Monroe County Sheriff's Office gets $7M for new positions, interagency facility
A $7 million investment into the Monroe County Sheriff's Office will add 40 new positions and fund a regional, interagency public safety facility, county leaders announced Monday.
Monroe County Executive Adam Bello said the investment will help the sheriff's office better respond to the "lack of accountability and sense of lawlessness" seen in a recent crime wave of car thefts, smash and grab burglaries, and gun violence.
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He said the funding represents the largest increase in sworn deputies in Monroe County in decades.
Bello said the funding will be used to hire 32 deputy road patrol officers, six command-level positions, a juvenile investigator and to staff a fourth and fifth platoon to increase manpower and provide backup for deputies during busy shifts.
Sheriff Todd Baxter said while the county population has grown, staffing levels have remained stagnant. MCSO averages one deputy for every 3,600 residents. The national average is 2.4 officers for every 1,000 residents, according to the FBI.
"We need to ensure as a sheriff's office we're not running at bare minimum," Baxter said. "We need to ensure we have the staff and the resources to police those areas that we're responsible for and keep that our number one priority."
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The funding will also support the creation of the Regional Investigative Operations Center. Baxter said RIOC will drive coordination between local law enforcement for multi-jurisdictional investigations and work to address regional crime waves like car thefts.
The county legislature is expected to vote to pull the funding from county reserves at its June meeting.
Kayla Canne reports on community justice and safety efforts for the Democrat and Chronicle. Get in touch at kcanne@gannett.com or on Twitter @kaylacanne
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Monroe County Sheriff's Office gets $7M for new positions
