NYS Troopers Ditch Fishers Island, Southold Cops Pick Up Patrols

Southold Town Police have taken over the responsibility of patrolling Fishers Island after New York State Police pulled its troopers from the far-flung outpost amid concerns about the barracks there being unsafe.

The surprise move comes a year after state police brass alerted Town of Southold leaders that the town-owned barracks that troopers used as office and living space was falling into disrepair with no furnace and an outdated electrical system. Town officials say that they had come up with a plan but police kept moving the goalpost — allegations the troopers deny.

“We did not want to leave the island,” said Major Stephen Udice, the commander of Troop L, the state police unit assigned to Nassau and Suffolk counties. “We made our concerns very clear. We backed it up with inspections to give guidance on the state of the facility, but there just came a point where we could not in good conscience assign our troopers to a facility that we knew was a safety hazard.”

Fishers Island, off the coast of the North Fork, has a population of 424 people, according to the latest U.S. Census data, but that swells into the thousands come summer. The only way to get there is either by private boat or via a ferry that connects to New London, Connecticut. Police there typically handle school crossings and minor incidents, with no major offenses committed on the island in recent memory, officials say.

“It’s disappointing, but it seems to be par for the course,” Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said of the troopers leaving the post after the town rented a house on the island for $110,000 annually where police stationed there could live separate from the barracks. He also said plans to acquire a new building are underway, but state police left anyway.

Udice countered that the town lacked a “meaningful, actionable plan.” Russell said if an agreement can be reached with the troopers — whose next closest barracks are in Riverside — the town would have them back, but maintains Southold cops are up for the job.