Just Say No To SWAT Teams And Cameras
Posted on Thursday, 9 of July , 2009 at 4:16 pm
COMMENTARY
By June Maxam
One of the hottest topics in Warren County today, besides cries for the current members of the Warren County Board of Supervisors to be replaced due to their ineptness, is district attorney Kate Hogan’s plan to put surveillance cameras on Glens Falls’ South St. and Sheriff Bud York’s plan for a SWAT team.
Neither one is warranted. Neither are the scare tactics being advanced by Hogan and York trying to justify their $350,000 wish list. It’s unfortunate that so far no one has come forth to announce that they are going to challenge Hogan in her bid for reelection.
Democracy is all about choice. Voters deserve a choice, especially when the elected officials in office start advocating such grandiose proposals.
Matters of ethics aside for the moment, it didn’t take Kate Hogan long to lobby newly elected Congressman Scott Murphy, a family member, for $250,000 in federal tax dollars to fund surveillance cameras in the “high crime area” on the Street of Dreams. Let’s face it, her plan is just a legalized peeping Tom. How much are taxpayers going to pay someone to sit and view the tapes?
Wait, maybe it could be a real revenue getter for the county. Maybe Hogan and Company could make copies of the surveillance tapes and rent them out through Blockbuster! Of course it won’t do much for tourism.
And then there’s the $100,000 that York wants for an “Emergency Response Team”.
Maybe York could post his $100,000 SWAT team in shifts on South St. Now that would really deter crime on the Street of Dreams.
Is it a conflict of interest for Murphy to be seeking money and lobbying Congress for a family member’s project? That’s to be decided later. The primary issue at hand is tax dollars first and Big Brother, second.
Seriously, there are a lot of more worthwhile issues in Warren County that merit $350,000 in federal tax dollars if any money is going to be spent at all. We should be saving money, not thinking up new places to spend more.
Unless your name is Rip Van Winkle, you know that this country, state, county is in severe economic times. County officials should be tightening their belts, not looking to create new programs as taxpayers are being forced to cut more and more from their everyday lives as taxes increase and income and services decrease. Spending less is the buzz word today in government, not spending more.
Warren County taxpayers are looking at over a 4 to $6 million budget deficit due to the ineptness of the county’s “leaders” who have spent our money on railroads and Gaslight Village and grandiose Public Safety buildings and Social Services buildings. Finally their ill-advised actions have not only caught up with them but more seriously, the county taxpayers.
Hogan compares South St. to Schenectady’s Hamilton Hill. No way. She says she wants nearly a quarter million in federal funds to purchase “20 cameras for high crime areas” and then she tries to justify it by saying “the request for the cameras is approximately $200,000 in federal, not state or local money”.
Oh, this isn’t local money, this is federal money??? Does it really make a difference what pocket it comes from? It’s all coming out of the pocket of the taxpayers and we don’t have deep pockets. Rob from Peter to pay Paul is Hogan’s plan it seems.
And then there’s the public safety argument. This is how the sheriff’s department got so big. For years, whenever the supervisors might balk at one of Larry Cleveland’s proposals, he would always cry that’s it’s in the interest of public safety and without it, our babies and children and grandchildren will be raped and become drug addicts. That’s how we got a chief deputy, a major, three lieutenants, 10 sergeants, god knows how many patrol offices and a partridge in a pear tree. We have one of the most bloated sheriff’s departments in New York State per capita. It needs to be pared back, not given more toys.
How many hostage situations have there been in Warren County this year? Doesn’t the State Police have such a unit? Warren County taxpayers and its residents would be much better served if any money is going to be added to the sheriff’s department budget with the creation of a computer crime unit, not a SWAT team.
A SWAT team, (special weapons and tactics) or Emergency Response Team, whatever you want to call it, is a tactical unit trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers, including serving high-risk arrest warrants, barricaded suspects, hostage rescue, counter-terrorism (is Al-Queda expected at the Warren County Airport??), and engaging heavily-armed criminals.
A SWAT team is often equipped with specialized firearms including assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, carbines, riot control agents, stun grenades, and high-powered rifles for snipers. They have specialized equipment including heavy body armor, entry tools, armored vehicles, advanced night vision optics, and motion detectors for covertly determining the positions of hostages or hostage takers inside of an enclosed structure.
Seriously now. In Warren County?? CSI NY we’re not.
Cameras on South St. aren’t going to stop crime in Warren County. The drug dealers will simply move over to Maple St. or Elm St. or Hudson St., or change their operations to Queensbury. Legitimate business owners on South St. will see a decline in their business because some of those county supervisors and off-duty cops won’t want to be captured on film patronizing Sandy’s Clam Bar. When the sales tax revenues drop, then whose the county going to blame?
As people across the country have been shouting with their Tea Party protests and other modes of communication, we need less government intervention and presence in our lives, not more. It’s time for us to take our country back, not put everyone under the eye of a camera or turn a SWAT team on your neighbor with false allegations of drug dealing or whatever.
The official proposals as they appear on Murphy’s website are:
Warren County Street Protection Project, Warren County, New York
Amount: $250,000
On behalf of the Warren County District Attorney’s Office, I requested that the FY 2010 Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill contain $250,000 for the Warren County Street Protection Project. The funding will provide for the purchase of software and equipment to place video recording cameras on the streets in high crime areas. This is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds because the project aims to utilize new technology to reduce crime in Warren County.
Recipient: Warren County District Attorney’s Office
1340 State Route 9
Lake George, NY 12845
Amount: $100,000On behalf of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, I requested that the FY 2010 Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill contain $100,000 for Warren County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Response Team. The funding will provide for the procurement of vital emergency response gear, which includes contaminant protection equipment, tactical weapons, non-lethal weapons, body armor, rescue equipment, emergency medical supplies, and hostage rescue gear. This is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds because this funding would allow the preeminent law enforcement agency in Warren County to acquire vital emergency and crisis response equipment.
1400 State Route 9
Lake George, NY 12845
Unfortunately, our only recourse in responding to such ill-advised use of tax dollars is at the polls and as mentioned, unfortunately, although Kate Hogan is due for reelection this fall, so far she has no opponent.
If cameras and a SWAT team are the answer to the drug problem and “high crime” on South St., then why didn’t Hogan and York put the move on Kirsten Gillibrand for the $350,000 when she was Congressman? Why wait until a member of Hogan’s family went to Congress?
None of those violent crimes occurred on South St. Last December, Hogan was quoted as saying that the spate of crimes was unusual, not the norm as she is now trying to tell us in order to justify spending a quarter of million dollars for cameras on South St. At that time, Glens Falls Police Capt. Will Valenza said that robbery reports in Glens Falls, including South St., had deceased in 2008.
Yes, drugs are an issue in Warren County but then they have been for a very long time—-but then so are ethics or should we say the lack of ethics in Warren County government. Let’s address that issue first. Let’s clean up government.
The combined salaries of the Hogan household total $250,000 annually with her receiving $119,800 as district attorney and her husband, Kevin Bruen, a former Warren County assistant district attorney, now assistant counsel to the New York State Police, receiving $130,885. Perhaps if she thinks Warren County will really be “saved” by spending $250,000 in cameras for South St., she and hubby can donate their salaries this year “for the cause” and in the name of public safety. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/06/14/warren_cameras/ 7-9-09
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This commentary may not be reprinted or republished in its entirety in any medium without the express written permission of The North Country Gazette. The link and a few paragraphs may be used.
Investigative reports and commentaries of The North Country Gazette are now available only to subscribers of the NCG Daily Digest or NCG financial supporters. To sign up, click on the ad at www.northcountrygazette.org If you wish to pay by check or money order rather than PayPal, please contact us at news@northcountrygazette.org for a mailing address.
For the month of July, 2009, subscriptions to the NCG Daily Digest are available for the special rate of $15.95 for six months (reg. $24.95) or $24.95 for one year (reg. $34.95). For further information, contact news@northcountrygazette.org Offer ends 7/31/09, for new subscribers only.
First time visitors are welcome at The North Country Gazette. Thereafter, a subscription is required to gain access.
Category: Business, Crime, Drugs, Government, New York State, Opinion, Police, Warren County
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Meneame -
- Digg
COPYRIGHT 2009 - NORTH COUNTRY GAZETTE All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of the publisher.
