June 18, 2015
City OKs joint tactical team with sheriff’s department
The city Common Council approved a memorandum of understanding Tuesday between the Cortland Police Department and the Cortland County Sheriff’s Department to form a joint tactical response unit.
During a council meeting Tuesday, city Police Chief F. Michael Catalano said the city has the only tactical team in the county, and it is used to respond to events like high-risk warrant service, barricaded subjects and large drug-related searches.
Catalano said the tactical team is made up of 10 city police officers when fully staffed, but the state Division of Criminal Justice Services and the National Tactical Officers Association recommend having at least 15 officers.
“We don’t have enough personnel where we could put 15 people ... on one team to be able to train all the time,” Catalano said. “That’s impossible without costing huge amounts of money.”
Catalano said he has been in talks with Sheriff Lee Price for years about having officers from the sheriff’s department train with city police to help bolster the tactical team. He said Tuesday’s vote by the council would put that plan in writing.
The agreement underscores that the tactical team would work under the city police department’s existing policy. It covers potential liability issues and would make it easier for one or both parties to back out, if necessary, Catalano said.
“Many times, our tactical team has been used outside the city already,” Catalano said. “But there’s so many other uses, The Sheriff’s Department definitely can see the value in that (collaboration) as well.”
The motion was passed by a 6-1 vote, with Alderman Clif Dutcher (5th Ward) voting against it.
After the meeting, Dutcher said he thinks the Cortland Police Department does a good enough job on its own, adding a larger, multi-agency tactical team could potentially intimidate residents and escalate emergency situations.
“I don’t see the need for this response team,” Dutcher said. “I think it may actually cause more problems than what they think they’re going to solve.”
County legislators are expected to review a similar agreement during their next regular meeting scheduled forJune 25.
In other business, an agenda item brought by Alderman John Bennett (4th Ward) was passed that will have auditors look into the city’s utilities usage and make sure it is being chargedaccurately.
During the meeting, Bennett noted there are 1,400 street lamps in the city — some of which have not been working properly, and called for the audit to ensure the city is paying only for what it uses.
“Like every municipality, it pays ... by what (electric company) National Grid says that we use,” Bennett said. “As far as I know, I do not believe the city ... has ever audited what National Grid says.”
The city plans to use an auditor it has worked with before, Buffalo-based Troy & Banks Smart Solutions, to look at the usage rates of street lights.
Bennett noted the audit will cost nothing unless Troy & Banks finds the city is being overcharged, at which point the company would be paid 30 percent of what’s recovered.
The motion to conduct the audit passed the council with a 6-1 vote. Aldermen Linda Ferguson (D-7th Ward) voted against the motion, but declined to go on the record as to why after the meeting.
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