Discussions Continue on Auxilary Police in Binghamon

3/6/2013 (Updated 3/7/2013 8:57:58 AM)

The real police have their doubts about some of the plans underway for an auxiliary police force in Binghamton's more troubled neighborhoods.  On Wednesday, the discussion continued on how to fix the shortage of police officers in Binghamton.
 
At a meeting between city council members and the President of the Police Benevolent Association -two options were brought up.  One would bring BCC students in as interns- however police say they wouldn't be able to do much but shadow officers. 

The other option is to bring retired police officers back- and pay them an hourly rate until more officers graduate from the police academy.

"We made it very clear that they won't increase our manpower to a level it should be so we have to try to work with them to make the best of a bad situation.  Hopefully, in the future, someone will make a wise decision and increase our manpower to where it should be," said Lt. Scott Patrick.

There are currently 126 officers in the Binghamton police force.  The Lieutenant says for the amount of crime in the area, that just isn't enough.

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