Photo of armed officer by Flickr user grendelkhan. Published under Creative Commons license.
Security will soon be beefed up at a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Schoharie County. Prompted by fears of mass shootings like the recent school killings in Newtown, and worries about the security of the DMV's temporary space, county supervisors voted at their regular board meeting last week to install a security camera and hire two new part-time deputies to guard the office.
Since the fall of 2011, when their Schoharie village office was damaged in the Irene floods, the Schoharie County DMV has been located in a temporary space in the Lancaster Development office in Richmondville. The Daily Gazette reports in a story about the decision that security has been an increasing problem at the Richmondville DMV for some time, but that the Newtown massacre made it a more pressing issue:
Workers called for some action several months ago, but county Board of Supervisors Chairman Harold Vroman said recent events brought a sense of urgency to the issue.
He cited the massacre in Connecticut as an example of senseless acts of violence that can happen anywhere and asked county supervisors at their monthly meeting last week to make something happen to ensure workers’ safety.
“Why wait for something to happen, that was my point,” Vroman said Thursday.
Back in October, the Daily Gazette reported that the rage of frustrated customers -- a familiar sight at any DMV office -- was taking an especially rough toll on DMV workers in the new location. Executive deputy county clerk Larry Caza said the smaller office is a problem for workers:
Now, there’s nothing between employees and the public.
“We’re at a smaller location with people in closer proximity. Sometimes, people get irate,” he said.
DMV workers may have to tell customers they can’t get their driving privileges back or register their vehicle.
“Sometimes, of course, you get people who for whatever reason don’t like the system,” Caza said.
The cry for more security in public places has become something of a national mantra in the wake of the Newtown shootings. At their recent board meeting, a Schoharie County supervisor echoed that sentiment, the Times Journal reported in an account of the meeting:
Larry Bradt of Carlisle said the answer was an armed guard.
"The only thing that's going to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," he said. Anything else and we're just fooling ourselves."
But Middleburgh supervisor Jim Buzon wasn't so sure armed guards were the answer:
Mr. Buzon said he was concerned about having an armed person at the office.
If an armed person comes into the office, he said, it could result in a direct confrontation and gun fire.
"I'm nervous with putting someone who's armed in there right away," he said.
