Legislator: ‘Demonstrate the need and you have my vote’

During a lengthy, sometimes raucous discussion on July 21 at a Putnam County Legislature committee meeting, Philipstown Supervisor Richard Shea and Deputy Supervisor John Van Tassel and two town residents urged the county to restore Sheriff’s Department patrols on the Hudson River. 

With support from the county Legislature, County Executive MaryEllen Odell last fall eliminated a $45,000 allocation for the unit, which also covered Lake Mahopac. When the Sheriff’s Department explained this spring that it had scraped together money from its reserves to continue operations, using two boats provided at no charge by the state, Odell demanded that New York reclaim its vessels. She also appealed to the county executives of Orange, Rockland, Dutchess and Westchester to assist with marine emergencies along the shores of Cold Spring, Garrison and Philipstown as part of mutual aid.

At last week’s meeting, Legislator Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley, reminded members of the Protective Services Committee that “mutual aid means mutual.” In other words, said Sheriff Robert Langley Jr., “we will help you out with our boats, but you have to help us out with your boats.” 

Legislator Ginny Nacerino of Patterson, who chairs the committee, said the evening’s topic was not “defunding of the marine patrol.” Instead, she said, “we’re merely discussing safety issues.” She demanded that comments be limited to a June 30 statement by the county’s Bureau of Emergency Services, which discussed whether a teenager who drowned near Cold Spring might have been saved by a patrol boat. She then recessed the meeting for several minutes when a Mahopac resident tried to question the rationale for ending the patrols.

“The drowning was not due to lack of sheriff’s resources being there,” said Nacerino, adding that “it’s not our river.”

Montgomery countered that “it is our river.” She asserted that the Sheriff’s Department marine unit could reach its boat docked at Cold Spring “within seconds and get on the river in minutes.” 

The county says volunteer fire departments, like those in Cold Spring and Garrison, can handle river rescues, although Montgomery noted their marine training does not match that of sheriff’s deputies. 

The June 30 statement listed 19 agencies from both sides of the Hudson that assisted with the search for the missing swimmer. That “impressive” number “just shows the massive presence that is available when there is an emergency on the Hudson River,” said Legislator Neal Sullivan of Carmel-Mahopac, who added that local fire companies “bring tremendous resources that we don’t have at the county level.”

Shea disagreed. The June 30 news release seemed “to be trying to justify the means to the end,” he said. “Our problem in Philipstown is that with tourism, with the use of the river, it’s just a lot more difficult for our volunteers, regardless of mutual aid.” Local responders spend “all weekend, every weekend and many weekdays, down by the river, or atop Breakneck,” answering calls, he said. “We really appreciated it when the sheriff’s boat was on the river.” 

He also dismissed any speculation that a river patrol boat would not have been able to save the swimmer. “No one can say, no one will know,” Shea said. “The issue becomes” having sheriff’s deputies “not able to access the river. It adds a lot of responsibility to Philipstown, to our volunteers,” he said. “We feel it’s important to support the local volunteers with the paid service” of the deputies. He asked for reinstatement of the boat patrol, calling it “such a minor part” of county spending.

Van Tassel expressed similar views. “It’s absurd to me” to argue that a volunteer fire company, with a boat, can replace the Sheriff’s Department on the water, he said. Despite some overlap, “their responsibilities are completely different.” In a July 21 letter to Odell and the county legislators, he wrote that “the additional eyes on the water by deputies who were available that evening and who have vast knowledge of the river in the area could have made a huge difference.” He urged the county to “finance the sheriff’s marine unit before another tragedy occurs.”

Langley said “there’s only one power that could know” if a boat would have mattered, “and it’s Almighty God. Perhaps this is God telling us that we need that boat out there.” He noted the marine unit boat was equipped with thermal imaging, which can locate a person in the water. “We don’t know what the outcome would’ve been” had it been utilized, he repeated. “But maybe this 17-year-old child could have been rescued.”

Chris Tobin, the head of the Philipstown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, said he thought the absence of a sheriff’s boat “had no bearing” on the outcome, but added, “I am in full support of the sheriff’s boat.” Department’s Kenneth Clair, the commissioner of the Bureau of Emergency Services, said that the teenager’s companions had searched for her and a time lag of about 40 minutes occurred between her disappearance and the dispatch of emergency responders. 

Legislator Paul Jonke of Southeast accused Langley of not supplying data to justify the marine unit, which operated for 23 years, as the county prepared the 2021 budget last fall. “We got nothing,” he said.

“We did produce documents,” Langley responded, saying his department had sent materials to Odell in August. “The budget was imposed upon the Sheriff’s Office with no discussion from the county executive’s office.” As a last-ditch effort, he said his department proposed reductions in its other expenses to save the marine unit, but was prevented from presenting that alternative. 

Besides mentioning the drowning, Montgomery, Van Tassel and Langley raised concerns about policing on the water. The sheriff mentioned a need to thwart speeding, drunken boating, reckless jet skiing and illegal conduct.

Louis Liotti, who lives in Philipstown, suggested that the county not only restore the patrols but upgrade them to a full-time operation during the boating season. “Those interested in protecting the citizens of Putnam, both for the safety of us and from a law enforcement standpoint, might investigate having 24/7 coverage,” he said.

“What’s done is done,” at least until 2022 budget preparation, Nacerino replied.

“Why can’t we just reinstate [the patrols]?” Montgomery asked. “Put it on the agenda. Save some lives.”

Nacerino noted that Odell, not the Legislature, returned the boats to the state. “It wasn’t under our purview,” she said. Going forward, “we will continue the conversation” though “we felt we made the right decision,” she said. Nonetheless, she added, “demonstrate the need and you have my vote” to restore the patrols. 

Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Armstrong was the founding news editor of The Current (then known as Philipstown.info) in 2010 and later a senior correspondent and contributing editor for the paper. She worked earlier in Washington as a White House correspondent and national affairs reporter and assistant news editor for daily international news services. Location: Cold Spring. Languages: English. Areas of expertise: Politics and government

3 replies on “Philipstown Officials Call for Return of River Patrol”

  1. A resident of Putnam County would have to be living in a bank vault to not acknowledge the contention and animosity between the Legislature (all Republican, save Nancy Montgomery) and Sheriff Robert Langley.

    With the elimination of the river patrol, we have a situation of political party over county and political party over public safety. This is not a good situation. What is needed is leadership, an attempt and an ability to work with both entities, for the common good of the public. Where is County Executive MaryEllen Odell? Why does she sit on the sidelines and allow this feud to continue? She should intervene and bring all relevant issues to mutual satisfaction.

    Langley and his department’s performance is exemplary and his only liability is that he is a registered Democrat in Republican Putnam. The Legislature might wish to pass guidelines that all county employees be registered Republicans.

    1. Odell hasn’t been on the sidelines in the feud against Sheriff Langley — she’s been a very active participant in it. She passes up no opportunity to take digs at him in the press; something that would have been unthinkable during his predecessor’s “rule” over our county. It’s a shameful display of partisanship by the shameless Odell and her lackeys, who just want to erode the sheriff’s support, so they can install their handpicked successor, who long ago hung up his law enforcement hat in favor of being a politician. It would be a dark day for our county if he were to be elected.

  2. This is a disgrace. Enough of Odell and the Republican shenanigans going on at the county seat. Their ongoing juvenile behavior is unconscionable. Even worse, their actions are putting public safety at risk. As Odell demanded the removal of our boats with the support of the rest of her contingent of bullies who call themselves legislators, they should all be held liable for the loss of life that has or may yet occur on OUR river.

    I only hope the family of that 17-year-old requests an investigation into these legislators’ actions and how their petty, politically motivated actions very likely impacted the tragic loss of a child. The bullying of Philipstown by the legislators from the eastern side of this county needs to end. Too bad it may mean more loss of lives to achieve this.

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