Brockport approves the hiring of a police officer

Following a long and convoluted discussion at the March 18 Brockport Village Board meeting, board members decided to hire an additional police officer for the Brockport Police Department. "It’s not truly an additional officer," Police Chief Daniel Varrenti explained.

The officer in question is someone who is already in a part time position with the force, would be made full time in order to allow Brockport to send an officer to serve on Monroe County’s multi-agency drug task force. The task force, Varrenti said, assists departments with narcotics situations and also in major crime investigations. "Participation on the force supplements small police departments’ staff," Varrenti said.

Varrenti explained that the officer sent would receive extra training and the department, and the village, would reap the benefits of the extra training and the participation on the force. "I think we are kidding ourselves if we don’t think there is a narcotics problem in the village," Varrenti said.

If, and when, in the near future a drug raid were to happen in the village, and if Brockport police force were not part of the multi agency task force, the expenditure of overtime would likely be exorbitant, the chief said.

According to Varrenti, the department had budgeted for $220,000 in overtime in the past. "That figure is outrageous and the spending of overtime does nothing to increase our police force, it just remains status quo."

Treasurer Scott Rightmyer said over the past five years the department has spent more than $770,000 in overtime. There is normally $150,000 in overtime built into the police budget, he said. "Because we have two officers on per shift, it's virtually impossible to operate without using overtime," Rightmyer said.

Trustee Morton Wexler said he didn’t question Varrenti’s need for an officer but in light of the difficulties the village is facing with the budget process, he had concerns with possibly hiring an employee in one department while other departments might be looking at cutbacks.

Mayor Josephine Matela said she was in favor of sending an officer to the drug task force. "I hope the board will think long and hard before making any decisions that could affect the safety and security in our community," she said.

The reason the request for the addition of the officer was on the agenda was because the individual Varrenti was looking to make full-time had received a job offer from a neighboring police department.

Discussions on the cost of keeping and increasing the hours of an officer presently on staff were weighed against the cost of hiring and equipping a new officer.

Resident Inga Songbird, who called herself a "quantum leap" thinker, urged the board to further discuss the chief’s request and consider the long term costs of keeping a trained officer against the costs of hiring a new one.

Joan Hamlin said that while she hadn’t seen the budget she "couldn’t imagine that this officer would cost as much as the $250 per hour attorney they had retained" for work in the DeToy issue.

Joan Marcello said it would be a disgrace for the village to not keep its police department up to snuff following the September 11 disaster.

Reminding the board that the New York State Police no longer have a presence in the village, Edward Spade also said the board should look at the cost of hiring and training a replacement and weigh it against the cost of keeping on a trained officer.

Following all of the discussion and public comment, Matela called for a resolution on the hiring of the full time officer. Trustee Norman Knapp was the lone dissenter on the vote.

Knapp said, during discussions, that because of budget issues he couldn’t support the hiring of the officer.