Whitehall proposes abolishing police department

WHITEHALL, N.Y. ( NEWS10 ) — The Village of Whitehall has proposed the dissolution of its police department. A presentation on the proposal and a public hearing on the matter took place on Monday evening.

Whitehall Mayor Julie Eagan described how it got to the point of drafting a local law that would effectively abolish the police department.

“I think the biggest challenge that we face is we can’t pay what some of the larger municipalities can pay. We just can’t. We don’t have those kind of deep pockets to be able to compete,” said Eagan.

She said they are still in the very early stages, a final decision has not been made yet, but the proposed dissolution comes down to the budget and staffing. She said they have less than 10 officers on staff now and all are part-time. The police department costs the village over $600,000 a year, an amount she calls significant for a small village like Whitehall.

“Even if we had an unlimited amount of money there isn’t an unlimited amount of police officers available,” said Eagan. “It’s just really hard right now. A lot of people are leaving law-enforcement. It’s hard to find people. It’s a tough job. Hats off to them for doing it, honestly. I wish we could give everybody an unlimited amount of money. I wish we had that in the cards but we don’t.”

She said they are already assisted by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and New York State Police when they need help covering shifts. Eagan said they’re considering putting a sheriff’s substation in the village, a plan that will be presented at the village meeting on Monday.

“We represent the taxpayers. If the taxpayers want us to keep the police department, we’ll figure out a way to do it. if they don’t, then we’ll move forward in that direction. We are waiting to see what they have to say,” said Eagan.

But, she said, keeping the police department would likely mean raising taxes. She hopes to hear from the public at the Whitehall Municipal Center Monday evening because that could decide the fate of the police department.

“This isn’t a decision that we made lightly. This isn’t something we just decided on the fly. We’ve done a lot of research. We gave this careful consideration,” said Eagan.

Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy will be available at the meeting to answer any questions.

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