Staffing
The Village of Croton on Hudson Police Department consists of twenty-one sworn personnel with additional parking enforcement personnel, crossing guards, a dispatcher and seasonal park rangers.
While twenty-one officers may seem like a large number for a small village of just over 8,300 residents, Croton’s staffing is in keeping with neighboring departments with a similar number of residents. Briarcliff Manor has a population of approximately 7,500 residents, and twenty-one officers. Pleasantville has a population of approximately 7,500 residents and twenty officers. Bronxville has a population of approximately 6,500 residents and twenty-one officers.
The Croton on Hudson Police Department consists of the following.:
- One Chief of Police. This is a Civil service position, and the chief is appointed by the Village Board.
- There is one unfilled Lieutenant’s position.
- One Detective Sergeant and a Detective. The Sergeant and Detective are responsible for investigating all crimes within the Village. At times the department may ask the Westchester County Department of Public Safety to assist with investigations as staffing and expertise requires.
- Six Patrol Sergeants, with one patrol sergeant assigned the additional duties of administrative assistant. The administrative Sergeant works two shifts and is not assigned a squad of officers but assists patrol as his workload allows. One Sergeant fills the vacant Lieutenant schedule. All sergeant’s fill in for the Chief when he is on vacation, sick leave, or in training.
- Twelve patrol officers.
Why so many officers? Croton’s department serves the Village 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 weeks per year. This coverage and service would not be possible with fewer personnel. Each eight-hour shift requires a minimum of two patrol officers and a Sergeant to supervise and assist officers. While at any given moment, there may be minimal crime, officers perform traffic duty, patrol our streets to maintain a low crime rate, and perform community policing duties. At times, all officers are required for one call and at times one must be freed from a call to answer another emergency. Police work is not predictable, and scheduling is required to be based on fulfilling nothing less than the minimum needs. Current staffing affords officers the necessary “back up” when needed. The shifts are based on a rotating schedule, with each officer a rotation of 8 am – 4 pm for a designated number of days, followed by 4 pm to 12 am for a designated number of days, followed by 12 am – 8 am for a designated number of days, with time off between the changing of work hours. Such a schedule requires a minimum of five squads of a sergeant and two patrol officers. Along with this, additional officers are needed to fill in for vacation, sick days, and when officers are not on patrol for training.
There are the additional needs of the Boat Patrol unit, dive unit, bicycle patrol unit, and dedicated traffic details. These positions are filled as officers’ time allows or in the case of the boat and dive teams, emergencies impact staffing needs.
The department is also responsible for seasonal park rangers, one full time general parking enforcement officer, one part time general parking enforcement officer, four to five part time parking enforcement officers dedicated to the train station, five crossing guards, and one full time dispatcher. The dispatcher works Monday through Friday, typically assigned to the day tour. Phones are answered by the desk officer when the dispatcher is not on duty.
This article was written by members of the Police Advisory Committee as part of the Community Information Project.