Want Old Duties Back
Sheriffs Eager For Shot to Earn Spurs

By REUVEN BLAU

The City Council will press the Bloomberg administration to re-create a separate agency to oversee city Sheriffs in order to better utilize their collection services and generate more funds.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang FINE IN FINANCE: Sheriff Lindsay Eason told the City Council Labor Committee Dec. 12 that he believes the city's 128 Deputies should remain under the Finance Department, despite the steep drop in Sheriff's Office collections since the shift in 1995.

"This is a discussion that starts today," said Councilman Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., the chair of the Civil Service and Labor Committee, following a Dec. 12 hearing on the issue.

Collections Plummeted

In 1995, the Sheriff's Office was folded into the Department of Finance, which is largely responsible for enforcing monetary judgments, under Council legislation.

But since then its role in collecting fees and towing scofflaws has been greatly reduced, with contracted City Marshals largely taking over.

Sheriffs enforcing court judgments collected $69 million in 1993, which was placed into the city's treasury, according to James R. Davis III, president of the Deputy Sheriffs' Association. "Once we were put into the Department of Finance, we only brought in $2 million," he testified at the hearing in lower Manhattan. "Where's all that money going? It's not going into the city's pockets where it's needed."

JOSEPH ADDABBO: Restore Sheriffs' autonomy.

Sources indicated last week that the Finance Department was open to the idea of giving the Sheriff's Office autonomy again, contrary to the official line at last week's hearing.

"I believe we are just fine under the Department of Finance," Sheriff Lindsay Eason told the committee.

But Mr. Addabbo wasn't convinced. "I'd like to start the discussion if Sheriffs would be more efficient and benefit the city if it were back to the Office of the Sheriff," he replied.

Not Only Towing

While most people associate Sheriffs with the towing of cars for unpaid parking tickets, they actually tow less than 2 percent of all scofflaw vehicles, with most of that work now handled by City Marshals, who are often politically connected and are appointed by the Mayor.

"Towing is a collection tool of last resort, and it is not a very efficient tool when you consider that it requires tow trucks, storage space, and auctioning of cars," Sheriff Eason testified.

The Deputy Sheriffs' Association slammed the Finance Department for essentially transferring that duty to City Marshals, which has resulted in the loss of millions of dollars to the city's treasury.

"No matter what justification is used to allow this practice to continue, it is just not good government," Mr. Davis testified. "Every dollar generated in fees by the City Sheriff is turned over to the city's treasury."

Given Small Jobs

That money, he added, could go to buying new ambulances and school textbooks, and planting trees across the city.

With their responsibilities reduced, Sheriffs have been relegated to executing processes where little or no fees are involved, while Marshals have the power to handle very large fees from Supreme Court and Family Court orders, Mr. Davis testified. "It's like Dirty Harry - we get the jobs that nobody wants," he said.

He contended that City Marshals - who are not sworn Peace Officers like Sheriffs - have no "obligation related to public safety, keeping the peace or executing process where fees are small or cannot be charged."

Mr. Davis, who has been a Sheriff since 1992, said the issues he raised at the hearing were not new matters. "Regardless of what various committees intend to do and the occasional call for change, these issues have and will most likely always be around," he told the committee.

Shift to OEM?

Reading from a 9-page prepared statement, he suggested that the Sheriff's Office be placed under the city's Office of Emergency Management, in order to better utilize the group's law-enforcement capabilities in a crisis situation.

Councilman Addabbo, however, wasn't too keen on the idea. "I believe you're just running into the same problem that you have with Finance now," he said after the hearing. "I'd like to see them back on their own."

Leading off the hearing, Sheriff Eason highlighted the history of the Sheriff's Office and detailed how the job has expanded to different areas in recent years. He cited the Patrol Bureau, which in 2007 seized approximately 400,000 untaxed cigarettes and arrested more than 300 individuals who failed to pay city and state taxes.

Sheriffs, he added, have also seized counterfeit CDs, DVDs, Nike sneakers, weapons, drugs, and even a Yamaha motorcycle.

Handle Mentally Ill

They also work to locate and apprehend mentally ill individuals who have failed to comply with their treatment. In addition, what is known as Kendra's Unit transports them to treatment facilities. The division was created after the passage of Kendra's Law, named for Kendra Webdale, who was thrown in front of a train on a Manhattan subway platform in 1999 by an individual who stopped taking his medication.

The unit has been so successful that other jurisdictions, including Nassau County, have modeled their divisions on the city's version, Mr. Eason testified.

Many of the questions from Council Members at the hearing dealt with basic information concerning the duties of Sheriffs and how the department has worked to publicize their services and recruit new members.

"I will assure you that we will step it up," Sheriff Eason said, referring to recruitment efforts at local schools. "I don't like to think that we are the best-kept secret in New York."

Bronx Councilman Larry B. Seabrook responded, "Oh, you are one hell of a secret, because we never knew."

While reading from his written testimony at the start of the hearing, Sheriff Eason detailed the steps the Finance Department has taken to reduce the number of cars towed.

Easier to Pay

One major factor in the decrease is that the department has provided more ways for people to pay their tickets, including on-line by credit card, he said. According to the department, 30 percent of all parking tickets are now being paid electronically, including 5,000 payments a day on-line.

The Finance Department has also worked to make it easier for people to contest their tickets, Sheriff Eason said. "We like to say that it is now possible to contest your ticket on your lunch hour," he remarked. "And we have cleaned up our database to improve collection methods."

As a result, the percentage of parking tickets paid within 30 days has increased from 37 percent in 2003 to 54 percent in 2007.

The Finance Department also supported the City Council's decision to raise the debt threshold at which vehicles can be towed from $230 to $350 in 2005, which has helped reduce the number of cars being towed.

In Fiscal Year 2006, the city towed 96,943 cars, down from 127,479 in 2005 and 139,558 in 2004.

Despite the technological advances, Mr. Davis contended that his members weren't being fully utilized by the city. "Give them more of the jobs that we are entitled to do, instead of passing it on to private businesses," he said.