Should the town consolidate police services?

NORTH EAST — The Town Board and its public were presented with reasons why North East should consider consolidating its police services with the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office. Currently the town contracts with the village of Millerton for police coverage.Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Jonathan Begor made the presentation at the April 14 Town Board meeting.According to Begor, there are many other municipalities that contract with the sheriff’s office. He said his goal that night was to “define the benefits” of doing so.The sheriff’s office has a substation in Amenia. It has eight zones throughout Dutchess County, with the towns of North East and Amenia making up one zone and Pine Plains another.“It’s a lot of land for a deputy to cover,” he said. “And then there are certain trouble spots. We are sometimes asked to address certain trouble areas. We all know wherever you live there could be a rash of car larcenies, or maybe a lot of loitering issues.”If that’s the case, the sheriff’s office can provide heavier coverage. The downside, he said, is that it all comes at a cost.“If you have someone call the police, in Millerton and North East, it rings our agency and we dispatch for them,” Begor said. “We have a multimillion-dollar system. It gathers tons and tons of information so we can find the hot spots.”But the costs keep mounting. A deputy is needed to handle an incident, and then someone is needed to supervise. The Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office has a command staff of about 30 people and relies on a report writing system. It also needs people to oversee the records. There are laws throughout the state that dictate how records are to be managed. Then there are some incidents that require extra services, like crime scene technicians, detectives, fire investigators, K-9 units and crash investigators. “When you hire deputy sheriffs to do dedicated patrol, you may be paying that person at a full-time rate [per that person’s salary],” Begor said, adding when there’s a major incident that could cost the town upward of $10,000. “If you’re paying a deputy $400, that’s all it costs — it’s his pay. You get all the coverage along with him.”That’s valuable, according to the sergeant, who said insuring police is “pretty expensive.” When municipalities contract with the county, the county pays for that insurance, which covers workers’ compensation and indemnification.Resident Robert Trotta questioned Begor after he concluded his presentation.“We do pay county taxes and do have sheriff’s services,” he said. “You use the term ‘dedicated.’ Would you describe what those services are?”“The deputy sheriffs are assigned to this area, in North East, Amenia and Pine Plains,” Begor said. “If you pay the deputy sheriff, he would be here the whole time; he would not leave. He would be in the town of North East only.”“If we had crime and it was the sheriff’s case, we would not pay for coverage, correct?” asked Trotta.“All police agencies work together,” Begor said. “Say there’s a burglary. If the sheriff handles it, we’re the lead agency if we got the call. The way 911 works, it’s supposed to call the nearest police unit.”“You use the word consolidation, what do you mean — with the local force?”“Yes,” replied Begor.“If consolidation with the local force, would they become deputy sheriffs?” Trotta asked.The sergeant replied affirmatively.The town supervisor then interrupted and said the meeting had to move on, as there were many items on the agenda. He added the board would consider the presentation and mull over what it had learned regarding consolidation of police services.