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Committee lays out 2026 public‑safety priorities: mental‑health services, EMS financing, detox and a new public safety building
Summary
Committee members and department heads emphasized mental‑health and substance‑use treatment access, a proposed detox/crisis stabilization facility, a new public safety building, EMS financing changes and measures to track safety outcomes as top priorities for 2026.
Tompkins County Public Safety Committee members used their Dec. 9 meeting to sketch a set of priorities they want the county to pursue in 2026: expanding mental‑health and substance‑use treatment and diversion programs, finishing a planned detox/crisis stabilization facility (if possible), advancing a new public safety building, and developing measurable safety indicators to show whether recent investments are reducing harm.
Multiple members and department heads said limited inpatient mental‑health capacity and reduced access to community behavioral‑health services are driving EMS and jail demand. Dan (Department of Probation and Community Justice) and others described plans to start a 12–18 month state‑funded study in early 2026 looking at disproportionate outcomes for people of color under supervision.
Chair Rich and other legislators urged measurable indicators for public‑safety investments: “I’d like for us to be able to point to some indicators from time to time to find out, are these multimillion dollar investments ... resulting in a safer community,” Lee said. Committee members repeated support for expanding Rapid Medical Response countywide and for more local options to divert people from the criminal legal system.
Members also debated structural and fiscal reforms: pursuing state action to give counties more flexibility to create EMS districts and funding models; adjusting state retirement rules (a 25‑year retirement proposal for some public safety tiers) to improve recruitment and retention; and maintaining or protecting surveillance data (the committee discussed balancing public concerns about networked cameras with investigative utility). The group repeatedly emphasized the need for coordinated county‑level planning, partnerships with health‑care providers, and continued pursuit of grants to sustain victim‑service and restorative‑justice programs.
The conversation concluded with broad support for continuing the county’s focus on alternatives to incarceration, workforce supports for first responders, and capital projects that would increase capacity for training and crisis services.
