Brockport police department changes its operations

Instituting new ways of cataloging calls and updating its standard operating procedures is putting the Brockport Police Department well on its way toward gaining New York State accreditation, Chief Daniel Varrenti said.

"We’re going to start doing things the way they are done in other departments throughout Monroe County," he said. In the past when an individual was stopped for a motor vehicle violation and other infractions were discovered, each infraction generated its own call number; in the future, the stop, and any subsequent tickets that may be issued will only count as one call. "For the past three months we have logged more than 5,111 calls and complaints. That number will go down in the future with the new way of call logging."

Varrenti explained at the April 15 board meeting, as part of his quarterly report presentation to the board, that new procedures have been implemented in the department that will help it become accredited. "We are one of only two departments in Monroe County that have not been accredited," he said.

As part of his plans for 2002, Varrenti said he hopes to have an Explorer post in place by the end of the year. The Explorers allow students the opportunity to interact with police officers on a regular basis and also allow the students to witness the workings of the department.

It is also anticipated that a commendation program will be implemented. "Our officers deserve public recognition for the hard work and excellent service they provide to this community," he said.

Varrenti hopes to have officers come before the board, at regular meetings, to accept pins and commendations congratulating them for a job well done.

As part of his report to the board, Varrenti said the department has expended $31,463 in overtime to cover personnel shortages in the department since the beginning of the year. "This number will go down," he told board members.

As the number of parade, benefit runs and other events within the village continue to rise, Varrenti asked the board to look into the possibility of finding a way to reap compensation from those events. "I am all for the events but the community has to realize that each of these cost the department a lot of man hours and overtime pay," he said.

Mayor Josephine Matela said the board would be looking into the number of requests it receives and will come up with a workable plan in the future for dealing with the requests and the police manpower it involves.