New Windsor Supervisor George Meyers brought forward to the New Windsor board his concerns about the increase of the New Windsor Police Department answering crisis intervention calls and complaints.

Meyers invited New Windsor Police Chief Robert Doss to speak on the CIT issues in the department before the board. “I share the same concerns as the Supervisor,” Doss said.

“Everybody knows that domestics are dangerous and in certain situations we get called to are very dangerous but these [crisis intervention calls] are certainly at the top of the list for us.”

For the Town of New Windsor and the City of Newburgh, Doss recently learned that the two municipalities go back and forth between the number of crisis intervention calls.

“Last year alone [2021] we [New Windsor Police] went to 298 crisis intervention calls,” Doss said. “We’ve done 128 calls so far at the end of April.”

Several situations that Doss made the board aware of is that several of these calls may be happening at the same time which can limit resources for the department.

Doss said each member of the department has crisis intervention training, including himself but call volume increases are still a concern with repeat individuals being addressed. Overtime costs are also a concern for the department and transportation of individuals, sometimes with multiple calls occurring, requires two officers to accompany the patient, which limits resources in the town. “We’re doing everything we can and we’re exploring our options here,” Doss said.