April 2, 2025
It’s a beautiful day in Steuben County. The sun is shining and our agency has transitioned into short sleeved uniform shirts to encourage the warmer weather to arrive! March was an intense, challenging month. We saw the continued strike by our state corrections partners, with an executive order by the Governor which prohibited any municipality from hiring any of the correction officers in any capacity. Fortunately, this order sunsets on April 9th and we can again make use of the experience, training and dedication of those that would not be mistreated. Yesterday, the Albany Times Union reported that the DOCCS Commissioner has authorized early release of certain prisoners, and as a result of the strike, they are down approximately 4000 correction officers. This situation is far from resolved as the National Guard continues to supplement officers in the NYS prison system and the H.A.L.T. act has not been repealed.
In March, we were notified that Terry Cole, a Steuben County native and graduate of Corning East High School, had been nominated by President Trump to be the new Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency. Mr. Cole’s grandfather, Howard Cole, retired from the City of Corning Police Department and his brother, Jeff Cole, retired as a Lieutenant from the City of Ithaca Police Department. Congratulations to Administrator Cole in his new post and we know he will do an excellent job in Washington overseeing an agency that he spent 23 years with. The Steuben County Association of Chiefs of Police sent a letter of endorsement for Mr. Cole, as did Sheriff Allard.
In March, Sergeant Sorge and Deputy Butler taught another NYS Boater’s Safety Course, continuing our monthly presentation of this course. We completed the NYS DCJS Basic Course in Corrections for our new Correction Officers as well as a Correction Officer from Schuyler County. Lieutenant Thompson did an excellent job with this course and organizing the graduation ceremony. Officer Labar, Officer Michael Smith, and Officer VanCise completed the NYS DCJS Evidence Technician Course. Captain Mills, Investigator Brown, Sergeant Wood, Deputy Harrison and Officer Sciotti completed the NYS DCJS Firearms Instructor Workshop Course. Deputy McCoy and Deputy Kidder completed the NYS DCJS Physical Fitness Instructor Course. Lieutenant Kennedy taught the Intelligence Liaison Officer Course and teamed up with Investigator Lewis and Sergeant Hawk to instruct 28 volunteer firefighters in the Basic Course for Fire Police. Deputy Donahue continued the SWAT Operator Course in Livingston County. Sheriff Allard appeared on Frankly Speaking and attended the Addison, Campbell and Wayne Volunteer Fire Banquets. Congratulations to the Campbell Volunteer Fire Department on their 100 years of service! Sheriff Allard also attended Mental Health Matters Day in Albany to speak about first responder wellness and met with the Vice President and Dean of Social Sciences at CCC to discuss the reimagination of their criminal justice program and presented at the Sheriff Forum on WETM-TV with Sheriff Schrom and Sheriff Rumsey.
March was another busy and challenging month in the Sheriff’s Office. Our investigators and deputies were tasked with one criminal possession of stolen property investigation, two burglary investigations, one robbery investigation, two endangering a child investigations, four assault investigations, one unlawful publication of an intimate image investigation, one unauthorized use of a vehicle investigation, one misuse of food stamps investigation, three sex offense investigations, two trespass investigations, five death investigations, one stalking investigation, three possession of a weapon investigations, one reckless endangerment investigation, one aggravated family offense investigation, four criminal contempt investigations, four fire investigations, twelve larceny investigations, one grand larceny investigation, one menacing investigation, six harassment investigations, seven criminal mischief investigations and two narcotics investigations. Our Patrol Division was tasked with multiple domestic incident investigations along with mental health detainments, emergency medical aid, assisting other agencies, serving of warrants, and four intoxicated or impaired driving arrests.
All of our deputies and officers performed in an outstanding fashion, and we received multiple commendations from the public regarding their outstanding performance.
Physical Fitness Instructor Course
We continue to pray for our first responder colleagues and deployed military across the globe, as well as their families. We also pray for the victims of mass casualty events and state sponsored aggression.
Thank you for supporting the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office in these challenging times and stay safe!
Steuben County Sheriff Jim Allard
