Standing-Room-Only Crowd in
Favor of Manned Police Station
By ANNE HOLLIDAY
WESB/WBRR News Director
A crowd that flowed into the hallway outside of city council chambers heard Mayor Tom Riel and Bradford City Police officers agree to work out their differences concerning a manned police station.
A resolution to authorize the McKean County 911 Center to assume dispatch duties for the city police department was on the council agenda. But after about an hour of listening to nearly two dozen people, most of them opposed to transferring the dispatch duties, Riel said council would table the resolution.
"The City of Bradford is running a government they can no longer afford and we can no longer afford to have a paid police officer sitting over there at the desk," Riel said to the police officers who were at the meeting. "If you want to work on something that will save money with a civilian dispatch, or something, we can consider it and talk about. But it's got to be something that saves the city money and does not have a paid, uniformed officer sitting behind that desk 24/7."
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Bradford City Police Lt. Roger Sager, one of six police officers who spoke, said the significance of the police station being manned by a sworn officer cannot be overstated.
"A recent event might explain it best," he said. "On September 14 the search for a homicide suspect (Thomas Haggie) came to a successful conclusion in Elmira, New York. This came about as a direct result of communications between sworn officers in several states working together.
"In our department I know that two officers, sitting in chairs, coordinated literally dozens of communications with other agencies to accomplish this arrest," Sager said.
He added that officers handled other calls that night as well and, near the end of the shft, a woman wearing bloody clothes with blood pouring from her nose went into the staion.
"She was afraid she had been followed by her attacker," he said. "She was in need of medical attention and legal advice. Where would she have gone if there was no one at the police station to help her?"
Sager's comments were met with applause.
Carrying a sign that said "Keep Our Police Station Open," Dee Baxter told the story of being followed home from work late at night by someone who kept flashing his high beams on and off.
"I finally pulled into Kennedy Street in front of the police station and that car sped away and an officer followed me home," Baxter said. "Where would I go now?"
Retired city police officer Tom Hardy added, "By shutting down the police station you are simply closing down a place to run, and for someone that's really in trouble, that's extremely important."
Riel explained that if the dispatch duties were tuned over to Smethport, a phone and camera monitored by the 911 center would be inside the vestibule so people would still get immediate attention.
Welch Avenue resident Bob Andrew, while saying he has "nothing against the policemen," asked "Why do we need them working in the office, answering the phone when they can have a civilian doing the same thing for seven or eight bucks?' I'd rather see that cop out on the street. There's too much crime going on."
Listen to the public comments from Tuesday's City Council meeting here.
WESB/WBRR News Director
A crowd that flowed into the hallway outside of city council chambers heard Mayor Tom Riel and Bradford City Police officers agree to work out their differences concerning a manned police station.
A resolution to authorize the McKean County 911 Center to assume dispatch duties for the city police department was on the council agenda. But after about an hour of listening to nearly two dozen people, most of them opposed to transferring the dispatch duties, Riel said council would table the resolution."The City of Bradford is running a government they can no longer afford and we can no longer afford to have a paid police officer sitting over there at the desk," Riel said to the police officers who were at the meeting. "If you want to work on something that will save money with a civilian dispatch, or something, we can consider it and talk about. But it's got to be something that saves the city money and does not have a paid, uniformed officer sitting behind that desk 24/7."
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Bradford City Police Lt. Roger Sager, one of six police officers who spoke, said the significance of the police station being manned by a sworn officer cannot be overstated.
"A recent event might explain it best," he said. "On September 14 the search for a homicide suspect (Thomas Haggie) came to a successful conclusion in Elmira, New York. This came about as a direct result of communications between sworn officers in several states working together.
"In our department I know that two officers, sitting in chairs, coordinated literally dozens of communications with other agencies to accomplish this arrest," Sager said.
He added that officers handled other calls that night as well and, near the end of the shft, a woman wearing bloody clothes with blood pouring from her nose went into the staion.
"She was afraid she had been followed by her attacker," he said. "She was in need of medical attention and legal advice. Where would she have gone if there was no one at the police station to help her?"
Sager's comments were met with applause.
Carrying a sign that said "Keep Our Police Station Open," Dee Baxter told the story of being followed home from work late at night by someone who kept flashing his high beams on and off.
"I finally pulled into Kennedy Street in front of the police station and that car sped away and an officer followed me home," Baxter said. "Where would I go now?"
Retired city police officer Tom Hardy added, "By shutting down the police station you are simply closing down a place to run, and for someone that's really in trouble, that's extremely important."
Riel explained that if the dispatch duties were tuned over to Smethport, a phone and camera monitored by the 911 center would be inside the vestibule so people would still get immediate attention.
Welch Avenue resident Bob Andrew, while saying he has "nothing against the policemen," asked "Why do we need them working in the office, answering the phone when they can have a civilian doing the same thing for seven or eight bucks?' I'd rather see that cop out on the street. There's too much crime going on."
Listen to the public comments from Tuesday's City Council meeting here.
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