QUEENSBURY NY Oct 2 2017 — SUNY Adirondack has postponed a decision on whether to arm its peace officers with stun guns or handguns and install body cameras.

Equipping the officers with all three would cost about $59,000 for the initial setup and $21,000 on an annual basis, according to a presentation made Thursday by college President Kristine Duffy.

It would cost nearly $37,000 to equip the officers with firearms and there would be about $6,200 in annual recurring costs. That compares with nearly $6,800 for stun guns for the initial startup and $6,500 on an annual basis.

Body cameras would cost $15,600 for the initial setup and $8,400 on an annual basis, according to Duffy.

If the college adds body cameras, she said its information technology staff would be in charge of uploading the data and storing it for retrieval.

Richard Conine, assistant director of public safety, said the cameras can be set on a continuous loop that automatically is recording the last two minutes of activity. That footage would keep getting erased unless the officer hits the button to preserve the last two minutes and keep recording.

Another option would be to have the cameras stay on. However, college officials say it would cost an additional $40,000 to $50,000 per year to run the cameras continuously.

Duffy also said the college wants to study the cost of an automated lockdown system for the entire campus. College officials are implementing an interim solution that will cost less than $500 to allow classrooms to be locked down, but it requires a person to activate it.

In May, the board directed the college to pursue acquiring stun guns and wanted additional information from the administration regarding handguns after hearing some concerns from the public.

Duffy reiterated to the board that a survey of college employees found that 63 percent were in support of arming the officers. People were allowed to submit multiple responses. Seventy percent of students who responded supported giving the peace officers guns.

“If we choose not to move forward on that, we’d have the discussion on what our expectations would be for our campus peace officers,” she said.

About 71 percent of employees and 79 percent of students surveyed expressed support for having armed officers during an active shooter situation .However, Duffy said there are more situations to be concerned about than just a shooter. Although overall crime has declined, this area has seen an increase in violent crime, which is defined as murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

The number of instances of violent crime more than doubled in Warren County, from 53 in 2013 to 108 in 2015. The number of violent crimes increased from 71 to 91 in Washington County and from 173 to 256 in Saratoga County during that same time period.

Trustee Robert Judge said he sees the security efforts as part of a total package. He believes that whether they have handguns or stun guns, they should have the body cameras as well.

“It seems, as a package, this is not cost-prohibitive,” he said.

Judge wondered if the cameras would be activated during an incident.

“The odds that they are going to remember the camera is going to be a little challenging,” he said.

Trustee Harry Booth said he has never been an officer and realizes that they have to make split-second decisions, but he would prefer the stun gun as the first option during any kind of confrontation.

“To me, an officer should not pull the gun out of his holster if he does not intend to use it,” he said.

Student representative Jac’Quan Thompson said he would like to get more feedback on the issue at the next Student Senate meeting.

“I feel it would be kind of intimating to the students,” he said, indicating that he was speaking for himself.

Trustee Alan Redeker said building a level of trust with students is a crucial job of the peace officers. He said the officers are charged with responding to any situation, regardless of whether they have a gun.

“If we have somebody that is sworn to respond and has nothing, I think that we are asking our officers to do something that is frankly inappropriate,” he said.

Trustee John Strough, who is also Queensbury’s town supervisor, said he has not changed his opposition. “I’m not comfortable with the culture of guns,” he said.

He pointed out that there are two police departments within miles of the campus that can quickly respond to an active shooter incident.

Strough said he does not like the fact that guns could be accessible.

“I’d hate to see a horrible situation occur because we do allow it,” he said.

Trustee Bernice Mennis agreed and said in other places across the country, police have shot innocent people because they were fearful.

Duffy said she wanted to clarify whether the board wanted the college to move forward with the Tasers. After the May meeting, she was under the impression that they were going ahead.

Judge said there may have been some confusion about the direction from the board. He thought he was voting to obtain information about the costs of stun guns.

Duffy said the reason the resolution was worded to say “pursue the issuance of Tasers” is because the college did not know the exact costs. The college has not purchased the equipment as of yet.

The board will consider the whole issue as a package at its next meeting, which is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Oct. 26.

Duffy also responded to a letter that now-retired English professor Jane Arnold wrote in opposition to arming the officers. Arnold expressed concern about students’ mental health needs.

Duffy said the college has five full-time mental health counselors on campus and community colleges have only one.

SUNY Adirondack also has a behavioral intervention team that works across departments and looks at challenges students might be facing. For example, if a student is acting out in the classroom, maybe they are exhibiting similar behavior at the residence hall and the two departments can work together.

The college has a three-year, $500,000 Community Schools grant to help students in need by providing emergency food and clothing and connecting students to needed services.

“Unfortunately, there’s a huge gap in mental health services in our society. I think we’re doing a great job given the resources we have to attend to that,” Duffy said.

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