Police Chief Joseph Sinagra (photo by David Gordon)
Taking its cue from the popular television show America’s Most Wanted, the Saugerties police department will present Saugerties Most Wanted, which will ask the public for help in apprehending individuals wanted for allegedly committing local crimes. The program will be included as part of police chief Joe Sinagra’s popular channel 23 show, From the Chief’s Desk.
The first showing of Saugerties Most Wanted will premier on July 3, according to Sinagra.
Police officer Jorge Castagnola will do the voice-over for the segment, Sinagra added.
“We have 120 open warrants for the arrest of individuals who have allegedly committed an assortment of crimes,” Sinagra said. “There are bench warrants issued by the courts for individuals who might not have completed community service, paid their fines or skipped court dates.”
It was all part of the community police program designed “to get the community involved,” the police chief added.
Residents who might know where some of the wanted individuals are located should call the police at 246-9800. All calls will be kept confidential.
“We’re hoping people will be able to provide the information we need to help track these individuals down,” Sinagra said.
“We don’t want anyone to approach these individuals and try to arrest them,” the chief cautioned. “Just give us a call, and we’ll take it from there.”
This is a horrible idea for a number of reasons. 1) This only gets the community involved in creating division and disunity, not the bettering of the community 2) It intimates the police can’t do the job themselves 3) If someone is plastered on tv for not paying a fine, it subconsciously likens them to being criminals or “bad guys”, rather unlikely to be employed and thus “rehabilitated” ever again in the area 4) It disregards that vigilantism exists and the dangers of just one incident, regardless of the warning 5) It disregards that sometimes people just can’t afford to pay fines and it retributes unjustly, and oh by the way, America’s Most Wanted was about finding killers, not “alleged community service partial derelicts” 6) If it isn’t unlawful in regards to the Fifth Amendment, it’s certainly a slippery slope…maybe someone decides to televise all civil infidelities as well, “to get the community involved.”
Please understand…I respect EVERYONE in this town, and the police force is the fairest and most respectable group I’ve ever lived amongst…This town has been nothing but loving and helpful to me and my family, but this is just unAmerican and not the public face I want Saugerties to have and become known for. This is absolutely, in a number of ways, community fracturing, not building.
What I want to know is if they are paying for the air time? Public access is dying, has been for many years now, and to ise the service without paying for it contributes to its decay. I’m all for the disemination of info, especial for dangerous individuals, but I am also for the salvation of local access.