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Recruitment | The Suffolk County Sheriff's Office
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Join the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office

The Divisions of the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office

Corrections Division

 

The Corrections Division of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office is comprised of more than 806 Correction Officers who staff two county correctional facilities. The Corrections Division and its facilities are overseen by the Warden and his Deputy Wardens. Both facilities house minimum, medium, and maximum-security male and female inmates.

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The current Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverhead was built in 1969 and has undergone multiple additions and improvements over the years, resulting in its current capacity of 840 inmates. The facility has linear and podular housing units, a state-of-the-art medical/ dental/ mental health unit, a rehabilitation unit, and a visiting section. The Choose Your Path program for young men is housed at the Riverhead Facility.

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The Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Yaphank was built in 1961 and has also undergone multiple improvements and additions over the years, including a state-of-the-art addition in 2013 which added six podular housing units, modern medical/dental/mental health, visiting, and booking units, and renovations of existing housing areas. The current capacity at Yaphank is 976 inmates. The Sheriff's Addiction Treatment Program (SATP), the Veterans Reentry Program, the 55 and Older Pod, and the Choose to Thrive Program for female inmates are all housed at the Yaphank Facility. This facility also houses female inmates with their newborn babies in a fully equipped secure nursery.

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An increased focus on inmate rehabilitation accompanied by the reduction in inmate levels due to NYS bail reform legislation has created a unique opportunity to increase the number of programs available to inmates in the custody of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office. The emphasis the Sheriff’s Office places on correctional rehabilitative programming has evolved over the last several years, with Correction Officers increasingly adopting a mindset that places value on rehabilitation and reentry work. While many non-profit organizations work in collaboration with the correctional facility to provide services to current and former inmates, Correction Officers have developed and now run many unique correctional programs.

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Police Division

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The Chief Deputy Sheriff oversees the Police Division. It includes the Enforcement Bureau, Headquarters Bureau, District Court Bureau, Family Court Bureau, Criminal Investigations Bureau, a Special Operations Bureau, and the Pistol License Bureau.

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The major responsibilities of the Headquarters Bureau are the transportation and security of inmates outside the correctional facility, general law enforcement services to the public, and support assistance to other law enforcement agencies. They have a Canine Unit and a Marine Unit which patrols the East End of Long Island.

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The District Court Bureau is tasked with the secure transportation of all inmates and detainees remanded to the custody of the Sheriff by any of the twenty-two courts working out of the Cohalan Court Complex in Central Islip. The Bureau oversees the main detention center housed at the 1st District Court complex and is responsible for the care and custody of new arrestees in the five western townships of Suffolk County as well as Suffolk County Correctional Facility inmates returning for court appearances. The District Court Bureau works closely with law enforcement partners of the Sheriff’s Office, defense attorneys, court personnel, and the District Attorney’s Office to ensure the court process proceeds efficiently. The Bureau transported a total of 24,544 prisoners in 2019.

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The Criminal Investigations Bureau is tasked with all criminal investigations within the confines of the Suffolk County Correctional Facilities. These include cases involving prison contraband, assaults, violation of orders of protection, death investigations, etc. In addition, the Bureau handles all felony cases developed by Deputy Sheriffs, serious motor vehicle crashes, aviation crashes at Gabreski Airport, and drug investigations, including undercover surveillance. The investigators within the Bureau undergo a multitude of training that includes death investigation, crime scene investigation, evidence handling, drug field testing, and motor vehicle collision investigation. Responsibilities for investigators include case management, evidence collection, arrest and warrant processing, interviews and statements, and crime scene management which includes fingerprint processing, photography, sketching, and scene narratives. Investigators from both the Police and Corrections divisions continually work with other agencies and on task forces such as the DEA and Heroin Task Force, to uncover crime in Suffolk County and the region.

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The Enforcement Bureau is comprised of the Civil Enforcement Section and Special Operations Section. Deputy Sheriffs assigned to the Civil Enforcement Section process property executions for enforcement against real and personal property, income executions, warrants to remove, warrants of arrest, orders of seizure, orders of attachment, service of D.W.I. forfeiture summonses for the County Attorney, enforcement of Health Commissioner orders, and all other actions issued out of any court in the county. The Special Operations Section performs a variety of duties including patrolling and responding to calls for service at the Suffolk County Gabreski Airport and other county facilities and traffic enforcement.

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The Sheriff’s Office Warrant Squad executes court-ordered Writs of Assistance in family offense and abuse and neglect cases, transports certain juveniles charged with crimes to court, and returns them to where they are housed. Deputy Sheriff Investigators assigned to the Warrant Squad execute warrants of arrest in both family court and criminal court cases. Investigators also coordinate with the county’s Child Support Enforcement Bureau to locate parents who have failed to pay court-ordered child support and assist police agencies in tracking down Fugitives from Justice.

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The Domestic Violence Bureau serves orders of protection that are created by the Family and Criminal Court systems. During the service of orders, Deputy Sheriffs are often ordered to seize firearms and other weapons in the protection of the defendants and respondents. The Domestic Violence Bureau served a total of 3,786 orders of protection in 2019 and 4,023 in 2020. It also seized a total of 282 firearms in 2019 and 378 in 2020. In 2019, Deputy Sheriffs were tasked with the service of Emergency Risk Protection Orders (ERPO). An ERPO is a court order issued when a person may be dangerous to him/herself or others. An ERPO prohibits a person from purchasing or possessing guns and requires the person to surrender any guns he/she already owns or possesses. The Domestic Violence Bureau also investigates cases of individuals who attempt to purchase a firearm in violation of an order of protection and arrests individuals charged with violating orders of protection and those with family offense-related warrants.

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The Special Operations Bureau is comprised of the Air Support Unit, Honor Guard, Stop-DWI Team, Bike Patrol, Emergency Management, Haz-Mat Decon Strike Team, Homeland Security, and Tactical Units that include the Sheriff’s Response Team and the Tactical Rifle and Containment Team.

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The Pistol License Bureau is tasked with the issuance of all pistol licenses for the five East End towns in Suffolk County. The towns include Riverhead, Southampton, Southold, East Hampton, and Shelter Island. Deputy Sheriff Investigators are responsible for conducting a thorough background check that includes fingerprint and arrest history checks, personal and character witness interviews, residency verification, and mental health checks on pistol license applicants.

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Operations Division

The Operations Division includes Employee Benefits, the Communications Bureau, the Quartermaster Bureau, the Grants Bureau, the Accounting Bureau, the Personnel Investigations Bureau, Personnel/Payroll, Fleet Management, and Research and Development. The Chief of Staff oversees all bureaus in the Operations Division.

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Employee Benefits administers all benefits for employees as negotiated by the three bargaining units within the Sheriff’s Office. The Communications Bureau administers all Sheriff’s Office dispatching functions. The Quartermaster Bureau is responsible for the issuance and inventory maintenance of uniform items and assorted equipment for approximately 1,200 employees of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office. The Grants Bureau locates state, federal, and private sector funding opportunities. The Accounting Bureau prepares the annual operating budget request for submission to the County Executive’s Budget Office.

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The Personnel Investigations Bureau is responsible for conducting confidential background investigations on all employee candidates for the Sheriff’s Office. The primary mission of the Payroll/Personnel Bureau is to monitor employee time and accruals and to ensure that all employees are paid accurately and in a timely fashion. Fleet Services is responsible for the maintenance of the “Fleet” which includes patrol vehicles, unmarked and undercover vehicles, trucks, buses, ATVs, boats, military surplus equipment, and military vehicles. The Research and Development Bureau facilitates decision-making, research, and timely responses to inquiries. These bureaus are staffed by Correction Officers, Deputies, and professionals.

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