Opposition kills idea to merge Scotia, Glenville police

PHOTOGRAPHER: Michael Goot

The idea of an outright consolidation of the Scotia and Glenville police departments died Tuesday after the village Board of Trustees decided not to go forward with the concept.

However, Mayor Kris Kastberg is planning to work with the police chief and union to discuss ways to improve policing and work collaboratively with the town to share services.

The board’s decision followed about an hour of testimony from residents urging the village board not to disband the Scotia police force. A standing-room-only crowd of about 125 people packed the cafeteria at Lincoln Elementary School, with speakers even saying they would be willing to pay more in taxes to preserve the department.

Scotia Police Benevolent Association President Adam Halbfinger said the department does an effective job of policing the community and has solved a number of cases recently, including a home invasion robbery on Sunnyside Road, a robbery at the Glen Sanders Mansion and numerous burglaries.

Officers have also caught suspects spray-painting the Department of Public Works building and stealing from vehicles.

“These are just a few examples of crimes in progress that were stopped and suspects that were arrested based on our patrol technique,” Halbfinger said.

Residents praised the quick response of the officers. Resident Ron Paugh recalled a time he had an emergency and called police at one or two in the morning. “There was an officer there in less than a minute,” he said. “There was another one there in less than a minute.”

Drew Kinum compared Scotia to Mayberry from “The Andy Griffith Show,” with lots of community-oriented activities like Holiday on the Avenue and the Father’s Day car show. The police department is a major reason for that community feeling, he said.

“Are we going to go and lose the soul of Scotia?” he asked.

Kastberg told the crowd that the reason for exploring consolidation was not because he believes the Scotia officers don’t provide a fine service. He said difficult financial times require village officials to explore all options.

The village’s budget, which the board is expected to approve at its meeting next week, will contain a 4.68 percent tax increase because of rising costs.

“To get below that number, you have to start getting rid of things,” he said.

After the public comment, the board agreed that they did not want to waste time with a committee exploring the issue if it was clear that there was not public support.

However, Kastberg said he wants to evaluate policing in the village. Among his concerns is overtime. The village currently staffs with three officers per shift, but with vacation and sick time, that number drops to two. Sometimes someone is pulled off the midnight shift to fill in on days.

Scotia Police Chief Thomas Rush wants a 14th officer for the department. But Kastberg said he has concerns about hiring someone because of the long-term fiscal implications.

Rush said the village is stretched with the officers trying to do investigations and patrols. Rush said a 1997 Department of Justice study noted that Scotia should have 1.2 investigators for a department its size. That was when they had one more officer. Scotia has no investigator, as the patrol officers do their own investigations.

One idea Kastberg suggested was maybe splitting the salary of an investigator between Scotia and Glenville.

Glenville Supervisor Chris Koetzle said afterward that the town is willing to work with the village to come up with a way to save money and improve service.