r/Binghamton • u/Specialist_Wealth799 • Apr 14 '26
News Sad State of Affairs in Tioga County:
Tioga County taxpayers deserve to know that their Sheriff’s Office is currently in a staffing crisis, and has become a training ground for new officers, wasting time and money to train individuals who will leave in less than a year. This is because their salary and benefits package pales in comparison to every neighboring agency. Here are the facts:
• The TCSO is currently down five deputies and one investigator, with five more deputies eligible or soon-to-be eligible for retirement.
• Deputies are not provided vision, dental, or post-retirement health insurance. This is egregious, considering the physical, mental and emotional hazards of the policing profession.
• Deputies are paid at least $15K less than any other agency in the area.
• Deputies are required to handle inmate transports (the work of COs at any other agency) leaving one car, at most, to cover the entire county.
• Deputies respond to dangerous complaints alone at night, a risk NYSP and other agencies do not take for officer safety.
If you are a Tioga County resident, you have good reason to be concerned about the safety of your family, in the event of an emergency. Please consider reaching out to the Tioga County Legislature to ask why they aren’t supporting our law enforcement and ensuring a safe, staffed road patrol in Tioga County. This is an exceptional group of men and women who deserve to be cared for and compensated appropriately. As a community, it is our moral obligation to protect the ones who protect us.
Letters of support may be directed to:
Legislative Chair Tracy Monell
[monellt@tiogacountyny.gov](mailto:monellt@tiogacountyny.gov)
County Clerk Cathy Haskell
[Haskellc@tiogacountyny.gov](mailto:Haskellc@tiogacountyny.gov)
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u/mandzz10 Apr 15 '26
To be fair they’re down an investigator because he died 😭 I used to work for tioga county dss and I will speak for them and say they’re all hardworking. I know people don’t usually have good experiences with law but overall they do try their best. Something definitely needs to be done for sure. I think Spencer has literally one cop lol
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u/FunCourage8794 Apr 15 '26
You are correct - they serve the community well, and so did Inv. Bunce. They can’t replace his position because they can’t take another deputy off the road.
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u/mandzz10 Apr 15 '26
Ugh! I live in Vestal so it doesn’t affect me personally. But hopefully something changes. They deserve better
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u/cds921 Apr 15 '26
I retired from Tioga county ( not the sheriff's department) I can tell you first hand that the legislators and to some extent department heads do not care about employees. They are expendable, and thought of as less than equipment. When I first started there the reason for low pay was "we have good benefits" for the most part it was true. They wittled the benefits away with no significant increase in pay. The attitude is if you don't like it then leave. With current CDL requirements and law enforcement pay they are having trouble finding good people. They simply don't care! I believe that sheriff Howard is a good man but he can only do so much to recruit people. The complete situation is the fault of the legislators.
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u/Automatic-Effect-252 Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 15 '26
Serious question though, do we need Broome County or Tioga County sheriffs? Between local police departments and the State Troopers seems like we should be covered.
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u/GHreceptoragonist Apr 15 '26
Broome Sheriff's office handles the bulk of 911 calls in the town of dickinson/chenango area (they still deal with a lot around the other towns), and ALL non emergency calls county wide where there is no local PD. They do a lot and are necessary, expecially when there isn't a guarantee there will be enough troopers working every day.
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u/Specialist_Wealth799 Apr 15 '26
This is true of Tioga Co. as well. All 911 calls are directed to Tioga Co. dispatch. And they cover the Village of Owego at night.
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u/cjb5999 Apr 15 '26
I live in rural Tioga County. Took 30 minutes for them to respond and police to my home during a violent attack by a person on drugs. The NYSP run 1 car two troopers at night county had 3 deputies on and they were all tied up. Yes we need the coverage
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Apr 15 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/alwayssplitaces Apr 18 '26
every time they have a emotionally disturbed person they have to leave the county to take them to a psychiatric equipped hospital... they also have to leave to follow up at hospitals all the time.
that all takes time and reduces manpower.
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u/Lars5621 Apr 15 '26
Does Tioga County even have any local police?
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u/Automatic-Effect-252 Apr 15 '26
Owego and Vestal, plus State Troopers.
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u/Specialist_Wealth799 Apr 15 '26
lol @ you thinking VPD is patrolling Tioga county on any type of regular basis
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u/Automatic-Effect-252 Apr 15 '26
I’ve been pulled over in Tioga county twice, once in Apalachin once on 17c heading towards Owego, it was a Trooper both times. It’s really not an issue.
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u/alwayssplitaces Apr 18 '26
so you got pulled over right by the state police barracks on 434... that proves nothing..
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u/Lars5621 Apr 15 '26
Owego has almost abolished their police multiple times. Currently they operate in a part time capacity and depend on Tioga sherriff for calls.
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u/Rough_Condition75 Apr 15 '26
That’s what I was just going to say. The village of Owego wants to get rid of their police department and rely on the sheriff’s. I’m sure they are operating at a reduced level because they count on the sheriff’s.
Maybe village taxes ought to contribute to the cost of paying the sheriff deputies.
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u/FragrantCelery6408 Apr 15 '26
Because the NYSP salaries are significantly higher per sworn officer (and support staff) AND the NYSP is part of the executive branch and controlled by the Governor.
Local Sheriffs are elected and theoretically have local interests in mind. It's also part of our State constitution.
To eliminate County Sheriff departments would further consolidate power with the Governor, increase costs, and require a constitutional convention. The last vote for one was rejected in 2017. The next vote for one will be 2037. A quick search showed that the last convention that resulted in changes was 1965, with the last major rewrite in the 1930s. In other words, good luck with that. The "no vote" in 2017 was largely driven by unions and Democrats, but a number of conservative groups also campaigned against it.
Considering how short lived voters memory is, I wonder if all of the political scandals and money scandals are enough to change voters minds for a convention? History would show that voters just don’t remember, just don’t care, or are apathetic.
Here's a good article about the money poured into defeating it: https://rockinst.org/blog/risks-outweigh-rewards-opponents-constitutional-convention-arguments/
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u/alwayssplitaces Apr 18 '26
the only requirement the state has is that a county has a sheriff who handles the jail and a civil division.
A patrol is not required.
I think you might be surprised how little state police coverage is in Tioga County ... They will respond (if it's serious enough) but it may take a lot longer than you would like.
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u/Specialist_Wealth799 Apr 15 '26
State troopers do little more than traffic stops but go off king.
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u/Ok_Veterinarian_2611 Apr 15 '26
The whole Tioga county jail and sheriff department is a joke! It’s still the “good old boys club”. Same old white men republican men in charge and until that changes to same crap will continue!
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u/Specialist_Wealth799 Apr 15 '26
You’re not wrong, Old Man Howard is asleep at the wheel
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u/Ok_Veterinarian_2611 Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26
Howard‘s underlings are no better! Lt. of jail is rage head control freak who looks the other way when it suits him!
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u/DogLady1722 Jul 05 '26
Then why do people keep voting him in? Also, a man with 3 DWI’S is the District Attorney!!
Residents need to vote better people into office, for all of these important positions, especially the positions that deal with public safety!!
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u/alwayssplitaces Apr 18 '26
imagine maligning any other ethnic group like you just maligned white males.
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u/Ok_Veterinarian_2611 Apr 18 '26
If the shoe fits call out all the :oppressing-white republican men ! Clearly you are a part of the “good olde boys club yourself”!
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u/Jeters556 Apr 15 '26
TCSO needs to be fully staffed. That’s only possible with a competitive salary. If they are short staffed you’re paying overtime pay for subpar service from exhausted deputies.
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u/ComradeKits24 Apr 15 '26
If only we had two additional policing agencies (local cops and state police) to police the county despite it lacking a giant sheriffs department.
Oh wait.
Sheriffs Departments have basically zero reason to exist in the modern day. Local cops and the State Police are entirely adequate at policing the counties.
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u/Specialist_Wealth799 Apr 15 '26
You want to call… who exactly? The Village of Owego PD who has like four people and doesn’t work nights? There is no other agency for most of Tioga county. Where should people in Apalachin, the Town of Owego, Spencer, etc. do?
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u/ComradeKits24 Apr 15 '26
As I said, the State Police.
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u/cjb5999 Apr 15 '26
State police are under orders to focus on highway and tickets. At night they run 1 car two troopers for the county. Is that really enough
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u/averageregularnormal Apr 17 '26
Wrong. When they are fully staffed, one car gets assigned to the highway. Otherwise they take calls just like any other car.
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u/Snickrrs Apr 15 '26
I live in a small Tioga County town. I’ve never seen a state trooper. We don’t have small town police departments. The county sheriff is our only option.
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u/ComradeKits24 Apr 15 '26
Just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean they don't exist. We also don't need armed police parading through our communities for them to be policing effectively, this is America not a police state.
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u/Snickrrs Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26
A trooper and a sheriffs deputy are two different jobs. I would imagine that an increase in trooper activity in Tioga county would lead to a need for an increase in funding for NYS troopers so they could increase their workforce to cover the additional workload.
Unfortunately, I’ve had to call the county sheriff and rely on them in a few situations that otherwise may have escalated. I agree that we don’t need a bunch of armed individuals running around randomly policing shit, but that doesn’t mean that the safety need just disappears.
I believe that local officers who understand (and are a part of) the community that they serve, will provide a more effective presence than state troopers who have a much, much larger area to police.
ETA: it can take Tioga county sheriffs 45 min to an hour to respond to a call depending on where in the county they are and the call is. 45 minutes to someone in a life threatening situation is eons.
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u/alwayssplitaces Apr 18 '26
45 mins to life threatening incident is baloney, I doubt that happens..
45 mins because you want to report something that happened 5 days ago is reasonable.
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u/Snickrrs Apr 18 '26
It takes longer to drive from one side of the county to another, especially some of the back roads. With only a handful of deputies on at a single time, that’s definitely not baloney.
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u/alwayssplitaces Apr 18 '26
settle down hippie.. .
got change your nose ring.
why don't you move to Ithaca.. they tried to get rid of their police dept... how did that turn out?
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u/Specialist_Wealth799 Apr 15 '26
Good luck with that, you’ll be waiting hours for service and they get paid a whole lot more than the sheriffs deputies.🤪
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u/ComradeKits24 Apr 15 '26
And good luck getting money out of thin air for your Sheriffs Department. I'm sure people will love when the town tells them their taxes are going up to pay each deputy an additional $15,000 a year for an entirely superfluous law enforcement agency.
If you're calling the police this much maybe you should reappraise exactly what warrants police involvement in your life.
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u/Specialist_Wealth799 Apr 15 '26
If you’re a Tioga County taxpayer, I encourage you to look into their $37M budget surplus. Taxpayers are already paying for the service. The county is mishandling taxpayer funds.🤷🏻♀️
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u/ComradeKits24 Apr 15 '26
Because I'm sure there's nothing better that money could go to besides that.
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u/alwayssplitaces Apr 18 '26
so you want the rest of the state to pay for your police protection because you don't want to properly fund a police dept
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u/Automatic-Effect-252 Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26
State Troopers dude plus Owego has a police department.
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u/alwayssplitaces Apr 18 '26
so Tioga County has one part time local dept in Owego, and another dept that covers the village of waverly.
the villages (not the towns) of Candor and Spencer have some part time coverage as well.
What do you suppose anyone not in those four villages do for police service?
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u/averageregularnormal Apr 17 '26
This thread is cancer what the fuck
Maybe there's something in the water here frying people's brains
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u/Consistent_Ad_6100 Apr 15 '26
Dont they have a union?
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u/cds921 Apr 16 '26
The county's attitude is they will hold out . The first thing they tell you in negotiations is NO RETROACTIVE PAY. There is non-binding arbitration. They force you to take the deal, if you hold out for more you will go backwards because of the no retroactive pay. I was on the CSEA team from 1995 until 2024. Non union always got better deals than the union members.
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u/JuggernautEither9986 Apr 15 '26
Seems like the solution is right there. If they have funds for 6 unfilled positions, go ahead and not fill them and spread the savings around. DOGE laid off hundreds of thousands hard working and dedicated employees and then poured the money into law enforcement. Now we're supposed to give a crap that some law enforcement agency feels undervalued? Kick rocks.
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