Proposal To Trim Rockland County Sheriff's Patrol Deputies Comes Under Fire
NEW CITY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Police and their supporters have fired back against Rockland County Executive Ed Day's proposal to trim 37 sheriff's patrol deputies.
Day told CBS2's Lou Young on Friday the division the deputies are in is poorly organized and inefficient.
"I find it a bit of a betrayal to the service," said Day, himself a retired NYPD detective commander. "I find it a bit of a betrayal to the people of the county when you look under the hood and you find these things that are, frankly, I can describe as disturbing."
The man who wrote the report recommending the changes is also standing firm, WCBS 880's Sean Adams reported.
Police, Supporters Fire Back Against Rockland County Executive's Proposal To Trim Sheriff's Patrol Deputies
"I am from law enforcement. I lived through layoffs in the city in 1975," former NYPD Chief of Department Lou Anemone said.
"Over the years an empire was constructed here in Rockland County in the sheriff's police division," Anemone told Young.
A division that includes an arson unit, bomb squad, and mounted police detail, something Anemone dismissed as a glorified petting zoo, Young reported.
Sheriff Louis Falco was not amused.
"I respect Louis Anemone and the job that he did down there, but this is not the City of New York. This system in Rockland County was built over 50 years ago," Falco said.
Anemone made different recommendations, but said he supports the proposed cuts.
"It needs to be trimmed. They need to work more efficiently, more productively and with much better management," he said.
Meanwhile, Todd Farmer, the union president for sheriff's deputies, said the officers provide a vital service and security, and added getting rid of them is a mistake.
"At the expense of the safety of the public and it really is," Farmer said.
"What happens to my men? You don't have anything to go to. What are we going to do?' he added.
If the blade falls it will draw real blood from real people, like Sgt. Chris Ford, a K-9 cop whose job is on the line.
"I have 10 years on. I have three kids -- 7, 5, and 2. I don't know what I'm going to do," Ford said.
The Rockland County Legislature can accept the proposed budget to cut the force or rework the numbers and propose a solution of its own. To restore the proposed cuts the Legislature will have to find $7 million either by cutting elsewhere, or raising property taxes, Young reported.
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