Incident in Wendy's parking lot

What is the rationale behind having both City of Batavia Police Department and Genesee County Sheriff's Department personnel on the scene for incidents in the City? The recent Jackson Street incident had them both involved. I am sure there have been many others. Is the City of Batavia PD understaffed? Wouldn't it make more sense to have the City policed by a department of the County Sheriffs?

Same rationale as fire mutual aid, better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Until an unknown situation is clearly identified and controlled it can escalate quickly. I like the fact that our local fire, ems, and law enforcement respond and work mutually so often. Much easier to send personnel away from a scene without using them than it is too bring them in to clean up a scene that got out of control and ended tragically.

Jeff is right. When you have a call that might involve a number of people, better to have enough help on the scene right away. That extra help may be all that is needed for everything to end well.

Redundancy vs. efficiency. Luxury vs. practicality.

There's no argument against the need for services. The question is are we really providing the level of services we need with the proper organization and budget given the size of our community/county (which is stagnant at best)?

One has to wonder when there are 3 City of Police cruisers on duty on a school night and they are all parked behind a single tractor trailer on an otherwise empty street.

Other than feel goodism, has anyone really done a study on the level of services we can get through a single County Sheriffs Department? Do we really need a police station in the City of Batavia, let alone taking out loans to build a new one?

I bet we'd all have the same feel good attitude if there were 3 County Sherriffs cruisers blocking off the Wendy's parking lot as we do when there are 2 City of Batavia cruisers and 1 County Sheriffs cruiser.

Mr. Brown,

Did it ever occur to you that quite possible the Deputy was closer than the BPD was to the Wendy's and pulled into to assist with the incident until the BPD arrived?

It's not uncommon for Sheriff's Deputies to get involved in a city police department's jurisdiction for assistance prior to the city police arriving.

I don't know how many BPD cars on patrolling Batavia during the day.

i agree with Robert. I believe a county of less than 60,00 can be well served by one municipal police force. I have a tremendous amount of respect for our local police here in Leroy, but I don't believe it is necessary to have a local police force when we have Genesee County sheriffs and NYS troopers. We need FEWER government entities, and consolidating redundant services makes a lot of sense.

Not to mention, that Robert Brown's suggestion of a comprehensive study of police services should be done BEFORE deciding whether to build a 10 to 12 million dollar Police Palace. Batavia spent, I believe 50 Grrrr on a study to find out residents attitudes a few years back, you are droppin' 38 grrr on pizza parties and tea and crumpets per year. I'd think that money would better be spent on something concrete.
Just my 2 cents from a Non-Batavian

I just read that we are applying for a three year grant to hire another cop to be assigned inside the batavia school system... tax dollars hard at work..how many police officers do we need for a city of 15,000.. the census dept .shows batavia decreasing by 300 from 2010-2014...