City of Cortland Common Council Approves Inter-Municipal Agreement of Police Tactical Team Cooperation With Syracuse

During Tuesday’s Cortland Common Council meeting, the council voted unanimously to approve a tactical team cooperation for Cortland & Syracuse Police Departments. According to the City of Cortland, both cities of Cortland and Syracuse have previously experienced within their respective jurisdictions the need of a joint response from either department’s tactical teams, K9 teams, and Mobile Field Force Team in certain situations.

Those situations have included specific criminal acts or threats including barricaded suspects, hostage takers, civil unrest, or other persons who are committing violent acts that may be more effectively dealt with through the use of a specially trained team instead of standard police operations.

Prior to the vote however, Councilperson Katy Silliman requested to strike the verbiage “civil unrest.” She noted that it could be interpreted when people are practicing civil disobedience and it sounded “radical” to her. She continued to say the verbiage of “persons who are committing violent acts” properly covers the situation. The council voted unanimously to remove the verbiage “civil unrest” in the resolution with Cortland Police Chief Guerrera having no issues.

With the Common Councils approval, Mayor Steve and Cortland Police Chief Guerrera will formalize the agreement between the Syracuse Police Department and their Special Weapons and Tactics, also known as SWAT, with the Cortland Police Department SWAT Team. The agreement will be good through December 31 2030.