15 E. Chautauqua Street  P.O. Box 128 Mayville, NY 14757   716-753-2131

Sheriff Joseph A. Gerace

PATROL

• One of the many required duties of the Sheriff is to act as the “conservator of the peace within the county” as articulated by Section 650 or the New York State County Law. To comply with this mandate, the Sheriff maintains a law enforcement component to protect the lives and property of the people of Chautauqua County and to provide public service, as requested. The Patrol Division is the largest and most visible part of this component.
   

• The primary responsibility of the Patrol Division is to provide continuous proactive patrols throughout the 1,069 square miles of the county. During the course of providing the deterrent presence afforded by these patrols, deputies are engaged in a multitude of various duties during their normal shifts. These include responding to public requests for assistance, the detection and investigation of crimes and offenses and arrest of violators, traffic safety and enforcement, accident investigation, the transport of prisoners and lending assistance to other law enforcement and public safety agencies. In addition to these tasks, specialized law enforcement services, including SWAT, Dive/Rescue, bomb disposal, fire investigation, forensic investigations, crisis negotiation, accident reconstruction, K-9 and DWI enforcement are provided by members of the Patrol Division. In most cases, these are collateral duties performed by patrol deputies in addition to their primary duties.
   

• The Patrol Division is currently staffed by 21 uniformed deputies, 3 sergeants and 3 lieutenants. Around the clock coverage is provided by 3 shifts of 8 hours each. Each shift consists of 1 lieutenant, 1 sergeant and 7 deputies who ensure countywide coverage 7 days per week. This minimal staffing is currently not adequate to provide for sufficient patrol coverage or officer safety, particularly when regular days off, vacations, sick leave and required training are factored in. On some shifts, the ability to assign a patrol car to each of the 4 traditional patrol zones, consisting of roughly 6 townships, is impossible.  
   

• Since mid-2011, at the request of the New York State Police, additional calls for service, received by the Sheriff’s Office Communications Center, have been dispatched to NYSP patrols. While this has been somewhat helpful in alleviating the backup of calls and response times, particularly during periods of high call volume, the impact on Sheriff’s Office operations has been minimal. Some of this is due to a continuous increase in incident activity and calls for service, but differences in the deployment of patrols between the two agencies has also mitigated some of the potential benefits.