Part 2: County, Local Law Enforcement Ask Legislature to Keep Sheriff Programs (VIDEO)

This is the second article on the Rockland County Legislature meeting Tuesday night. The County legislators reviewed the proposed 2012 budget specifically looking at the following departments: Probation, Sheriff and District Attorney. Read about what the probation department and district attorney had to say along with Kralik’s comments to the legislature in the .

There are two upcoming public hearings detailed in this . This article will look at comments from police chiefs and the legislators. The county faces a $52 million deficit and the 2012 proposed budget includes a large cut from the sheriff’s department.

The proposed budget cuts the transport unit and calls for an additional $3 million reduction of the department’s budget in addition to $1million of cut the department came up with.  Kralik said the transport unit made up of part-time retired police officers costs $1.2 million annually but replacing them with fulltime police deputies from the department’s police division would raise the yearly cost to $5 million.

Sheriff Elect Lou Falco outlined the history of the sheriff's department:

• 1958—The BCI unit was created at the beheast of the police chiefs of Rockland County.
• 1964—Clarkstown Police Chief said his department could no longer provide the security services on county property in New City.
• 1966—Sheriff patrol was born of 12 officers

"You can see that in Rockland County, that same unity still exists. The system that was created (decades ago) still works and works even better because it's a model across our nation," said Falco. "Tonight, I may witness the dismantling of 50 years of his (Sheriff James Kralik's) work. It's incomprehensible."

Chiefs of police from departments around the county approached the podium to state their experience with the sheriff’s department and the indirect impact the 2012 budget cuts to that department would have on their town or village police departments.

Statements from Police Departments

“These tasks forces have become role models for the rest of the country. Others reach out to us asking how we do it and what if next year we have to tell them, 'well, we can't tell you that, but we can tell you how we used to do it.' It just makes no sense. In Clarkstown, we do provide some of the services that the county provides, but I'm going to tell you publicly what I've told the chiefs privately; once this budget came out, I talked to my staff and analysed my budget. There is no way we can provide services to the rest of the county that the sheriff's department provides.” These services that he refers to that Clarkstown already has includes: CSI unit, Arson Unit, Forensic Computers and a Tactical Unit. He added that without a bomb squad, Rockland will have to ask for a bomb squad from outside of Rockland that will not have jurisdiction in the county.

Chief Michael Sullivan of the Clarkstown Police Department

“What we have done over the past decades is figure out systems that actually save the taxpayers money by combining our resources so that not every department has to have their own services.” He then gave an example of a situation that occurred last week in Orangetown. “We got … a DNA match from a burglary that happened last summer … If it were not for the BCI unit, we would not have solved that crime.”

Chief Kevin Nulty of the Orangetown Police Department

“In Piermont with our close proximity to the Hudson River and Camp Shanks, we call the marine unit almost everyday in the summer. I don’t know what we would do without them. Prior to the marine unit, we would have had to call West Point and it would be two or three hours before we got a unit there.”

Chief Michael O'Shea of the Piermont Police Department

“These are services that have been around ... for 50 years and if this budget were to go through, our citizens would lose that. We understand that the county is facing a financial crisis, but the government's responsability and one of its key roles is public safety. The system works in Rockland County because we work together. That's why we have safe communities. That's why Clarkstown and Ramapo can be named some of the safest communities in the nation.”

Chief Robert Van Cura of the South Nyack-Grand View Police Department

“Several key and essential services, that (town and village) police departments rely on, will be wiped out. The burden to provide these services will fall on each police department. If this becomes the case (and the budget passes), each agency, including my own, will have to hire more officers and send them for extensive crime scene training and put these costs back to the local government. It makes no sense when the Sheriff Department has been providing these services for years.”

Chief Clarke Osborn of the Suffern Police Department

“We meet here tonight to tell you of the devastation that will occur here in Rockland County if that budget passes. We need them, we’re going on a perilous journey if we lose that asset to the department.”

Peter Brower Chief of the Ramapo Police Department

“(The sheriff’s department) they’re in the village of Haverstraw constantly assisting my officers. I have 20 percent of my officers out injured at this point … and frankly, the town of Haverstraw can’t afford to send officers off to training to become a BCI or arson unit. It would take too much time and too many officers off the streets of Haverstraw.”

Chief Charles Miller of the Haverstraw Police Department

“We rely heavily on them: crime scenes, arson investigations, computer crime, bomb squad. Our eastern border is the Hudson River. The marine unit … they’re there spring, summer and fall … We have neither the equipment nor the manpower to handle something of that nature (river rescues). We have our special events, polar plunge, Memorial Day parade, we could not have done it without the help from the sheriff’s department.”

Chief Brian Moore of the Stony Point Police Department

“Probably the biggest (hit we will take) is the BCI unit. We make about 3,000 arrests each year. These guys are out there at every crime scene that we have. In one single day, we had five crime scenes. There's no way we can do that. We have a very small detective division. If we had to train these guys what the BCI unit does on a daily basis, we simply could not do it.” He added that with the elimination of the transport unit, the police department would have to house those prisonors increasing the liability of the police department.

Jack Bosworth of the Spring Valley Police Department

Questions & Comments from County Legislators

Unless noted otherwise, answers are from Kralik.

Q: “There is funding placed on all your lines to operate for the year, but you’ve been told that he (County Executive Scott Vanderhoef) wants you (Rockland Sheriff’s Department) to come back and tell the county executive where you’re going to cut the $3 million. You have come tonight to tell us that you can’t do that. Is that correct?” — Legislator Ilan Shoenberger

A: Yes

Q: “Is the budget for the budget in your opinion balanced for 2012?” — Legislator Ilan Shoenberger to Stephen DeGroat, Acting Commissioner of Finance for Rockland County

A: No the $3 million that is in here is a policy decision made by the county executive’s office. That $3 million is not balanced. It does have the $3 million reduction in the budget (so the revenue line matches the expenditure line in the budget) line items but we don’t have any details or breakdown of that $3 million. That’s a straight policy decision.” —DeGroat

Q: “Are there other examples of other uses of mounted sheriff patrol other than Bosworth’s example with Spring Valley park?”— Legislator Joseph Meyers

A: “In the districts that we work with, such as the Orangetown police, we use it for Friday and Saturday nights. Also … in Nyack, with the gang influences that were going on.

Q: Westchester gave up their mounted patrol, how do they deal with it? — Legislator Joseph Meyers

A: They regret it. Without mounted police, they’ve increased police on foot and overtime

Q: The chiefs said they call on the marine unit every day in the summer. What kind of calls are those? — Legislator Joseph Meyers

A: Calls about missing persons and rescues. Tappan Zee Bridge issues. The State Police Marine Unit has receded and Westchester now has a marine unit modeled after the Rockland one.

Q:  Do you have a counter offer? The ability to cut? — Legislator Joseph Meyers

A: Vanderhoef asked us to find $1.3 million to make our budget whole. We found a little over $1 million and we debated over the last $300,000 by discussing for the first time giving up three correctional officers. We found another $150,000 that we could cut if needed, but when Vanderhoef surprised us with that additional $3 million cut, I don’t think we can do it.

Q: “For 2012, it’s posted as zero for public safety grants. Is it a policy, since grants are uncertain, not to project a figure for grants? Is there any way of looking at the historical numbers?”— Legislator Alden Wolfe

A: “Unless we have an application pending, we do not put in a figure for grants” — DeGroat

Q:  I see that there’s $9 million in forfeiture money. Is there some way we can use that? — Legislator Pat Moroney

A: We can’t use forfeiture money for the county because of strict federal regulations on how that money can be used — DA Tom Zugibe

Statement: “It just didn’t make any sense, the transport program and all of that. I just got to thinking that there’s no way the county executive could have thought that this was the way to go. That there’s something here behind the story. What is this really about? We’re trying to sort this out. There’s all these issues on who should pay for these programs, who should help pay for these programs. Everything the county’s paying for, somebody is paying for it. ”— Legislator Connie Coker

Statement: “We are facing impossible situations here but it is a matter of priorities. What I heard tonight was the best education I’ve had about the capabilities of our Sheriff’s Department and hearing the chiefs come in with real life situations.”— Legislator Alden Wolfe

Statement: “I agree with everything (Kralik) said. I’ve been very appreciative of the mounted patrol (in Nyack). I think it’s important to maintain that marine unit … and the (canine unit/bomb squad)” — Legislator Harriet Cornell

Statement: “If we can’t restore some of these things and some of these people their jobs, then I don’t think I want to be a legislator. But I’m here to solve a problem.”— Legislator Pat Moroney

Statement: “The mounted unit … is something we should keep. It has helped us in the neighborhoods, the malls and parking lots. (Without the Marine Unit), there’s nobody around except for Westchester Marine Unit, if they’re around. (There are) people who drift off in the river or fall out of their boats.”— Legislator Bob Jackson

Statement: “It’s a tough year and monies are tight. We are going to have to sit and try and come up with some things that we all can live with. I don’t want to lose our transport unit, narcotics task force and such. There are so many things that happen in this county. People in this county have become spoiled. They pick up a phone and call 911 and someone is at their doorstep in literally moments.”— Legislator Douglas Jobson

Statement: “You can’t always budget for grants … as I look at the 2010 modified budget, there is $4 million in grants. If we can get these grants, we can cover these salary savings. It’s very important that you (Kralik) continue your work. (I want to) try to restore your funds.”— Legislator Philip Soskin

Statement: “I hear from the chiefs and they all give you (Kralik and the Sheriff’s Department) credit”— Legislator Toney Earl

Statement: “The testimonies were compelling. The audience should have a good idea of what decision this legislature faces. The county executive made it a conscious decision to not ask for the tax cap to be lifted making it difficult and maybe impossible for us to solve this Sheriff situation.”— Legislator Michael Grant