HIGHLAND — Voters in the Town of Highland will have the opportunity to determine if the disbanded Town Constabulary will be rebooted via a proposition on their ballots for the General Election in November.

“We really want to put this in the hands of the public,” Town Supervisor John Pizzolato said, “and make a democratic decision.”

The town board’s unanimous vote to put the choice on the ballot by the Highland Town Board May 13 followed a public hearing on May 6.

At the public hearing, some expressed their caution to even revive the local police force at all, citing worries of power imbalance between neighbors, past negative experiences with former constables, firearm liability, among other concerns.

The Supervisor noted that the Constabulary, if resurrected, would likely be a “scaled down” version of what preceded it – possibly only having a staff of two people. He also noted that they would seek different personnel from who previously wore the badge.

The Constabulary was officially disbanded in 2022. Since then, other police forces have been patrolling the town regularly, including the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office. While protections by the Sheriff’s Office and the New York State Police would still be present throughout the town’s four hamlets, Pizzolato said that “there are a lot of benefits to local policing.”