February 13, 2020
HORNELL, NY – Hornell Police Chief Ted Murray told the Board of Public Safety Thursday morning that his department has seen an uptick in fentanyl related drugs in the city in recent weeks. “We usually used to see fentanyl just mixed with heroin,” explained the chief, “but now what we’re seeing in the last couple of months is a mixture of fentanyl with methamphetamine.” Murray says his department has had 5 narcan saves in just the last couple weeks. “I just want to get the word out just how dangerous this combination of drugs is.” Murray continued, “We are very fortunate that we haven’t lost more people than we already have.”
Buckley and Murray also commented on the many casualties created from the new bail reform laws. “We just had an incident where a criminal was released without bail in Bath, and came to Hornell a few days later and committed numerous violent crimes,” said Buckley, “The state needs to stop handcuffing our local law enforcement agencies and courts so we can better protect our communities.”
Buckley also added that he just recently attended a NYCOM meeting in Albany and that issue was brought up. “I’m hoping they can reach a compromise on bail reform soon,” said the Mayor, “the legislators will be addressing the issue next month and I’m hoping that reforms to the law will be made, with the state still being able to accomplish what it set out to do.”
Murray said that a new “Green Light Bill” has been passed and signed by the Governor where all local law enforcement agencies had to sign an agreement with the state where they cannot share any information provided by the DMV with Homeland Security or ICE. “There have been some chiefs that have balked at that, and are not signing it,” stated Murray, “but if that happens, the DMV can literally unplug the PD from their database, and that would severely inhibit us.”