Tompkins County to pilot centralized security at Green Street mental health site

Tompkins County public health staff announced the county will pilot a centralized security team at the Green Street mental health location, with a full-time security manager starting at the end of the month and two additional security staff to cover extended hours.

County officials said the team will begin as a three-person unit — a security manager, one full-time security person and one part-time person — and is intended to be expanded to cover other public-facing department buildings. Funding for the pilot comes from an OTR allocation administered by the Department of Emergency Response (DUER), officials said.

The staff member leading the update said the security presence is meant to reduce the burden on support staff who routinely de-escalate incidents downtown. "This isn't gonna be armed security with big badges and things like that. It's gonna be more like as you enter, you're greeted by this person. They're gonna build rapport with clients and community members as they come in and then, build from there," the staff member said.

Officials said the county has documented a history of incidents in and around the downtown area dating back before 2020 and has already made physical improvements to downtown facilities, including stronger glass. The pilot at Green Street is intended as the first step toward a centralized security program serving multiple department sites; the plan is for DUER to house initial staffing costs and for the unit to be extended from that budget as it grows.

Staff emphasized the program is intended to look and operate in a nonconfrontational way and to focus on rapport-building with clients rather than a visible law-enforcement posture. No implementation timeline beyond the security manager start date was provided.