Cortland County sheriff Mark Helms. (Photo provided by Cortland County).
Cortland County Legislators voted unanimously Thursday at the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee to recommend approval of several new positions at the County Sheriff’s Office.
The new positions – a new police sergeant who will deal mostly with drug-related crimes and six special patrol officers – are still subject to approval from the County Legislature at its meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. May 25.
Sheriff Mark Helms said both sets of positions would be creative solutions to a shallow pool of applicants.
The sergeant position would earn $41.9045-per-hour for 40 hours a week with benefits. The sheriff’s office would start looking for candidates starting May 26 if approved. Right now, the sheriff’s office has two investigators working exclusively on criminal activity involving drugs as part of the county’s drug task force.
“When it comes to drug crimes, we get tips all the time and we get calls. These officers are going to be working just those, not go into other calls,” Helms said. “We’ve got enough work in the area of drugs where we can keep two people busy, stop, and they need to concentrate on just those not bouncing around.”
Helms said the position will be a part of the county drug task force. He added the ability to get a helping hand from other law enforcement offices has worked out well, but that more resources need to be exhausted when it comes to drug-related crimes.
“State police have assigned a person who works with us. I can’t always depend on them, but they are there to help,” Helms said. “We are looking to have four people working drug cases nonstop. We are running into cases that are bigger and we are running into stuff that I don’t think can wait. The state is putting a ton of money into the help for addiction and all that, but there is a real need for help with what we are seeing.”
Republican Legislator Joseph Nauseef, LD-12, agreed with Helms.
“We need to do more,” he said.
Legislators also voted unanimously to create positions for two part-time special patrol officers for public building security. These officers would be paid $27.93 per hour. They also decided to create four school resource officer positions who would be paid $30 an hour.
“We are looking to try and create, and try to find officers who are retired and are suitable and willing to be special patrol officers and help out with security,” Helms said. “This makes them peace officers, so it makes them different from our part-time police officers. It allows us to use different restrictions.”
Although it is not clear what schools the school resource officers would be stationed at, Helms said the sheriff’s office already tries to cover most calls that come from schools.
Helms said Onondaga-Cortland-Madison (OCM) BOCES has expressed interest in contracting school resource officers from the Cortland Sheriff's Office. Officials from the Marathon Central School District, Helms added, have also inquired.
“I'm just trying to fulfill the needs with the best means possible. I’ve got openings right now,” he said, “There isn’t a civil service test available to fall so I might be able to start looking at hiring off a full time list maybe in January. I’ve got my fingers crossed.
The legislature will vote on these new proposed positions on May 25.
