Sheriff details key activities from 2016

YATES COUNTY--Yates County Sheriff Ron Spike made a presentation to the legislature's safety committee meeting Tuesday, April 4. Spike presented the 2016 annual report for the Sheriff's Office, and he and 911 Chief Dispatcher Sandra Smith outlined the work of the 911 communications division for 2016. They noted statistical and serious incident information. The sheriff also introduced the newly appointed Chief Correction Officer Jared Bailey to the legislature.
Spike highlighted activities in the various divisions of the Yates County Sheriff's Office for 2016. For the county jail there were 347 jail admissions (262 males and 85 females) during the year with 47 admissions to the pre-arraignment detention lock-up. The highest any day jail population was 68 inmates with average daily population of 50. 5,983 persons visited inmates at the jail on the designated two days each week. Correction officers did 764 prisoner transports to courts and other appointments, and the jail kitchen staff served 50,782 meals to inmates with some entrees purchased through the NYS DOCS cook-chill program. The Sheriff's Week-end Alternative Program (SWEAP) had 4l participants supervised by officers for a total of 2,626 man-hours involving 708 projects for governmental and not-for-profits in Yates County. Jail revenue accounted for nearly $254,000. An unusual jail occurrence was the birth of a baby to an inmate and the jail provided a nursery setting as required by law for mother and child.
Court security officers cleared 25,621 individuals entering into the county court house through the magnetometer and x-ray station, and secured 3,341 unauthorized instruments (knives, razors, scissors, etc.). They provided court security for more than 2,700 court related cases. Officers responded to 74 incidents at the county office building, and took 25 individuals court ordered into custody for transport to the jail.
Emergency 911 dispatchers handled nearly 21,000 calls for service with more than 15,000 assigned to law enforcement, 1,400 calls to fire departments and over 2,200 assigned to emergency medical services. Serious calls involved fatal and serious motor vehicle accidents, structure fires, weather incidents, serious injuries and a homicide case.
Deputy sheriffs and members traveled more than 537,000 miles while on road patrol and/or investigating crimes. They handled 942 motor vehicle accidents including 418 property damage types, 114 involving personal injury and 365 involving car-deer collisions. There were three fatalities. Deputies issued nearly 900 traffic tickets and made nearly 500 criminal arrests involving 759 charges.
Deputies made 81 drug possession arrests and 30 arrests for illegal sale. They administered Narcan several times as county-wide in 2016 there were 45 opioid overdose cases with four deaths associated. Deputies handled nearly 12,000 calls for police services and assisted other agencies 333 times. Forty-five missing person cases were investigated and located. There was one murder case where a body was found in the town of Jerusalem and deputies did a through crime scene investigation and later identified the body from a Monroe County Sheriff's murder scene and four arrests were made associated with the case.
Deputies checked 94 motor vehicle for child passenger seat installations and issued 60 free seats to indigent parents. Deputies performed 188 "dark house" property checks. The K9 unit was used 128 times with majority being narcotic searches. The public assistance fraud unit handled 145 referrals and FEDS investigations resulted in cost avoidance by Department of Social Services of nearly $204,000. Fire Investigation Team members examined 15 fires to determine cause for fire chiefs. A school resource officer was contracted to the Dundee Central School.
The Marine Patrol handled 152 navigation complaints and investigated four vessel accidents, and assisted 40 stranded boaters. MPOs issued 199 warnings for violations and issued 25 tickets for 37 charges on three lakes, Keuka, Canandaigua and Seneca, encompassing 65 miles of shoreline.
The Records Division received a record breaking 1,200-plus freedom of information requests, 95 sex offender registrations were monitored and they processed 120 new pistol permit applications and 728 pistol permit amendments doing criminal history checks for the county clerk's office. The number of new applicants was an all-time high. One hundred and forty-one criminal warrants were processed along with 119 criminal summons.
The civil office received 700 legal documents for service including 196 family court orders and 156 subpoenas. They received a total of $496,124 in monies turned over to creditors, courts or the county treasurer.
Animal Control Officers traveled more than 42,000 miles and investigated 662 animal related complaints along with 63 bite cases. They seized more than 100 dogs and held them at the county dog pound for reclamation, collecting over $1,900 in fees. They turned 44 dogs over to the Humane Society of Yates County to be adopted.
Other highlights Spike noted for the year included initiating a text tip line system to the 911 center which has resulted in drug arrests with deputies and members of the Penn Yan Police Department working together on several cases. They partnered with the SCOPE chapter of Yates County and Cornell Cooperative Extension and provided handgun safety training to more than 200 people. The STOP program did two victim impact panels with noted speakers and had speakers go to area high schools. The agency updated their issued handguns to new S&W .40 cal. M&Ps and their firearms instructors all qualified. They completed the radio tower transition project and decommissioned the Stid site, saving taxpayers $33,000 annually.
Community donations allowed them to have a granite memorial placed at the front of the public safety building to forever recognize all officers in the county who died in the line of duty.