Photo: Guard posted at Bank of America in Le Roy

Here's the short story(fact): A bank employee was being harassed by an ex-boyfriend and she had called the village police on several occasions to get an order of protection but the LeRoy P.D. refused to issue one. Her ex-boyfriend would drive around her home & place of employment all day & night long and make threatening phone calls. He then went to the BoA(her place of employment, and just totally lost it and started to cause a scene inside the bank. BoA security had caught the incident on camera and asked the LeRoy branch what was going on. After finding out that the LPD would not do anything about this, they had sent their own security team to the bank to keep the harasser away from their employee. There is more to the story, but this is the gist of the matter.

If I am not mistaken, an order of protection must be awarded by a judge, not the police department.

Sad though, that a bank would have to assign private security to protect her.

Mark, I stand corrected. I realized that afterwards but didn't think anyone would catch it. And your right, it is sad when a local agency fails to act on something this serious. This isn't the first incident of harassment of an ex-girlfriend by the harasser. The LPD should have acted upon this before corp security was called in because they were aware of this guy(harasser)because of a couple of similar incidents in the past.

I'm pretty sure you are confused on what the LPD is really here for, Mikey...... we need officers to intervene in child custody/visitation issues. Oh, and to write traffic/parking tickets. The village is getting a sweet deal. (insert pissed off sarcasm here).

Bud, looks like we rubbed somebody the wrong way with our negative vote rating. On the parking tkt issue, they only issue them for cars on Main St. Municipal parking behind the Main St. businesses that have 2 hr. limits are ignored. But now that the Village Farm Market is coming fast upon us, the powers that be put up about a dozen signs directly behind my family's business and you can bet your last nickel that the cops will enforce those parking restrictions. They pick and choose what laws to enforce and for whom(I suspect that is probably true for all towns/cities). That is from my experience the past 30 yrs. I suspect that the neg. vote is probably from one of our village trustees or councilman/woman. I'm not going to comment any further for fear of retaliation.

I'm sorry to see such negativity towards our police department. You are free to bring your complaints to the chief and to the village board.

Also, you are free to go on a ride along. You have but to talk to the chief or the sargeant to schedule it. That way you'll get to know first hand what they are doing. May I suggest a Friday or Saturday evening? Or a Tuesday evening?

You are aware that the police cannot do much about the situation outlined here unless there is an order of protection/restraining order, which they do not issue?

I know nothing about the issue outlined here, I'm just sayin'.

I also wouldn't want to be accused of the "negative" vote that apparently took place at some point. This is the first I'm seeing this. :)

Jennifer, my opinion on the neccessity of a local police department is known. Last summer, a poll question on this site asked thoughts on a metro police force. I support the concept. And any opinion I have has absolutely NOTHING to do with the people we are talking about. Chief Hayward is an upstanding, good guy, and I appreciate the years of service he has provided. We are talking about the need for the entity itself. The days of our village as a strong, vibrant manufacturing hub are long gone, as are the taxes that went along with those businesses.
Our governor, ( a democrat, BTW) was a huge proponent of government consolidation. It makes sense to eliminate duplicate services at every chance we can. A metro police force is a step in that direction.
And if no one has said it recently to you, thanks for the job you do for the village. It is a difficult position, but you are doing much for our community. Thanks :)

Yes, Bud, I understand what you are saying. I also know the level of work the police department does. My opinion has nothing to do with individuals either, other than my very strong belief in the need for strong and quick public safety. I see the reports. I know what goes on behind closed doors and out in the open. We will likely continue to disagree on this until society actually returns to the 40's and 50's. :)

Although, it seems to me that it would be less duplicative (is that even a word? LOL) if the Town went in with us on a police force rather than contracting with the county. There is a mutual aid agreement throughout the county that whenever there is a need the closest officer will respond. LPD is often the closest officer on this side of the county. They respond to quite a few things outside of LeRoy, this fact makes the idea of eliminating them that much more unpalpitable. In my opinion. It would be different if we didn't have actual crime here, but we do and I don't want to wait, as you know.