Brockport police wrap up busy, arrest-filled weekend

The Labor Day weekend saw Brockport's police officers stretched to the limit when they responded to 353 calls.

"I hope this number of calls and the 32 arrests we made don't set the tone for the whole year," Police Chief Dan Varrenti said. "If it keeps up we will have to incur overtime in order to keep the community safe." Varrenti said on an average week officers respond to 200-250 calls.

Police budgets, overtime and lack of officers has been a topic of many conversations at board meetings and while board members say they understand the need for the officers, the village taxpayers simply can't bear the burden of coming up with the funds to either hire more officers or to have the department incur excessive overtime costs.

Vice-mayor Carrie Maziarz said that when she was up and on the streets at 5:30 a.m. Sunday preparing for the weekly farmers market, the amount of trash she saw was "appalling." The individuals she saw walking the streets that morning, mostly students, were leaving litter in their wake. "I know we have laws on the books to arrest people who litter," she said.

Varrenti agreed that there are laws for littering but if the officers are given a choice of responding to a littering call or a problem at a house party, their priority will be the house party.

It's a quality of life issue, Trustee Mort Wexler said. "We need to address the situation with the college and the students."

While there were certainly problems over the weekend, Mayor Josephine Matela said the problems are not all caused by the student population. "I think for the most part the students behave themselves like ladies and gentlemen and will assimilate themselves into living away from home very easily but there are those students who are away from home for the first time."

Matela said that even though students may be away from home for the first time and are experiencing new found freedom, it is no excuse for the vandalism, open container violations and other infractions the police department responded to over Labor Day weekend. "The behavior that some individuals demonstrated will not be tolerated," she said. "We need to collaborate with the college to ensure that the students are aware of the laws in the village and that they adhere to them. Our laws will be strenuously enforced."