Amherst is a suburb of Buffalo, New York that prides itself for being one of the safest communities in the nation.

Several times it has ranked No. 1 in Congressional Quarterly's annual "City Crime Rankings in Metropolitan America."

This year Amherst placed No. 4. To find out how his town can be No. 1 again, Amherst Town Supervisor Satish B. Mohan and his wife Ushan came to visit the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Supervisor Mohan inquired about public safety in Mission Viejo, which currently holds the honor of the safest community in the country.

He marveled when informed by Assistant Sheriff Jack Anderson that 45 deputies patrol Mission Viejo, with a population of 97,997.  With the Chief of Police Services Lt. Stephan Bernardi, sergeants, investigators and support staff there are 66 Department members assigned to the city.  Assistant Sheriff Anderson and Capt. Ron White, Commander of South County Operations, met with mayor and his wife on Thursday.

Amherst has a police force of 154 sworn officers and 36 full and part time civilian employees for a town with 117,000 residents.

Assistant Sheriff Anderson informed the supervisor, the equivalent of Mission Viejo's mayor, that like all 12 cities that contract with the Department for police services there are a myriad of other resources available for public protection.  Helicopters patrol from above, a bomb squad and SWAT team are ready whenever needed, the Department provides a crime lab, training facilities, personnel duties and many other services, he said.

"We can do it cheaper by economy of size," Assistant Sheriff Anderson said. "If you need to buy four new patrol cars, we're likely to be in the market for 60." The budget comparison is striking.

Mission Viejo is paying $9.4 million for police services.

Amherst pays $16.3 million.

"They didn't have any murders in Mission Viejo last year but if they did, it wouldn't be the investigators assigned to the city who would investigate," Assistant Sheriff Anderson said. "The investigation would be handled by our homicide investigators here at headquarters. They are the experts at homicide investigations." The same would go for a serious sex crime, complex fraud or other offense that required specialized investigators.

Supervisor Mohan said he has a plan to make his community safer. "We want the officers to take their department cars home, that way we'll have marked cars parked all over the town as a deterrent," he explained, noting that all officers in Amherst are required to live in the town.

Assistant Sheriff Anderson said the plan could well work as a deterrent in Amherst but was unlikely to help much in Orange County. He noted that due to the high cost of housing in Orange County, many deputies live outside the area. There is no plan here to have deputies use their patrol cars to commute.

"We have a young police chief, his father was chief and it runs in the genes. I'd like to have him visit you," Supervisor Mohan told Assistant Sheriff Anderson.

The Amherst police chief now has an open invitation to meet with Mission Viejo Chief of Police Services Lt. Stephan Bernardi.