Latest on the Police

Some interesting developments on the Egremont police:

1.  After proposing one budget number after another, the selectboard ultimately decided to go with the fiunanace commitee's "level funded" police budget.  Recall that they admitted a few weeks ago that they had forgotten to include an additional full time officer in the budget, which adds about $50,000 to the cost of the police.  So they revised their number downwards to look a little better, and then caved to the finance committee's budget.  I'm guessing they were afraid of being run out of town if they hadn't. 

2.  The police budget adopted at town meeting won't pay for all our officers.  So to keep the full timers, the selectboard will be significantly cutting the hours of the part timers.   If you liked having local officers whom you knew respond to your needs, too bad. 

3.  In case you haven't heard, Reena has publicly announced that she wants her job back.  Do you think the selectboard will seriously consider that outcome?  One selectman is so in love with our new guys that he falls all over himself to compliment them at every opportunity, another selectman hates Reena with unbridled passion, and the third selectman is acting like a deer in the headlights when it comes to the police.  Unless the selectmen can propose something that will solve the situation, which would mean swallowing their arrogance and admitting error, very unlikely in my mind, I think we're in for a long court battle.

4.  I have a transcript of the selectboard meeting at which the selectmen suspended Reena (without even notifying her, let alone giving her an opportunity to be heard).  I'll gladly provide a copy to anyone who wants one.  It's very revealing, and it raises all kinds of suspicions.

5.  Some things that happen at town meeting amaze me.  The selectboard got us into a huge mess by acting really stupidly and then asked the taxpayers to bail them out by approving $15,000 for an interim police chief.   (That sure looks to me like just a back door evasion of "level funding.")   And the town voted to do it!  I guess charity begins at home.

6.  Many towns, including Alford and Mt. Washington, don't have any police and just rely on the state police.  I had always heard that those towns paid the state police for that.  Turns out that's not the case; they pay nothing!  We could offer up our new police building as a satellite station for the state police, get amazing patrolling as a result and do away with over $300,000 per year in taxpayer cost (which is among the highest per capita police cost in all of Massachusetts).  Of course, the state police might turn us down because we now know that our brand new police building is poorly designed.  Sigh!