Will guns provide safety?

By DAVID HULSE

MONTICELLO, NY — Legislator Don Trotta wants to clear up lingering complaints from Sullivan County probation officers, who believe they need to be armed on the job.

Trotta, a former state trooper, said last week that employee safety was in question. Trotta said the probation officers should either be removed from doing the dangerous procedures or be trained and equipped for the work.

“They want guns and pepper spray. We’ve declined. We made a decision,” County Manager Dan Briggs said.

“Firearms are a policy issue,” Trotta replied.

“It’s time for the county manager and [Public Safety Commissioner] Genevieve [Dainack] to put something together,” he said.

Last year, a number of the county’s probation officers made repeated appearances before the legislature, lobbying for handguns, two-way radios and bullet-proof vests.

Calling it a personnel issue, the legislature left the resolution with Briggs.

Trotta called the decision a policy issue and said it should be decided by the legislature.

What difference would guns have made in the past, legislator Greg Goldstein asked.

Dainack said probation officers have retrieved illegal weapons during home visits, but “in many instances those stories get blown up. There’s no evidence it would be better or worse with guns,” she said.

Orange and Rockland County probation officers don’t carry guns, but officers in other counties do.

“In those more populous counties, it’s a lot easier to find a cop to assist a probation officer, than in many places in Sullivan County,” Trotta said.

Briggs said probation officers themselves are split on the issue, noting that their national association has taken no position.

The committee took no action, but chair Kathy LaBuda said the issue would be placed on the agenda for discussion again in July.