Tupper Lake Police Chief Eric Proulx shows the interior of a police cruiser in 2018. (Provided photo — Andy Flynn)

TUPPER LAKE — The Tupper Lake Police Department is cutting its night patrol shift as it struggles with a historically low amount of active staff, reducing village police hours from 24/7 to only 12 hours a day.

TLPD Chief Eric Proulx said from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. there will be no officers at the police department. This is because the department has a personnel shortage that’s reached a “critical point,” he said.

During that half of the day, State Police troopers will be responding to 911 calls but won’t be on patrol. This will mean a slower response time for calls, he said.

“Nothing is going to change for the public. If you call 911, you’re going to get 911. It might just not be in five minutes. It might be in five hours,” Proulx said. “If they have something going on in Long Lake and we have a call for service here in Tupper Lake, whether it’s a domestic or a noise complaint, it could be hours before they get here.”

He said State Police can’t add troopers to the area because they don’t have enough as it is.

Proulx said his department has nine members currently, including himself. This isn’t the lowest it has been, but half of them aren’t able to be active.

Two officers are school resource officers stationed in the town’s two school buildings during school days. One officer is out on maternity leave until September. Another is on long-term disability for a medical issue. There have been recent retirements and the village board approved the resignation of an officer at the Wednesday meeting.

“This is a series of events that couldn’t happen at a worse time for our community,” Proulx said. “Crime is at an all-time high.”

At Wednesday’s meeting Proulx’s monthly report to the board showed the TLPD had 182 calls in the past month. Not all of these were crimes — some were responses to open doors and assisting other agencies — but there were also 10 responses to domestic disputes and child abuse, three burglaries, seven harassment calls, four burglary reports, six larceny reports, numerous welfare checks and pages of citizen assists. Proulx said this is the highest crime rate he’s seen in his career. These calls resulted in 16 arrests, including ones for assault, drunk driving, harassment, petit larceny and endangering the welfare of a disabled person.

Proulx said he’s cutting the night shift because the department’s call volume is 45% higher during the day.

Proulx said this arrangement will be “as temporary as I can make it.”

His plan is to have patrols back 24/7 by the start of December if everything goes smooth — if no one else leaves and medical leaves go well. He doesn’t expect it to go smooth.

“Things don’t usually go smooth to me when it comes to personnel,” Proulx said.

He hopes to hire someone from that list and get them enrolled in a training school which starts in August. But he said the Franklin County civil service list, which police departments have to hire from — is very low.

“I cannot find cops to hire,” Proulx said.

Last year, he said 35 people took the police officer exam. There are nine on the list currently for all police departments in the county to hire. Proulx said police departments in Saranac Lake and Malone are facing the same shortage.

Proulx said officers are also “fed up with law enforcement” and leaving the field altogether.

“Nobody wants to be a cop anymore,” Proulx said. “It’s not because of money, especially with the State Police. It’s because of the way they’re treated in society.”

Board members asked if there was any other law enforcement to help at nights.

“Unfortunately you live in one of the very few spots in the state where the county doesn’t have a sheriff’s patrol,” Proulx said.

In the evening, Proulx said there’s more drug sales and usage. He said the types of drugs they’re seeing in Tupper Lake now are more dangerous than in the past. Years ago, he said officers were mostly finding cannabis and cocaine.

Cannabis has been legalized in New York, so Proulx said he’s not policing that anymore. But stronger drugs like methamphetamine and heroin have become more common. He said drugs filter into other types of crime.

“Property crimes have gone up, larcenies are through the roof and shoplifting is out of control,” Proulx said.

He said his officers are finding firearms and knives more often.

Robin Jacobs, a village resident attended Wednesday’s meeting to ask the police to ticket people driving loud trucks around town. She said they are a nuisance and loud mufflers cut through her peaceful days as trucks run through their gears on Park Street.

Last year, the state introduced a new muffler law which went into effect April 1. The law put larger fines on breaking existing muffler modifications — up to $1,000.

Jacobs said she knows the five offending trucks she hears by sight. Proulx said he probably knows the drivers of these trucks, too, and they’ve probably been getting tickets for months. But he said the state’s bail reform makes it difficult to enforce fines for traffic infractions.

Proulx said New York’s bail reform didn’t just change the bail rules. It also made enforcing fines for many types of offenses near impossible, he said, so they often go unpaid and unpunished. He said this is “driving crime up” because people can commit crimes knowing no much is going to happen.

Trustee Ron LaScala compared this to a parent threatening to punish a child over and over but never actually doing it.

“Then you’re wondering why they don’t curb their behavior,” he said.

“I am in agreement on both sides of the fence that yes, people were probably sat in jail because they didn’t have the money to get out for very minor offenses,” Proulx said. “So I am understanding to the fact that there needs to be some reform.”

Proulx said it will take bringing the issue to Albany to get any change, but he doubts there will be any soon.