Lewisboro PBA Questions Police Budget

The letter to the editor below was written by Lewisboro PBA President Thomas Ritchey

To the Editor:

As president of the Lewisboro Police Benevolent Association I feel that it is my responsibility to inform the residents of changes with the way the police operate in Lewisboro.

At the Nov.14town board meeting it was decided to fire three police officers and look at hiring one full-time police officer. The firing of the three officers left hundreds of hours of patrol uncovered. Part time officers do not get paid sick time, paid vacation, paid health insurance; simply put, if we don’t work we don’t get paid. Of course a full time officer would receive those benefits and more.

The chief requested $100,000 to pay for one full-time officer who would need to go to the police academy for six months. In order to come up with the money needed the chief has recommended cutting all patrols to a single person, which is extremely unsafe for us and for you. He also wants to end the weekend shift where we patrol until the early morning hours. In this economic climate it does not make any sense to have such a large expenditure for one person when the same amount of money would cover the salary of four part time officers, which would give more flexibility and would provide almost 50 percent more coverage hours.

The choice is yours, the residents of Lewisboro. Make your voice heard at the Dec.5 town board meeting.

Thomas Ritchey, President

Lewisboro PBA

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