OSWEGO – Mayor Billy Barlow has allocated $50,000 from the Oswego Police Department’s budget to be used by the end of 2023 to ramp up quality of life patrols and special investigation details including drug enforcement, homeless canvassing and increases in late night staffing to combat disturbances.
The funding will increase the number of police officers patrolling city neighborhoods in the evenings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday while also devoting more time and personnel to drug investigations and outreach to homeless individuals around the city.
“For the remainder of 2023, I’m requesting an increase in homeless canvassing efforts to connect individuals to available resources, additional resources towards drug enforcement to address the increase in molly in our community and more late-night quality of life patrols in our parks and neighborhoods to combat disturbances and vandalism,” Mayor Billy Barlow said.“New York State’s so-called “bail-reforms” laws are wreaking havoc on upstate communities like Oswego but I’m confident with additional resources devoted to the Oswego Police Department we can keep criminals, who should be in jail, from committing more crimes and causing more issues throughout our city.”
Oswego Police Chief Phil Cady said, “the funding allocated by Mayor Barlow doubles down on our special investigations, enforcement details and foot patrols and is the appropriate response to concerns we’ve received from neighbors in certain areas. I thank the Mayor and Common Council for their continued support of the Oswego Police Department.”
Barlow said the recent string of graffiti incidents around the city, along with the increase in homelessness and other nuisance-based issues required additional resources sooner than later to focus on then issues before spring and summer weather arrive.
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