MONTICELLO  — Public Safety Commissioner Scott Schulte warned against dangerous driving and called on the community to drive responsibly as he presented his report to the Public Safety and Law Enforcement Committee on July 10. 

“I want to discuss for the public: motor vehicle accidents and speeding, particularly on [Route] 17. So far in the past couple of weeks we’ve had a number of very serious accidents. In fact every morning on my way in, I either come across one or one happens shortly after I come up 17, and it’s getting really scary and really concerning,” said Schulte. 

He pointed to speeding and inattentive drivers as two core factors that result in accidents; “that’s been the case numerous times this summer and it’s not going to end if we cannot get people to put the phone down, pay attention to what they’re doing, and slow down.”

Schulte said that at the beginning of August they will begin Phase 1 of the Government Security Initiative, which will add police officers and a screening checkpoint to the entrance of the Government Center in Monticello. “The goal is to put in place the security screening measures operationally on August 4, that’s the tentative schedule.” Between now and then, Schulte said they will distribute materials to everyone in the building so employees know what to expect. Schulte said the security screening apparatus has been delivered, and that they will be completing installation and training in the next two weeks. 

Schulte said they continue to work with ITS (Information Technology Services) to bolster their technology capabilities for field operations. “We’re building out what we can in the existing command vehicle, that is an incredibly old, out-dated vehicle, and it’s been rebuilt by our DPW [Department of Public Works] folks a number of times and it’s on its last legs, so when it does break, unfortunately it will be gone, so we’re trying to come up with a cost effective, long-term replacement for that. I’m working on that, utilizing grant funding and whatever else we can,” said Schulte. Command vehicles are specialized vehicles designed to provide EMS personnel with a mobile base of operations for command and control during emergencies.

Sullivan West School District has expressed interest in the school bus stop-arm camera program, Schulte said; “That would be really great if we’re able to get that done… if they’re on board and we can get a vendor, I think that would be a really great initiative.”

With respect to rabies, from May 23 to June 29, Schulte said there were four cat incidents, 14 dog incidents, five bat incidents, and one raccoon incident. “The raccoon tested positive for rabies, and this is a 100% fatal disease without intervention, so it’s very important that people know that cute little raccoons cannot be picked up, even though it seems like the right thing to do, it is a very dangerous move.”