Altiere opponent: Substation is political move

A sheriff’s substation in the northern part of the county will save deputies time.

By TIM YOVICH

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN — Trumbull County Sheriff Thomas Altiere says he’ll be opening a substation to service the northern section of the county, a move his political opponent says is just political.

Altiere said Thursday that he will open the substation at the Mecca Volunteer Fire Department station on state Route 46 in about two weeks.

The sheriff said he has wanted to create the substation over the years but didn’t have the equipment.

He can now use the computer outlet at the fire station so deputies can take a report at a crime scene, drive to the substation and file it with a link between the station and sheriff’s office in Warren.

“We saw an opportunity, and we took it,” Altiere said.

The sheriff says he has 13 deputies on patrol in the north.

Altiere, of Howland, is being challenged by Weathersfield Township Police Chief Joseph Consiglio in the March 4 Democratic primary.

Consiglio said Thursday that Altiere’s announcement of the substation is simply political but is glad for the people who will be getting it.

Altiere says he’s been contemplating a substation in the northern section for a couple of years.

Consiglio countered that it was a part of his campaign platform when he ran for sheriff in 2004 and it remains a part of his literature in the current campaign. He said he plans to fund it by saving $75,000 annually through reorganizing the administrative staff, if elected.

“It’s good for the people, but [Altiere’s] sincerity isn’t there,” Consiglio said.

Altiere said that he knew Consiglio would term the substation as politically desperate.

Consiglio pointed out that the move comes three weeks before the election — while he has been talking up the issue.

Consiglio has been endorsed by the Trumbull County Democratic Party and Trumbull Township Association, a group composed of township trustees and fiscal officers.

There has been a constant complaint from residents of cities and townships that pay for their own police protection through local tax issues, while also paying county taxes that support law enforcement protection for those communities that don’t fund their own police departments.

Altiere and Consiglio both support the sheriff’s department’s providing services to communities without their own police departments.

During an interview this week with Vindicator editors and a reporter, Consiglio said the sheriff has an “obligation” to provide law enforcement to the northern townships.

Altiere said he has supported it through his assignments of patrols in those areas.

yovich@vindy.com