Board approves appointment of new police officer

Officer Steve Mesiti was sworn in as Brockport’s newest police officer at the June 17 board meeting. Mesiti’s swearing in was witnessed by his parents and his brother, Adam, who is a sergeant with the force.

Mesiti, a former part-time officer with the department, was hired for a full time position with the department as of June 1, 2002, Police Chief Daniel Varrenti said. "I’m pleased and proud to say he passed all of the testing required to become an officer," Varrenti said. "It’s a tremendous gain for the department to get a man of his integrity on our force."

Since Mesiti’s appointment 17 days ago, Varrenti said the department has not spent any money on overtime pay. "Since we hired Mesiti and placed him on the afternoon shift, we have three officers on that shift," he explained. "I’m also limiting the number of officers that can be off at any one time."

While Mesiti has only been with the department a short time, Varrenti said he was one of the top three on the Civil Service list, has been uniformed by the village and is cognizant of the police department’s procedures. "With the time and energy we have put into his training, he was the sensible choice for us to hire," Varrenti said.

Mesiti had also been approached by the Rochester Police Department before being offered the full time position with the BPD, he said.

As part of Mesiti’s hiring, Varrenti negotiated with the Stetson Club on the terms and conditions of employment stated in the contract. The contract says, and based on past practice, there was no limitation on the number of officers who could be off at any given time. Varrenti said it was negotiated to only allow one officer to be off on vacation, personal leave, training, or comp time leave.

"The Stetson Club agreed to the change in the employment contract and it was done without lengthy negotiations," he said. "It was done with no cost to the department or the village … the club is to be commended for their willingness to work with us."

Because of past practices, overtime was incurred because the contract also states, for the safety of the officers, that there must be at least two officers on patrol during each shift. "Because the department was, and still is, short staffed, anytime an officer took time off it created an overtime situation," Varrenti said.

The department has 11 officers, including Varrenti.

Varrenti said overtime shouldn’t have to be used to minimally staff a department. "Overtime should be used to increase minimum staffing," he said. "It should be used to have extra people to cover parades and other events."

While he said the department is still in need of more officers, with the hiring of Mesiti he is better able to effectively manage the hours he has to cover and he is in the process of implementing policies and procedures to save money and better serve the community.

Varrenti also announced the department was the recipient of a $4,789.80 grant for the purchase of bullet proof vests. "We can go back 36 months and get reimbursed for vests we purchased previously," Varrenti said.

More than $7,000 was allocated to departments throughout Monroe County, Varrenti said, and the Village of Brockport received the bulk of the funds. "Thanks to Sergeant Ziegler’s grant writing skills we were able to obtain these funds."