LOCKPORT — I would like to begin this month’s article by offering our condolences to the families of retired police officer Lyman Wilson and my secretary, Dorothy Eberhart. Both Dorothy and Lyman passed away suddenly this past August.

Dorothy was the chief’s secretary for 10 years. She was in charge of our payroll and generally took care of all the employees at the LPD. Dorothy always had a kind word and a smile for everyone and really loved her job. In fact, she may have been the real boss of the department, not me. Lyman Wilson retired after a 35-year career with the Lockport Police Department. Many of you will best remember Lyman prowling the downtown area in his traffic cycle, “Cycle No. 33,” enforcing the parking laws. Lyman was a no-nonsense guy who took his job very seriously. Many a shopper or store owner received a parking ticket and an occasional lecture for failure to take notice of the parking regulations. Lyman was a dedicated police officer, a proud husband and father and a great guy. Please join us in keeping the Eberhart and Wilson families in our thoughts and prayers.

In September, we will be officially welcoming two new police officers to the ranks of the Lockport Police Department. On Aug. 31, Officer Steven Tarnowski and Officer Laura Haseley graduated from the Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy after 22 weeks of basic police instruction. Both officers did very well during their training. In fact, Officer Tarnowski received the prestigious Jeffrey Incardona Award for overall excellence for his efforts at the police academy. Officer Haseley was voted class president and gave an outstanding commencement address as part of the graduation ceremonies. Officer Tarnowski and Officer Haseley will be assigned to patrol for the balance of their field training and will be working the night shifts once their training is complete. They will be great additions to the Lockport Police family and we are lucky to have them.

September is back-to-school month. September is also the beginning of our yearly enhanced traffic enforcement program. We do this every September to get the motoring public back into more cautious driving habits while driving around our schools. You will see many more radar patrols in the school zones. These patrols will be watching for speeding, passing stopped school buses and other traffic violations. We will also be watching for parking violations, especially in the area of the high school. Every year we get numerous complaints about cars stopping in the middle of the road blocking traffic on Lincoln Avenue to drop off students. As part of this program, we will be practicing a “zero tolerance” policy. In other words, if you are stopped, you will be receiving a citation. An aggressive traffic enforcement program is one of the most effective methods of ensuring the safety of our school children. Please drive carefully and help us keep our kids safe.

Finally, I would like to offer an apology to the community. Recently we discovered a problem with our telephone system. I noticed a significant drop in phone calls into my office. At first I just figured we were doing a great job and nobody needed to call me. Unfortunately, I found that was not the case. A person called me at home and told me my office telephone mailbox was full. I didn’t understand because my phone is being answered in our Traffic Division offices by Amy Wiltse, our traffic clerk. We found that, for unknown reasons, my messages were being routed to a phone that does not get answered. When the problem was finally discovered, we found 99 unanswered messages on this unused phone. The messages were from late June through mid-August. I think I have finally called everyone back and offered a personal apology. However, if I missed your call, please accept my apology. We are working to fix the situation but there still appears to be undiagnosed bugs in the system. Consequently, if you need to contact me, please call Amy Wiltse at 439-6789 or Mary Schaffert, in our Records Division, at 439-6717. They will get your messages to me. Hopefully, the problem will soon be fixed. Sorry about any inconvenience. Have a great fall and go Bills!

Chief Larry Eggert oversees the Lockport Police Department. His column runs the first Sunday of every month.