Paterson Vetoes Bill Requiring Full-Time Town Police Chiefs

Paterson Vetoes Bill Requiring Full-Time Town Police Chiefs


Governor Paterson April 24 vetoed a bill that would have required small towns to hire a full-time police chief even if their police departments were staffed entirely with part-time officers, marking his first rejection of legislation since taking office.

An Unfair Burden

The Governor explained in his veto statement that towns with at least four full-time police officers are required to have a police chief, "which can be a part-time position," and the proposed legislation would "extend that requirement to localities with at least 15 part-time police officers, and would require that any chief mandated by this provision serve full time."

He said that it would be unfair to place a financial burden on small towns and that he had not been presented with any evidence that the current law had a negative impact on public safety.

"The adverse fiscal impact from this bill could be significant," Governor Paterson said. "Many of the localities that would be affected have very small municipal budgets, and might need to raise taxes to comply with this new mandate. Moreover, this bill presents a particular hardship on localities that might exceed the statutory threshold only when they hire additional part-time officers for the summer tourist season, but then would be forced to have a full-time police chief year round."

The Association of Towns and the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials had opposed the measure.

"In my view, the difficult choices about the appropriate allocation of scarce financial resources at issue in this legislation are best made by the elected representatives of affected towns and villages themselves," the Governor said.