Geographical imbalance continues to be the rule in County law enforcement

Onondaga County will install a Sheriff's substation in a new town hall to be constructed in the Town of Onondaga (Syracuse Post Standard-11/19/2003). No substation is being planned for the City of Syracuse where most of the violent crimes are being committed.

One reason for this strange order of priorities is the tradition, established in the horse and buggy days, that the Sheriff never makes arrests in Syracuse, even though Syracuse taxpayers pay their fair share of the operational costs of the Sheriff's office. This is the outgrowth of a nineteenth century system that created multiple county, city, town and village law enforcement agencies. Apart from the issue of whether, in light of today's realities, this proliferation of police agencies is equitable, most will agree it is certainly duplicative and wasteful.

Rapid changes are taking place in the world around us. The Mayor and the County Executive have recently voiced their support for the consolidaton of municipal services. Erie County, confronted with the prospect of the bankruptcy of the City of Buffalo, is moving in the direction of merging the Buffalo police department with the County Sheriff's office. Syracuse and Onondaga County, facing depleted financial resources, would be well advised to do the same.