fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Submit Your Event
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Send Letter to the Editor
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Night moves

by Hugh Reynolds
April 14, 2016
in Voices
0
Paul Van Blarcum. (Dan Barton)
Paul Van Blarcum. (Dan Barton)

This week we visit two executive maneuvers, one stealthier than the other. The first instance, unveiled at the county executive’s state-of-the-county message last month, is Mike Hein’s goal of reducing or eliminating the sheriff’s road patrol, a periodic target for cost-cutters in days of yore. In the second case, the same executive is apparently attempting to distance himself from the raging controversy over gun control, though the fingerprints are evident to me. The two issues are not entirely unrelated.

The road patrol, under the direction of Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum, employees about 85 officers and staff with a projected (2013) budget of about $10 million, most of it paid by the county. Corrections — the jail — adds another $22 million to the sheriff’s annual budget, which also includes $6 million in annual bond payments for the construction of the $95-million edifice.

Jail operation is almost entirely dictated by and funded by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Not so the road patrol which despite a proud tradition dating to colonial days is, as they say in Washington these days, discretionary.

The sheriff’s patrol covers remote areas of the county, and some not so rural. What has been discussed in clandestine skull-sessions in the executive department is whether other police agencies now in place can do the job as well, better or cheaper.

The model for this cost-sharing initiative was launched a few years ago when the county contracted for town highway departments to plow and maintain county roads. Towns picked up some easy cash and the county saved some. According to the county exec, the more-for-less cooperative road maintenance system has worked out splendidly. Back at the county office building, bean counters were able to lay off a bunch of county highway workers, feeding the executive’s taxpayer-first proclivity.

The plan for cop conversion would be similar. Other police agencies would be asked to expand their patrol areas in exchange for county cash. I’m convinced that somewhere on a secret spreadsheet the cost to run a patrol car down a mile of (freshly paved) road has been carefully calculated.

A tried, true and almost predicable formula is being employed here. Hein has called on the county legislature to make a policy decision on the future of the road patrol. His office would be most willing to assist. It has the spreadsheets.

But Hein knows from experience — sale of the infirmary, solid-waste-flow control, privatizing mental health, etc. — that the contentious, divided and often lazy legislature is the last place from whence policy decisions on anything are likely to emerge. Ergo, the executive, most likely in the 2014 budget, will sally forth to save the day with a detailed plan.

Sheriff Van Blarcum, like any cop, would prefer to keep as many sworn officers as possible, maybe even add some. As a constitutional officer, independently elected, he broaches no meddling in the operation of his department.

“Don’t you guys report to [Deputy Executive] Bob Sudlow?” I asked the sheriff.

Pause.

“We do not report to anyone in the executive department,” the sheriff replied, biting off every word. “Bob Sudlow is our liaison. We are independent of the executive in every respect except our budget.”

Page 1 of 2
12Next
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher

Hugh Reynolds

Related Posts

Suddenly summer
Columns

Suddenly summer

June 11, 2025
Outer space clickbait
Columns

Outer space clickbait

June 11, 2025
Peace, love and pride (photos)
Letters

Letters to the editor: June 11, 2025 (local elections and more)

June 10, 2025
Thousands take to streets for 20th annual New Paltz pride march and festival (photos)
Letters

Letters to the editor: June 4, 2025 (Central Hudson, Big, Beautiful Bill, graceful aging and more)

June 3, 2025
What the newspapers said 100 years ago
Columns

What the newspapers said 100 years ago

June 2, 2025
Memorial Day Parade returns in Woodstock
Letters

Letters to the editor: May 28, 2025 (Amanda Gotto, Anula Courtis, Tim Rogers and more)

May 27, 2025
Next Post

Rondout Creek repair project stalled as Army Corps funds, crew diverted by Hurricane

Weather

Kingston, NY
64°
Light Rain
5:18 am8:34 pm EDT
Feels like: 64°F
Wind: 1mph NNW
Humidity: 76%
Pressure: 30.11"Hg
UV index: 0
SunMonTue
68°F / 57°F
72°F / 59°F
75°F / 63°F
powered by Weather Atlas

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Art
    • Books
    • Kids
    • Lifestyle & Wellness
    • Food & Drink
    • Music
    • Nature
    • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
    • Hey Kingston
    • New Paltz Times
    • Woodstock Times
    • Week in Review

© 2022 Ulster Publishing