Town of Wellsville still considering idea of police force

A relaxed Shad Alsworth before
becoming town supervisor

On April 11th, the Wellsville town supervisor tossed a curve ball; He suggested the notion that the town board create a police department. Supervisor Shad Alsworth tells Wellsville Regional News (WRN) that option remains on the table, although he admits a lot more research is needed. During that board meeting two months ago, Alwsorth invited former police officer Anthony Bartucca of Buffalo to speak. Bartucco proposed being the town police officer. Without surprise, community reaction was mixed. Some law enforcement officers also strongly reacted, privately. 


Anthony Bartucca

Residents in the town outside the village have historically had very strong opinions on the topic. For a brief period, the town did contract with the village of Wellsville for police services. It ended in disaster, with lasting grudges to this day. In the 1990's, a fresh-faced new supervisor proposed the same idea...and that too ended poorly.
WRN reached out to Supervisor Alsworth for an update on the move to create a police force. He offered this response exclusively to us:

The Town is continuing to weigh all of our options to address the drug epidemic in our Town and surrounding Towns.  We have spoken with numerous Police Departments, County Representatives, Drug Task Force Leaders, and concerned citizens about this issue.  As you can imagine, this is a very complex issue that will require joint efforts from multiple entities to have any kind of effective lasting impact.  I will say that the Town of Wellsville Town Board has not ruled out any option to address the drug epidemic, but will not be making any decisions on the creation of a Townwide Police Force without extracting a lot more information from the existing Police Departments, County Leaders, Drug addiction experts, etc.  This is an ongoing effort that has and will continue to have countless hours of research, discussion and planning before being able to make a formal pitch of a finalized plan to the public. 

I must admit that I was surprised by the mixed responses received from the residents of our Town and other local Police Departments when we allowed Mr. Bartucca to speak at our Town Board meeting.  As usual when introducing a new idea, there were plenty of passionate residents reluctant to the idea of change, while others expressed appreciation for addressing an issue that is weighing so heavily on the minds of so many parents when they watch their children leave the safety of their homes and head to school. 

The current Town of Wellsville Town Board remains committed to assisting in the development of an action plan to address the issue of managing our illegal drug use problem in our Town and County.  I look forward to our continued efforts working toward a meaningful solution.  I expect to hear from some of these Drug Task Force experts at our Town Board meetings in the near future. 

When the idea was first proposed, there was little comment from the town council. The issue has not been addressed in a public session since.

To Alsworth's credit, he didn't secretly conduct his research. He openly brought the issue to light during a public board meeting for all to see.