls anywhere as backup) that town is a net loser of 1 officer and 1 sergeant per shift. How does that benefit the public?

[Cosmo Kramer 1]

One flaw with putnam county is the lack of commercial/industrial tax base.. The homeowners are saddled with the brunt of the tax instead of being offset by some corporation like PepsiCo.. Indian point etc. just look at mechanicstown fire dept in Orange County, the fire district encompasses the galleria mall, orange plaza malls.. Hotels..and they have the best of the best in equipment and training (although manpower wise, they are lacking, as the way most volunteer departments have seen in the last decade or so

[AFS1970 504]

Are there any standards for police like the multiple standards for fire? I don't think there are even any bodies that make such standards.

Police responses vary widely, maybe even more than fire responses. In Stamford we send two officers to a burglar alarm, it is not unusual for such a call to wait until there are two nearby officers available to respond. I know of a smaller town not to far away where a friend who is a part time officer there laughed at that, as they handle burglar alarms as 1 officer calls. Of course their minimum is two officers per shift, and any part timers that are working add to that minimum. So sending both officers to any given call means tying up 100% of your resources.

That being said, would consolidation help between these two municipalities? Perhaps not as that small town might find that call volume causes them to loose one of their two officers, where as on most shifts call volume would deploy more officers to a city like Stamford, paid for in part by that small town. I can't see that it would be any different in Putnam than it would be in Fairfield, except that we have more of a commercial base in many places.

There are definitely benefits to consolidation, there are places where it has worked well. I am not sure that it is right for everywhere, but that is often not what such studies are looking for. In this case it is being pushed by towns that already want it, so the study is unlikely to point out any flaws.

[dwcfireman 656]

I call Bull S**T

........

Again does anyone in town even know this?

Sorry, Barry, I made a hasty post last night (my brain doesn't always fire on all cylinders at 1:43am). I know about the standards and definitions, but you beat me to it. Our communities don't realize what is needed for adequate protection, and I'm sure this lack of information spills onto the other sectors of emergency services as well.

[Dinosaur 844]

Your right, this topic was about PD. As a resident of putnam county do I feel there is adequate law enforcement, yes. You can't drive through my town without seeing local PD, sheriff department and state PD. You always seem to get 2 rmps on each run, but when it comes to the FD something needs to be done.

Interesting, you drive through one town and see three different police agencies. I've driven through some towns in Putnam (that don't have their own PD) and seen none.

Is this effective or is this ridiculous?

[rob zombie 33]

Although denied in the Lohud article, this consolidation rhetoric seems like retribution by the Carmel Board to punish the C.P.D. on failed contract negotiations and going through binding arbitration.

A quick question. If a countywide police force will be writing and issuing summonses, who will be collecting revenue and benefiting from these judicial decisions? Obviously, the local Municipalities would receive some revenue if done in local courts, but the county should receive a larger proportion of the revenue. Wouldn't this diminish funding be another financial burden on the local Government?

[Bnechis 3,961]

Wouldn't this diminish funding be another financial burden on the local Government?

Only if the current ticket revenue is more than the cost for the police dept.

If you take the PD funding out of the local government (saving millions) and you do not get to keep any of the ticket revenue (costing thousands) how is this a financial burden on local government?

[10512 214]

Summonses are returnable to the Town in which the summons was issued, regardless of the issuing agency.

Unless they start fiddling with those laws, this should not be a big issue.

When a Putnam Sheriff or a Trooper writes a summons now, how is it split with the Town/County/State?

If there is not a current policy, I am sure they can come up with one.

This will only get complicated if the politicians want it to get complicated.

Edited March 29, 2015 by 10512

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Summonses are returnable to the Town in which the summons was issued, regardless of the issuing agency.

Unless they start fiddling with those laws, this should not be a big issue.

When a Putnam Sheriff or a Trooper writes a summons now, how is it split with the Town/County/State?

If there is not a current policy, I am sure they can come up with one.

This will only get complicated if the politicians want it to get complicated.

We are still talking about the State of New York, are we not? That's probably something we can all bank on.

[10512 214]

We are still talking about the State of New York, are we not? That's probably something we can all bank on.

Yea, you are right, "New York State", you have a good point there, it seems the wheels usually come off with the simple things, it will never progress to the complicated issues.

[INIT915 1,119]

Summonses are returnable to the Town in which the summons was issued, regardless of the issuing agency.

Unless they start fiddling with those laws, this should not be a big issue.

When a Putnam Sheriff or a Trooper writes a summons now, how is it split with the Town/County/State?

If there is not a current policy, I am sure they can come up with one.

This will only get complicated if the politicians want it to get complicated.

We are still talking about the State of New York, are we not? That's probably something we can all bank on.

Yes, there already exists a formula that dictates distribution of fine revenue. With only a few exceptions, the fines belong to the City/Town/Village where the offense occurs, even if the tickets/summons were issued by a State Trooper/State ENCON/State Parks, etc, or County/Sheriffs Officer. Speeding fines are more complex and are divided between the municipality and the State. Surcharges are also divided by a formula.