An Active 2020 Sheriff's Week |
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Sheriff’s Week in New York State – 2020 ended last Saturday, capping numerous recognitions and events held throughout the week. Many Sheriffs’ Offices used their social media pages to publicize Sheriff's Week and make online presentations, some of which are detailed below. Social media responses by the public were positive and supportive. Good work, Sheriffs! |
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County Governments Laud Efforts by Sheriffs |
Among the Sheriffs posting on Facebook “Sheriff’s Week” proclamations by their County Board or Legislature were Allegany County (proclamation shown below), Cayuga, Genesee, Niagara, Oneida and Steuben. Those county governments and numerous others recognized the scope and scale of the important work done for all their citizens by Sheriffs in their daily line of duty, through such proclamations or through other observances and testimonials at their monthly meetings. |
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Special Programming by Sheriff's Offices |
Oneida County Sheriff's Office — Assistant Sheriff Robert Swenszkowski (pictured) provided a history of the Office via video on Facebook. |
Onondaga County Sheriff's Office — On daily Facebook posts, the office introduced the deputies and their K9 partners, including Deputy Amy Murphy (pictured) and her partner K9 Savro. |
Orange County Sheriff's Office — The Office used its Facebook posts to highlight several operational divisions, including the Special Operations Group (above). |
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Wayne County Sheriff Barry Virts Not Seeking Re-election |
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He Plans to Retire Next Year at the End of His Term |
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Sheriff Barry Virts (pictured), who has headed the Wayne County Sheriff's Office since 2009, will not seek re-election after his current term ends in December 2021. He said he plans to step aside to allow a new generation of leaders to take his place. With 15 months remaining in his tenure, the Sheriff says he will continue to meet daily challenges while maintaining the highest degree of professionalism and integrity in the Sheriff's Office.
"I want the Sheriff's Office to continue having experienced leadership, supervision and command staff going forward," Sheriff Virts noted in a recently released statement regarding his decision.
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Documentary Film Helps Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office
Connect with Community
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Strengthening Connections — Chautauqua County Sheriff Jim Quattrone (left) listens as Chautauqua County resident Derrick Coleman shares his thoughts on the current relationship between law enforcement and people of color within the community. |
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Approximately 50 people attended a free screening of a documentary focusing on building relationships between police and the Black community and participated in a discussion afterward. The screening of “Walking While Black: L.O.V.E is the Answer” was made possible through a collaboration between the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office and the County District Attorney’s Office. The award-winning film, which was also shown at NYSSA's recently concluded Fall Training Conference, focuses on improving relations between police and people of color by reshaping the narrative from conflict to L.O.V.E. – Learning, Opening, Volunteering and Empowering.
Chautauqua County Sheriff Jim Quattrone, who facilitated the community discussion afterward, said he hoped the film would encourage both law-enforcement groups and members of the Black community to work toward building trust and understanding with one another. “I’d like to think how we can put that [LOVE principal] to use in our own community. Not just law enforcement, but also how can the community put it to use. How can we sustain that. And what will you do, individually, to sustain that and keep it moving. Because it’s really going to take all of us to continue to move in that direction,” Quattrone explained.
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Cayuga County Sheriff's Office Presents, "Who We Are,
What We Do, How We Do It"
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Straight Talk – Sheriff Brian Schenck leads a panel presentation in Auburn, NY with colleagues from the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office. |
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The Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office presented a community initiative titled, “Who We Are, What We Do, How We Do It." This was the second local law-enforcement dialogue developed to enhance citizens' understanding of county public-safety issues and practices.
The Sheriff's Office, working in partnership with local social-justice organizations, provided an overview of the work done in all divisions of the Office, introduced administrative staff, detailed their roles, and developed a platform for members of the community to ask questions and provide feedback.
"We received very positive feedback from our partner organizations as well as the public," noted Sheriff Brian Schenck. "We learned from this event and ongoing work with our partner organizations that many people we serve do not have a full understanding of the role our Sheriff’s Office serves in Cayuga County and the depth of our mission to secure and maintain a safe community."
Sheriff Schenck and Undersheriff Steven Smith kicked off the discussion and were joined on the panel by colleagues Captain John Mack, Patrol Lieutenant Michael Wallauer, Custody Lieutenant Gary Dennis, Custody Lieutenant Dave Massi, Chief Custody Officer Robert Elser and Detective Lieutenant Frederick Cornelius.
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NSA Seeks Nominations for 2021 Annual Awards |
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A Call for Nominations to Recognize Service and Dedication |
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The National Sheriffs' Association has issued its annual call for nominations for the following awards:
• Ferris E. Lucas Award for Sheriff of the Year
• Charles "Bud" Meeks Award for Deputy Sheriff of the Year
• Law Enforcement Explorer Post Advisor of the Year
• Chaplain of the Year Award
• Corrections/Jail Innovation of the Year Award
Additional awards and criteria for nomination are available on the NSA website. Applications for all awards must be postmarked by December 11, 2020, unless noted otherwise. For further information, visit the NSA Awards webpage. |
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Livingston County Sheriff's Jail Division Attains Re-accreditation |
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For work well done . . . and done again — NYSSA Executive Director Peter Kehoe presents Livingston County Sheriff Thomas Dougherty with a plaque certifying re-accreditation of the Sheriff's Jail Division. Shown (l-r) are Undersheriff Matthew Bean, Sergeant Michael Malone, Sheriff Dougherty, Executive Director Kehoe, Chief Deputy Jeffrey Hammond, Corporal Joshua Daly and Chief Deputy Jason Yasso. |
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The Livingston County Sheriff’s Office was honored last week on the occasion of re-accreditation of the Sheriff’s Jail Division. The Office maintains accreditation in all five areas of statewide accreditation available to it: Civil Office, Communications Division, Court Security and Law Enforcement, in addition to Corrections. That makes Livingston County one of only a small handful of Sheriffs’ Offices which have that distinction. Sheriff Dougherty complimented the men and women of the Jail Division on their successful re-accreditation, and observed that, in some ways, it is harder to maintain accreditation over a long period of time than it is to achieve it in the first instance.
At a presentation before the Livingston County Board of Supervisors, Sheriff Dougherty accepted on behalf of his agency a plaque from NYSSA Executive Director Peter Kehoe, recognizing the continuing excellence of the Jail Division. It was the first time since March that Executive Director Kehoe was able to do an in-person accreditation and he hoped that many more counties would soon be opening up to such events.
Specially honored before the Board for extraordinary efforts in successfully guiding the re-accreditation process were Sergeant Kerry Ann Wood and Corporal Joshua Daly. Sergeant Wood’s certificate of appreciation was presented posthumously and accepted by her brother, Sergeant Michael Malone, who also works for the Livingston County Jail Division. Sergeant Wood passed away in May 2019 after a courageous battle with ALS. Many Sheriffs will remember that Sergeant Wood was honored in a moving ceremony at the Sheriff’s Association’s 2019 Winter Training Conference where she received the Sheriffs’ Institute’s Carl Draxler Award in recognition of her exceptional career achievements and conscientious devotion to duty (below).
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Presentation of the 2019 Carl Draxler Award to Sergeant Kerry Ann Wood. Pictured (l-r) are former Niagara County Sheriff Jim Voutour; Yates County Sheriff Ron Spike; Wayne County Sheriff Barry Virts (rear); Kerry Ann’s brother, then-Corporal Mike Malone; Sheriff Dougherty; Sergeant Wood; and retired Livingston County Sheriff John York.
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St. Lawrence County Sheriff's Criminal Division Earns Accreditation |
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Accreditation Achieved — Sheriff Brooks J. Bigwarfe (center), holds the accreditation certificate. Undersheriff Sean P. O’Brien is on the left and Sergeant Leighton J. Filiatrault at right. |
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St. Lawrence County Sheriff Brooks J. Bigwarfe proudly announced that the Criminal Division of the Sheriff’s Office has earned accreditation from the New York State Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation Council. Sheriff Bigwarfe praised Sergeant Leighton Filiatrault, the agency's Accreditation Officer, and the entire Criminal Division staff for their outstanding work in meeting the standards for accreditation. |
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Jail Administrators Resume In-person Meetings |
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NYSSA Counsel Tom Mitchell and Associate Counsel Alex Wilson participated in a regional jail administrators' meeting in September in Greene County. While the eastern jail administrators were meeting regularly each month, this was the first such meeting since March, when COVID concerns temporarily shut down on-site meetings.
About 12 administrators from several counties were at the meeting, which covered such topics as suicide prevention, new rules on inmate mail, COVID protections, possession by inmates of correction officer disciplinary records, and a new wasp spray used to introduce drug contraband into jails through inmate mail. The group plans to continue meeting on a monthly basis with the usual COVID protections strictly observed.
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Cayuga County Sheriff Eyes Jail Facility for Use by Homeless |
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Sheriff Brian Schenck (pictured) says that due to a reduction of inmates at jails across New York, he’s taking steps to make the best use of his facility in Cayuga County.
"About two months ago, we began to partner with our local Community Services Director to explore the feasibility of converting one housing pod into a homeless shelter, to deal with the growing problem of homelessness in our community," said Sheriff Schenck. "We have a great deal of work to do in determining, one, if it is even feasible, and two, if this would be a positive way to repurpose our jail space."
Sheriff Schenck reports that support from all county agencies impacted by the project, as well as the County Legislature, has been positive.
The proposal will continue to be considered. "Our goal would be to contract with an outside organization, such as the Rescue Mission, to operate the shelter in an effort to minimize the impact to our staff and operation," explains Sheriff Schenck. "The pod would also be isolated from our jail."
Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple announced a similar program last year, making unused space in his jail available for housing homeless veterans, which was one of the many innovations that earned him the National Sheriffs’ Association's 2019 Corrections/Jail Innovator of the Year Award.
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New York State Sheriffs' Association | 518-434-9091 | www.nysheriffs.org |
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