Crawford Police Chief opposes countywide dispatcher
By JESSICA COHEN
Governor Andrew Cuomo ’ s demand that municipalities save money by sharing services came up in the Town of Crawford council meeting , as elsewhere recently . Town Supervisor Charlie Carnes brought back suggestions that County Executive Steve Neuhaus offered at a recent meeting of the Association of Towns and Villages . One strategy was to eliminate municipal police dispatchers and rely on county dispatchers . But Police Chief Dominick Blasko opposed it .
“ I ’ ll recommend against it , but the board decides ,” said Blasko . “ We attempted to do that previously .”
Although the 911 Center “ does a great job ,” he said , Carnes recalled errors that resulted when county dispatchers were unaware of roads with the same name and other information familiar to local dispatchers .
Also , Blasko said , “ The dispatchers do administrative work and greet people coming into the station .”
He estimated savings would be about $ 60,000 , using county dispatchers . They already cover the overnight shift .
Blasko also responded to comments from meeting attendees about the results of the Justin Speights murder investigation . Last week , Juantae Brown , 20 , pled guilty to manslaughter , acknowledging that the stabbing was not in self-defense and that Speights was unarmed . The plea deal allows for a sentence of five to fifteen years .
“ The fire department was not happy with the sentencing ,” said Blasko , referring to the Bullville Fire Department , of which Speights was a member . “ But this was the best way to get closure as opposed to going to trial .”
When a meeting attendee mentioned accusations by a county legislator that police had “ bullied kids ” to get information , Blasko denied any bullying , and denied that witnesses were “ kids .”
“ They were young adults ,” he said . Later he added that the accusation had a “ chilling effect ” on witnesses
“ The district attorney ’ s office and New York State Police did a lot of work ,” said Blasko . “ If you go before a jury , you don ’ t know the outcome . To discover who did it and to be able to go to trial is a victory . The plea establishes closure , and someone is punished . What matters is the Speights family . As long as they ’ re okay , that ’ s what matters .”
As for traffic incidents during the recent blizzard , Blasko said that most
Crawford Police Chief Dominick Blasko discussed a proposal to eliminate local police dispatchers and also the Justin Speights murder investigation at last week ’ s town board meeting .
people stayed off the road .
“ A couple of people on the road ended up in a ditch ,” he said . “ They learned quickly .”
Water infrastructure
With town water at low levels , Crawford officials are waiting for state approval of a grant application to provide three to four million dollars for a new well .
“ We have just enough to get by ,” said Carnes . “ If we have a population increase or a well runs dry , that would be a problem .”
Crawford Water and Sewer Superintendent Tom McKelvey says the plan is to tap into county water by piping it down Route 52 .
“ We went from one to five wells ,” he said . But one well went dry and is no longer used .
McKelvey also brought up the possible need for 40 new fire hydrants , which , Carnes noted , would cost about $ 1 million . On McKelvey ’ s “ wish list ” is replacement of old Ludlow hydrants with modern “ breakaway hydrants .”
However , McKelvey later expressed uncertainty about the value to homeowners of replacement in terms of insurance company ratings of fire protection , which is based on a house ’ s distance to hydrants and fire houses .
“ The hydrants work fine ,” he said , “ and two companies have no hydrants .”
However , he recommended that the hydrants be inspected by fire departments .
Carnes decided to delay addressing the fire hydrant issue until the next meeting , since two council members were absent , limiting the council ’ s ability to make monetary decisions .
Wallkill Valley Times , Wednesday , March 22 , 2017 3
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