NORWICH – It was a year of change in the Chenango County Sheriff’s Office as Ernest R. Cutting Jr. took the reins from former Sheriff Thomas Loughren.
But, in his annual report before the Chenango County Board of Supervisors on June 14, Sheriff Cutting said he and his staff of 23 full time, sworn in deputies “never wavered in keeping Chenango County a safe place to live, work and play.”
There were 33,676 calls for police service last year, of which the Sheriff’s Office handled 17,653. New York State Police answered 7,671 of them, with the remainder answered by various municipal departments throughout the county. Sheriff’s deputies made 1,291 criminal arrests, 265 felony, 529 misdemeanor and 70 DWIs.
In addition, there were 299 responses to domestic-related incidents, 581 accidents investigated, and 2,106 traffic tickets issued.
The Sheriff’s Office continues to see increases in major crimes and demand for law enforcement services. Drugs continued to plague Chenango County last year, particularly with the return of heroin as the predominate drug of choice. In 2009, the largest marijuana growing operations in recent history was located and seized.
Cutting said there are 149 sex offenders in Chenango County under supervision.
In the Civil Services Department, officials served 827 income executions that and 31 property executions. A total of 1,921 family court and civil process documents were completed by deputies.
In the Communications Division, there were 105,989 total fire and EMS services calls in 2009, including 12,699 Emergency 911 calls. EMS responded to 71 calls from individuals activating their Lifeline pendants.
Revenues are up within the Public Safety Facility’s Corrections Division. Cutting said the jail on Upper Ravine Road in Norwich had generated $155,000 so far, which is ahead of last year when only $70,000 of the $450,000 budgeted for the year was reported in November. The same amount is budgeted for this year.
A previously vacant pod at the jail – one of five which each contain 20 cells – was recently reopened to serve an influx of boarded-in prisoners. The practice of housing prisoners from other counties and from state and federal penitentiaries is a money-maker for the three-and-a half-year-old jail. Lawmakers have, in the past, applied the income to help keep the general levy down.
New York State Department of Corrections variances for housing prisoners were revised last year to allow county jails to confine more of their own prisoners in less space, so the numbers have been down. An average of 69 prisoners per month were incarcerated in 2009. The jail’s capacity is 133.
Currently, there are 113 total inmates at the Public Safety Facility, including 38 from out of the county.
“Revenues are above what we had at this time last year,” Cutting said. “We are in a good place now.”’
The Public Safety Facility kitchen served 73,000 inmate meals and delivered 91,471 meals to seniors participating in the Meals on Wheels program.
There were $181,107 in grants brought in last year from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the U.S. Dept. of Justice, the New York State Office of Homeland Security, and the New York State Governors Traffic Safety Committee.
Sheriff’s Summer Youth Camp has sponsored 5,300 children since its inception in 1996. The five week character-building program served more than 260 boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 12 in 2009. The money is raised through contributions from Chenango County, donations and grants from citizens and businesses. Youths attend for free.