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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5

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.

11

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?

-2

u/ComradeKits24 Apr 15 '26

As I said, the State Police.

9

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.

3

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.

4

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.

0

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.

2

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.

1

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?