City Council,

It has come to our attention that the Ogdensburg City Council has proposed budget cuts that may soon impact the City of Ogdensburg. Of those proposed budget cuts, city council has proposed cuts that will impact public safety as those cuts would greatly affect the City of Ogdensburg Police Department and the City of Ogdensburg Fire Department.

City Council has proposed these cuts in an unprecedented time in the United States and beyond. The world is faced with an illness that, before January, was not known to the world and has made its way through the United States. St. Lawrence County is no stranger to the growing number of cases of COVID-19 that the United States is experiencing and the City of Ogdensburg is no different. The City of Ogdensburg, at the time of this writing, holds the second highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in St. Lawrence County.

It is no secret that the normal course of business in modern times is to try to do more, with less. While, sometimes that may prove to be beneficial in the private sector, this does not work when dealing with public safety. Doing more with less in terms of public safety, burdens the departments that are faced with "doing more with less". Departments see less ability to adequately supervise their subordinates. There then becomes less time to review important paperwork where errors are made and not discovered. Not to mention, employing future recruits may prove difficult to the City of Ogdensburg due to the burdens these proposed budget cuts may impose on City of Ogdensburg Police Department & Fire Department employees.

These proposed budget and manpower cuts also give way to additional risk for first responders when on duty. Where, previously, there might have been two police officers assigned to a patrol unit responding to any nature of call, there might only be one police officer in the responding unit and that officer may have to wait for back-up when, before these proposed budget cuts, their back up might have already been with them. A fire crew responding to a house fire might ordinarily allow for three firemen to vent a roof, but due to proposed budget cuts may now only have two firemen. There are so many dangers associated with trying to do more with less in the public safety world.

Lastly, the Gouverneur Police Association understands the financial burdens our communities are facing, but imposing budget cuts to public safety is not the cure-all or the answer. The Gouverneur Police Association has always had a strong relationship with the City of Ogdensburg Police Department and we stand in solidarity with them as well as the City of Ogdensburg Fire Department.

Respectfully,

Darren J. Fairbanks
Gouverneur Police Association president