WNED: Fight over Road Patrols Could Go to Court (2006-07-12)

The debate over Erie County Sheriff’s Department road patrols continues with County Attorney Laurence Rubin saying the county is not mandated to provide the service to local towns and villages.

In a letter to Sheriff Timothy Howard and Budget Director James Hartman, Rubin cites prior decisions by the State Court of Appeals and New York State Attorney General.

“The Attorney General’s opinion, back in 1981 was very clear. It said counties may decline to appropriate county funds for regular road patrol service expect to the extent that municipalities contract for the service and provide the county with funds necessary to cover the cost of the service. It’s clearly a question of a discretionary expense,” said Rubin.

County Executive Giambra has told towns and villages that under the county’s four-year fiscal plan, they will have to pay for road patrols starting next year.

Municipalities are vowing to fight the charge, arguing the county is required to provide law enforcement protection.

Some municipal leaders are vowing to fight Giambra’s plan in court, calling the separate fee a double-taxation.

Giambra says he is willing to talk, but he wants the discussion to include the idea of merging all of the police departments in the county.

“That is going to pay huge dividends for the people of this community as we continue to provide better services at a lower cost, and the only way to do that is to eliminate the redundancy that exists with having 19 separate police departments,” said Giambra.

Giambra says the control board and the legislature approved the plan for charging for road patrols. He says he would like to avoid a legal battle.

I think it’s time for Giambra to get off his egotistical high horse. His desire to regionalize this area is dead, and this idea of charging the towns and villages for Sheriffs patrols is just a step he is taking to eliminate the Sheriffs dept all together.

This is pure lunacy as is his desire to be King of the county and the man in charge of the policing in the county. His move to eliminate the good hard working people at CPS (Central Police Services) and put in his own cronies was just the beginning. He wants so badly to be king he will tear us down to do so.