Brockport police lose an officer, add an officer

Brockport village officials at the regular January 20 board meeting unanimously approved the hiring of part-time officer, Ralph Gleason. At the same meeting they accepted with regret, the resignation of Carlos Torres who was leaving to pursue his education.

"Carlos is the fourth part time officer we've lost in the two years since I've started," Police Chief Dan Varrenti said. He explained that it costs the village $18,355 to train a part-time police officer. "Between the training, (which ranges from $15 to $45 per hour) to equipment and uniforms, we spend a lot of money on an officer who may only work one or two days a week."

Trustee Norm Knapp pointed out that the village police department has hired officers who have gone through the police academy on their own and acquired some of the necessary training.

Varrenti said that the new hire is a certified police officer who came from another agency but that he still requires training. "We never used to do a complete medical and psychological evaluation before and that is a costly undertaking," Varrenti explained.

Also, with part-time officers, they are not required to check voice mail or follow up on paperwork when they are off duty so service to residents sometimes suffers. "If a part time officer takes a report on a burglary then is off for a week or two, the case just sits. It's a continuity problem," Varrenti said.

At upcoming budget meetings Varrenti said he will be presenting two separate sets of figures, one with more full time officers versus the number of part timers the department now has.

Trustee/Vice Mayor Mort Wexler said that minimum staffing is a priority within the police department. "I don't know what the entire board wants, but the majority of the board says the solution is to not hire more officers," he said. "This has nothing to do with you, chief, but you talk of cutting overtime and we (the board) are talking of cutting overall costs."

Mayor Josephine Matela said she is not one of the board members in agreement with the fact that the hiring of more officers wouldn't help to reduce overtime. "Some of the part-time officers make as much as the full time because we use them so much to fill the void," she said. "We haven't followed the recommendations of the chief when it comes to staffing. We hired an expert to do the job and we just haven't been taking his recommendations into consideration."

Police overtime has been an on-going issue with board members and the department and is one that village officials are attempting to address during upcoming budget negotiations.