by Rachel Hunter
The Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees at its Sept. 17 meeting heard the monthly report from the Gouverneur Police Department.
Village of Gouverneur Chief of Police Darren Fairbanks reported the following: “The last week of August 2024, members of the Gouverneur Police Department participated in a multi-agency training held at Clifton-Fine Central School in Star Lake, New York, and were trained Active Shooter scenarios. Thank you to the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office for the invitation and having my agencies participation in that event.
“For the month of August 2024, the Gouverneur PD received 477 calls for service 269 of those calls for service required police intervention. 151 of those calls for service were IBR criminal complaints (on average 25 new criminal investigations per officer for the month with 52 concurrent investigations previously reported). The PD effected 23 arrests for a total of 36 charges - Felony- 8, Misdemeanors- 13, Violations- 2, Infractions- 6, Bench/ Arrest Warrants- 0, Fugitive From Justice – 1 (United States Marshal Service).
“In the month of August 2024, the Gouverneur PD responded to and investigated 16 motor vehicle collisions.
“In the month of August 2024, the Gouverneur PD responded to 9 incidents inside and outside the Village of Gouverneur due to outside law enforcement not being available or to provide assistance to outside law enforcement and 18 incidents involving the Gouverneur Fire Department and or Gouverneur Rescue Squad at incidents requiring our presence.
“We received 51 requests for general welfare or mental health checks in which 12 were determined mental health related. Of the 12 mental health calls our agency took 7 into custody for emergency involuntary evaluation with all 7 being by police observation/investigation. 2 were individuals under 18 years of age and 0 repeats. There were 0 attempts at utilizing the Mobile Access Program.
“There were two reported non-fatal drug overdoses inside the Village of Gouverneur.
“I would also like to commend my staff for their hard work and dedication in ensuring that the students and staff had a safe return to school on Monday with the recent events and social media threats involving Gouverneur Central School District. I’d like to thank the New York State Police, St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, NYS Police BCI, and our federal law enforcement partners for their assistance this weekend.”
Much gratitude was extended to Chief Fairbanks for this monthly report, and for answering questions that followed at the monthly village board meeting.
The next regular meeting of the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees will be held on Tuesday, October 15, 6 p.m., in the municipal courtroom. For more information, call 315-287-1630.