Does Tupper Lake have too many cops?

Here’s an interesting twist. Tupper Lake village Mayor Micky Desmarais says there are just too many police hanging around in his community.

Desmarais spoke at a village meeting on Tuesday, complaining that sometimes there are as many as 4-5 state police cruisers in the village, along with two locally-employed patrol cars.

The mayor was quoted extensively in today’s Adirondack Daily Enterprise:

[Desmarais] said he gets residents asking him if there was a big drug bust or other large incident when there is nothing going on.

“This really needs to be seriously addressed, because we’re over-policed in Tupper Lake,” Desmarais said. “We spend about $1 million a year to protect people in the village. … (the village police) do a very good job about it.”

Having too many police around gives Tupper Lake a bad reputation with tourists and other visitors, he said.

He went on to say of state police, “I personally think they’re spending too much time in our community.”

Read the full article, including the state police response here.