Quoted from visitor

Tommy

Back then, the only GPAS monitor was in the Dispatch Center.  Monitors have been placed in multiple offices and they have set other safeguards in place.

They have GPS which was teh point I was making.

Did they fix the surveillance camera blind spot in the holding cell after the DeCerbo girls beat down?

Wish my tax dollars had GPS on it.

Quoted from TakingItBack

Wish my tax dollars had GPS on it.

They aren't yours. The government only lets you borrow them for a bit. If you do something like work too hard and make to much of it, then you need to return more of it where it can be put to better use by those who know better and will use it for the common good. Selfish hater, you.

Why do you HATE the police? Don't ask questions because questions are bad for your health.

Quoted from Hamburg

It is traditional that First Responders have so-called high performance vehicles because TIME is of the essence when they must get to work or get to the crime scene.

    

OK, it time is of the essence, then I trust you will state here, you WILL type a statement that you support, you want the city council and the mayor to IMMEDIATELY ORDER each and every firefighter and police officer to live IN the city AND PAY TAXES TO THE CITY, (just like the financially struggling homeowners to pay them the lavish salaries, OT, benefits and pensions).   Is that correct?  You will post a statement here saying just that?

Cicero

I think Ms. Dicerbo was compensated for her damages.  But, I am not sure because that was about ten years ago.

Quoted from visitor

Cicero

I think Ms. Dicerbo was compensated for her damages.  But, I am not sure because that was about ten years ago.

Not only did the taxpayer pay Pedersen's salary, they had to pay the settlement for his conduct.  The best part is, he didn't lose his job for it.  He lost his job years later for roughing up a hooker.

Quoted from Hamburg

the need for austerity MUST be balanced with the needs and SAFETY

OK, out with it.   Does the NEED for austerity require austere measures such as eliminating the 100% property tax exemptions of the millioniares downtown?

How about the SAFETY of the residents IN THE  NEIGHBORHOODS????   That is not only against criminals but safety against damage to the cars from deteriorating streets, safety as in preventing damage to peoples homes by the city spending money on maintenance of sewers and watermains instead of spending taxpayers money giving property tax exemptions to millioniares, safety as in preventing health & safety problems that can result from abandoned and decrepit houses so often abandoned by the homeowners who cannot afford to pay the proiperty taxes of downtown millioniares.   Safety for the taxpayers who need to buy medications but cannot afford it because your buddy dems make them pay the taxes of the millionaires downtown.

How about the SAFETY OF THE FINANCIALLY STRUGGLING HOMEOWNERS, THE OVER-TAXED TAXPAYERS!!!!!!!!

GPS's/Tahoes help the residents exactly HOW? There is story after story of city residents who call the cops (answering machine ), only to have them show up a day or two later! The city has shooters on the loose. There are crimes committed DAILY! Drug dealers are rampant. Are the taxpayers are honestly suppose to believe that GPS's and/Tahoes are going to produce a quicker respond time? HELL NO!!!

It is just splitting hairs here!! None of these things are going to help divert crime, catch criminals/drug dealers or guarantee a quicker respond time!! This is a created society just to keep the tax and spend liberal socialists in power!!

So just go for the cheapest 4 wheel drive available......and perhaps the city can do a better job at snow removal...eh?

If it were up to the cowardly chimp, our police would be riding on skate boards, fire fighters would have to walk with buckets of water to answer their calls and community ambulance services would have to use a wheelbarrow  to transport the sick and injured to hospitals.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

If it were up to the cowardly chimp, our police would be riding on skate boards, fire fighters would have to walk with buckets of water to answer their calls and community ambulance services would have to use a wheelbarrow  to transport the sick and injured to hospitals.

As usual, you just try to gloss over reality. No one is shutting out the need for these tools for their jobs, only questionsing the need of those specific tools versus other less costly options that exist and wold provide the same level of support for their jobs. Why use a backhoe to dig a hole for a rose bush when a shovel will do the same job much cheaper!

Cicero As I said it happened ten years ago. But, typical - converations about the police always involve the usual partiicpants rehashing evry misdeed in history perpetrated by a police officer.

Bumble - One of the reasons shooters go free is that the suspects often refuse to cooperate with the police.  They can try to solve the cases without their cooperation but it is extremely difficult.

Drug dealers are rampant.  Drug dealers are rampant - what does that mean?  Please, give some examples.  

This is the way City goverment is supposed to operate the police made a request to the Council and they assessed it found that it could be done cheaper.  Democracy in action.  They will have to purchase other vehicles.  

Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
New SUVs for commuting cops stalled with impasse in council
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.

    Here’s one way to not get legislation passed by the City Council: Argue that the city must spend an extra $16,000 so that police officers who live in rural Saratoga County can get to work safely in city-owned vehicles.
    The Police Department wants the city to outfi t two offi cers with high-end SUVs, at $26,000 each, so that they can get to work in any weather.
    Three members of the City Council on Tuesday dug in their heels at the idea, which new Councilman Vince Riggi derided as an insult to city taxpayers.
    “It’s not going to be our taxpayers’ problem if people choose to live in Saratoga County. We have to make sure they get here safely?” he said. “They should live in the city!”
    For years, City Council members Barbara Blanchard and Carl Erikson have criticized the city’s tendency to buy big, expensive vehicles. But until now, their complaints have remained solidly in the minority on the all-Democratic council.
    But with the addition of an independent on the council — Riggi — they suddenly have enough votes to bring their point of view to the fore.
    There are only six members on the council right now — the seventh and tie-breaking seat is currently vacant and will remain so until the council can agree on whom to appoint.
    The council also appears to be split, 3-3, on that decision.
    “What you’re proposing is not going to pass,” Erikson said bluntly when Assistant Chief Brian Kilcullen tried to argue for the SUVs.
    Erikson and Riggi proposed using vans instead, as they cost $8,000 less each than Chevy Tahoes and have far more space for equipment. However, Tahoes have four-wheeldrive, making them safer during bad storms.
    Kilcullen said the city must send vehicles home with the offi cers, who are evidence technicians. In the police contract, all four evidence techs get to take a vehicle home with them because they rotate being on call at night.
    While the City Council cannot immediately change the contract, Riggi noted that the city doesn’t have to send home an SUV — any vehicle would do. “Contractually, they don’t have to have four-wheeldrive,” he said.
    Erikson added that he’d never heard of a case being dismissed due to lack of evidence because technicians couldn’t get to the crime scene in the snow. He also suggested that in an emergency, with the only roads to a crime scene made impassible by snow, the evidence technician could use one of the many other four-wheeldrive vehicles owned by the Police Department.
    Blanchard added that the city’s plows could also likely clear a path for an evidence technician.
    But what if the technician is stuck at home, miles from Schenectady? There is one evidence technician who lives in the city, Kilcullen said. And two of the four technicians have four-wheel-drive vehicles already.
    “So half your fleet is four-wheeldrive!” Erikson said. “I think when we’re telling people they can’t get raises ... this is not the right message.”
    He said the department must get by with a less-expensive vehicle. “I think most communities have sufficed with a van. I don’t see why we’re so different from other communities in upstate New York,” he said.
    Riggi added that vans are more practical because they offer more space for equipment. .................>>>>>...........................>>>>>..................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01401&AppName=1

I know this sounds absurd, so go ahead and attack me. About 30 years ago and back,  wheel drive vehicles were extremely uncommon in the general population. It was not until the nineties that I got my first 4 wheel drive vehicle. However back in the day we received just as much snow and bad weather if not more (maybe THAT is not so absurd a statement?)

What WAS really common were four things: Skills at driving in snow, snow tires, studded snow tires, and tire chains which can go on and off a vehicle with little practice and skill.

I confess that I have a four wheel drive vehicle, two actually. However Last winter which was one of the very worst in 20 years, I used the 4 wheel drive on my daily driver only once for about 2 miles. This season I have not used it at all. I DO place snowtires on it every fall. Furthermore, my second 4 wheel drive vehicle is a snow plow truck. In a small squall, I do not use the 4 wheel drive when I plow because I drive it with studded snows. I am reluctant to use the 4 wheel drive unless I NEED it. And normally I do not. One must understand that studded snow tires provide traction that most drivers would never appreciate until they tried it, and most drivers have not. I would recommend that the city budget an extra 800 per van for studded snow to be used from November until April. That will end all the teeth gnashing.

Quoted Text

so that police officers who live in rural Saratoga County can get to work safely in city-owned vehicles.

REALLY?

OK, dumb question....
Vehicles in dispute are for Forensic Techs...right?
They do not need to fly to crime scenes with sirens and lights blazing...right?
Why can't they drive their own vehicles to the Police Stations, p/u at 4wd (or other vehcile) and then go to crime scene?  Why do they really need to drive vehicles home for their use?

I've seen so many Trooper vehicles used as personal transport, too and it frustrates me....