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Home My WebLink About03/31/2025 Date: 03/31/2025 Daft Minutes Prepared by:Thomas MacLeod Attendees Police Advisory Name Present Absent Excuse Committee Member Chair Christopher North X Member Vice Chair Kevin Foote X Member Secretary Thomas MacLeod x - Member Jim Abbott X Member Michael Regan X Member William Ryan X Member Michael Shanahan X Member Robert Martinez X Chief of Police Steven Grattan X Town Liaison Councilman Brian O. Mealy x Town Liaison Councilwoman Jill Doherty X Guest Role Call: Meeting called to order at 4:34pm by Kevin Foote Minutes Motion made by Kevin Foote to approve the minutes of feb 24 2024, Seconded by unanimously passed New Business: • Staffing report Presenting date for town board is June„ ME• ' - •• • - • • - •• Robert Martinez made a motion to end the executive session seconded by Next meeting April 28, 2025 at 4:30pm in the Town Hall conference room Respectfully submitted, : Kevin Foote Charge: Projected Police Workforce Needs — Mainland Southold (Excludes Fishers Island) I. Contextual Overview: Navigating the Headwinds Finances & Budget Realities At first glance, expanding the police worldorce may appear financially unjustifiable. Town budgets are tight, police budget is significant in the overall percentage of the entire town annual budget, taxpayers are wary, and fiscal restraint remains paramount. However, not all costs are immediately visible on a balance sheet. Discovery law changes in NYS have drastically increased administrative burdens. • Tech infrastructure is not a luxury—it is now a requirement for compliance, transparency, and efficiency. • Expanding civilian support roles offers a high return on investment, enabling officers to focus on enforcement and response. Public Perception & Desires Community expectations around public safety are inconsistent, subjective, and deeply personal. • There's a prevailing sentiment: "I want to see police when I need them—and when others are breaking the law." • Yet there's often resistance to expansion—until a delay, mishap, or high-profile case shifts public opinion. Emotions, not data, drive perception. Yet this doesn't mean those perceptions are invalid—it means they're hard to predict and even harder to satisfy with static staffing. Governance Pressure: Balancing Stakeholder Expectations Town Boards and Police Commissioners walk a tightrope between public demands, officer needs, and financial limitations. • Influenced by political cycles, vocal minorities, and community outreach moments (firehouses, churches, town halls). • Ultimately, they're judged on both short-term visibility and long-term preparedness. • Taxpayer appetite for debt or increases is limited, making strategic, lean solutions critical. Demographics & Housing Dynamics • Southold's population is stable but skews older, with more vulnerable residents who may require enhanced service or emergency responsiveness. • Affordable housing is scarce, especially for early-career officers. • Officers living outside town face longer response times, reduced engagement, and higher turnover. • Recruitment efforts are impacted by candidates' inability to live where they work—disconnecting the department from the community it serves. II. Workload-Based Staffing: Strategic Model A basic understanding of shift coverage reveals the minimum requirement just to maintain 24/7 presence: • 5 officers are needed to cover round-the-clock shifts, accounting for—190 working days per officer/year after time off, training, and leave. • This doesn't factor in light duty or restricted roles just fully deployable personnel. III. Pyramid Model: Phased Expansion Strategy Base Level— Critical Minimum Patrol Staffing • Maintain 5 fully operational officers to provide round-the-clock coverage across shifts. This is not an ideal scenario—it is survival mode. It ensures no complete coverage gaps but does not provide flexibility, backup, or surge capacity. ® Support Tier—Essential Services (Civilian Roles) Civilian IT Support (Full-Time) • Handles: Body-worn camera(BWC) data management • License plate reader programs • Cybersecurity monitoring • NYS Discovery compliance processes • FOIL/RFOIL request fulfillment • Identity fraud investigations • Mobile terminal and device support Civilian Administrative Support (Full-Time) • Manages: • Grant writing and fund sourcing • Accreditation and policy tracking • Property Clerk functions (evidence, lost/found) • Requests for public reports (accident, aided, criminal) • Non-criminal reports (walk-in, online, or phone) These civilian roles free up sworn officers, reduce burnout, and enhance compliance, while keeping costs lower than hiring additional uniformed personnel. 0 Strategic Additions—Community Engagement & Specialization School Resource Officer (SRO)/D.A.R.E. Program • Builds trust with youth, reduces school-based violence, and proactively addresses long- term issues through education and visibility. K-9 Unit • Expands capability in: • Search& rescue • Narcotics detection • Crowd control • Public demonstrations/community outreach Highway Patrol Officer • Addresses seasonal traffic influx, impaired driving enforcement, and highway-specific concernsespecially critical during summer peaks. IV. Reframing the 80/20 Rule in Public Safety 80% of calls and services are handled well. But the remaining 20%—the hard-to-predict, high-impact incidents—carry outsized consequences: • Delays in emergencies • Seasonal response strain (tourism, summer events) • Court case vulnerability from incomplete documentation • Public scrutiny when high-profile failures occur This 20% is where trust is built or lost. Stakeholders must resist the temptation to treat these as "exceptions." They are the scenarios the system must be built to withstand. V. Final Framing for the Town Board We are not proposing unchecked growth. We are proposing targeted,justified, and phased investment in areas where operational strain already exists. The real question is not whether we can afford to act— It's whether we can afford not to. Closing Question What is the cost-benefit threshold for closing the critical 20% service gap? Would you pay slightly more today to avoid failure when it matters most?