How many law enforcement agencies does Rotterdam need to pay for? We have the RPD, the County Sheriff and the State Troopers. Aren't we paying for all 3... for a town of what....32,000 people? Now I think Clifton Park has approx the same population. Their law enforcement is the State Troopers only.

So why are we, the taxpayers, paying for THREE different law enforcements?

Clifton Park has only the troopers????  What about the Saratoga County Sheriffs that patrol Clifton Park?  

Apparently our county legislators feel that the dozens of troopers stationed in Princetown are not enough even for Princetown and Duanesburg because they formed a road patrol at an expense of well over a million  dollars a year.   If 35 cops are needed for the 10,000 residents of Princetown and Duanesburg (because that is what the county legislature said they formed the road patrol for) then Rotterdam must need at least 100 cops to patrol the streets of Rotterdam.  I dont know how close I am with the population of those 2 towns but if the hilltowns need 3 or 4 cops for every thousand in population- then Rotterdam- which is a lot closer to the city of Schenectady needs at least 4 cops for every thousand residents.          Right?

May I also point out that the road patrol's function is primarily to write traffic tickets.  

The taxpayers should not have to pay for duplicate services!

Call your county legislators and tell them that or better yet, ask them how much the road patrol now costs....  They use to have a few deputies.  Now we have a Chief of deputies, a lieutenant, sergant, and a whole bunch of deputies and even more doggies.  How many bad guys have those doggies tracked down?  I do not remember reading about any.   I agree, the duplication adds millions to our budgets.  Nothing will change though.  Just raise taxes, hire more deputies and maybe create another unit at the sherriff's office

First, I have nothing personally against any sheriff. All I know is that the Rotterdam taxpayer already pays for their own RPD. Why should they have to pay for yet another layer of law enforcement?

I don't know about the more rural towns like Duanesburg or Princetown. Perhaps they need them. But don't they, actually all of us, have the state troopers as well?

I may be just missing something here...but I really don't understand why the people in Rotterdam is paying for their own, the sheriff and the troopers.

Population of Duanesburg is approximately 5,900.  I have been hearing rumors that the state police will be leaving Princetown when their lease is up in April?  Any truth to that Papa?  I agree with the issue of duplication of services in the towns that have their own police force, but the Sheriff's road patrol and maintenance of the county roads are about the only services we receive IN EXCHANGE for OUR tax dollar.  

Quoted from 215

Call your county legislators and tell them that or better yet, ask them how much the road patrol now costs....  They use to have a few deputies.  Now we have a Chief of deputies, a lieutenant, sergant, and a whole bunch of deputies and even more doggies.  How many bad guys have those doggies tracked down?  I do not remember reading about any.   I agree, the duplication adds millions to our budgets.  Nothing will change though.  Just raise taxes, hire more deputies and maybe create another unit at the sherriff's office

Here   we go again........must be budget time!!!   another   critic

Someone should look closely at the budget at budget time, unless the goal is not just to be in the top ten taxed counties in the country, but to achieve the ultimate goal of number ONE.

Quoted from 47

Population of Duanesburg is approximately 5,900.  I have been hearing rumors that the state police will be leaving Princetown when their lease is up in April?  Any truth to that Papa?  I agree with the issue of duplication of services in the towns that have their own police force, but the Sheriff's road patrol and maintenance of the county roads are about the only services we receive IN EXCHANGE for OUR tax dollar.  

Ok.  So our "state tax dollars" were paying for dozens of troopers to patrol Duanesburg and Princetown.  Those dozens of troopers equate to more law enforcement protection per thousand than anywhere in the capital district.   So, the county of Schenectady decides.... with no analysis whatsoever, to form a road patrol, complete with dogs, deputies, lieutenants, chief of deputies, etc etc etc.  They have no calls to answer because every township in the county already has cops- so the Sheriff has them roaming the county writing traffic tickets at an expense of well over a million a year.  

I can tell you that if the troopers move out of Princetown- they wont reduce the number of troopers in New York.  Those troopers will be assigned somewhere else and guess who will still continue to pay for them......  You and I.  Only difference will be that we will be paying for dozens of troopers assigned to Buffalo or New York cityinstead of Princetown.  

Take it one step further. When the troopers pull out, the Sheriff will then argue that he needs a couple dozen more deputies because now they will actually have to respond to calls and investigate crimes.  The argument will be..........Well, the troopers had 25 that included troopers, investigators, sergeants, lieutenants, senior investigators, etc.... so we need the
same.  He will argue that he needs to hire a lot of people because he wants to maintain the same protection.  Actually he is a savy politician- he will tell all of us how much he will save taxpayers by doing more will less.  He will say he can do it with about 25 cops- not the 25 plus the current deputies.  Wow, that would be great.  Instead of having 25 troopers plus a dozen deputies, we could do it with a TOTAL of 25.  Damn, that is good.  I can see the campaign literature now in my
box......   Sheriff restores patrol at a savings of 50%....

Problem is that it will be the taxpayers of Schenectady County paying for it- not the state taxpayers.

We better hope the troopers stay and that a single politician in the county has the brains to have an independent agency analyze this.

Interesting statistic that I heard on the radio this morning.  There are approx. 5000 New York State Troopers.  Of those, ~200 are assigned to Governor Paterson's security detail.  The statement was made that Paterson's security detail is the largest in history.  Why does the Governor's security detail require 200 Troopers?  Combine this statistic with the recent accusations against the Governor of racial discrimination and it begs the question if this is political patronage at the state level of government.

I hear there's entire troop "T" assigned to the Thruway also - do tax dollars, as well as tolls pay for those troopers?

Quoted from B GAGE

Here   we go again........must be budget time!!!   another   critic

I don't think that anyone is actually being critical. And I also don't think that anyone is against paying for the service and privilege of law enforcement. However, I do think there is a legitimate concern when the taxpayer is paying for the same service 2 or 3 times over. Rotterdam has it's own, Niskayuna and Scotia/Glenvile have their own. Yet they are also paying for the County Sheriff and the State Troopers.

All I'm saying is.....are all of these taxpaid layers of law enforcement necessary? Are these just a duplication of the same service?  If it is needed statistically...than I'm fine with that. If not, do these towns who already have their own police force, have the option to opt out of paying for a service they don't use or need?

I had recommended in another thread that our elected officials, including the County Legislators, Town Supervisors, Village and City Mayors host a law enforcement conference to include all of the law enforcement agencies who have jurisdiction in Schenectady County and the District Attornies to discuss the duplicity of services, overlapping coverage, the needs of the various departments, and means by which they can work together.  Such a conference could resolve the antagonism that exists between various law enforcement agencies and could lead to better coverage in areas of the highest occurrence of criminal activity.  The law enforcement agencies are losing the battle against the criminal element, particularly in the City of Schenectady.  If the adage "Working Together Works" is applicable at any level of government, it should be within the public safety community where both the officers and the residents safety and lives may depend upon it.

Quoted from 215

Ok.  So our "state tax dollars" were paying for dozens of troopers to patrol Duanesburg and Princetown.  Those dozens of troopers equate to more law enforcement protection per thousand than anywhere in the capital district.   So, the county of Schenectady decides.... with no analysis whatsoever, to form a road patrol, complete with dogs, deputies, lieutenants, chief of deputies, etc etc etc.  They have no calls to answer because every township in the county already has cops- so the Sheriff has them roaming the county writing traffic tickets at an expense of well over a million a year.  

It is my understanding that there are no State Trooper patrols dedicated to the town of Duanesburg.  This means that if and when an incident occurs any given cop could be in Amsterdam, Fort Plain, Fonda, Perth or other points unknown.  Or there could be a unit right in town.  You just never know and that to me is a problem.  

I already said I agree with the duplication of services issue so I won't go into that.  

It is my understanding that years ago the troopers from Duanesburg/Princetown had a much larger zone and a couple of years ago the zones were realigned and their primary patrol zone was changed to include the towns of Princetown and Duanesburg.  

That is a fact the legislators should know and should have considered before spending millions.  

Wouldn't it be a shame if the people who advocated so hard for a road patrol a few years ago never took the time to make a phone call to anyone in the NYSP to ascertain a) how many troopers, investigators, sergeants, lieutenants, senior investigators, etc are assigned to the Princetown barracks and b) what is their primary zone.      The fact is that not a single call was made or study conducted.  We will pay tens of millions for that mistake unfortunately.