A Golden Girl: Wellsville police – the good guys

A Weekly Column by Kathryn Ross

Lately I’ve been getting this notice in my personal email: “Police Misconduct Is On the Rise”

Have you experienced Any of The Below?

Wrongful Arrest          Excessive Force
Falsely Charged           Abuse of Power
Data Breech                Malicious Prosecution
Injury from Police       Unlawful Detention

After I read a little further, I realized the note is from a legal firm attempting to drum up business for a massive lawsuit.

Now I know that across the nation there have been times when the police seem to be out of control and running amuck. Take for example the George Floyd case a few years ago, the shooting of Breonna Taylor and countless other alarming stories concerning misconduct, and abuse of power and injury caused to individuals due to the overzealous behavior of some cops. There have even been some local allegations of police misconduct.

But I have to say, in my opinion, here in beautiful downtown Wellsville we are pretty lucky to have the kind of men and women serving in our police department that we have.

 I should preface that statement with the fact that I have never really run afoul of the law. I haven’t stolen anything. I haven’t been intoxicated and become a public nuisance. I haven’t wielded a weapon or attempted to rob a convenience store or bank.

The only time I was ever taken to the police department was when I was a Girl Scout Camp Counselor. It was a night in mid-August when a group of us were on a night-out toward the end of the season. I had a car and was in the lead when I ran a stop sign. There were several counselors in my car and in the car that was following us, when the police (in Hornell) pulled me over. Upon checking my license and registration they found that my insurance had lapsed a day or two earlier.

I had a small car. When I leaned over to tell the girls in my car what was going on I inadvertently put both hands on the roof. The cop was standing right behind me. At that sight a dozen girls piled out of the car that had been following me, demanding to know what was going on. But instead of throwing the book at me, the officer simply took me to the police station and called my father. The first thing out of Dad’s mouth was what had I done and was I being respectful.

Shows the way I was raised.

Of late, I’ve had several run ins with our local officers. Our police force deals with a lot of junk from people who are high on one drug or another and being a nuisance, to those making and selling drugs. But they also do things like deliver babies, make welfare checks, and jump start automobiles.

For the past three or four months, since summer, my car has periodically had a problem with its battery. The battery is fine. It is charged but either I leave something running, like the CD player, or the door ajar and it goes dead. I have the police station phone number hardwired into my brain. It was written on the dark room wall in the old Reporter office, and I saw it every day for many, many, many years.

When the battery growls and won’t turn over, or everything is silent when I turn the key, I call the PD because I don’t have a charger, and they come, Johnny, Sean, Greg or Roger on the spot to the library, the hospital parking lot, my niece’s driveway or to wherever I’m stranded. And with not much more than a little smirk (I can’t blame them) they use their handy portable charger to get the car started. It turns right over, and the officer closes the hood and I say thank you. That’s it. He can’t accept a tip and when I ask how to repay them for the courtesy, he says there is no need.

Those are the kind of cops we have in Wellsville and I, for one, am very happy that we have the kind, considerate, reasonable and courteous police force that we have.