Article 21 - Sheriff - Code

Section 21.01 Election. [Reserved]

Section 21.02 Powers and duties.

The sheriff shall have and exercise all the powers and duties now or hereafter conferred or imposed upon her or him by any applicable law. She or he shall perform such additional and related duties as may be prescribed by law, not inconsistent with the county charter or this code, and directed by the county executive.

Section 21.03 Appointment of undersheriff and staff.

1. 1. 1. The sheriff shall appoint an undersheriff and may appoint such deputies, other clerks and employees within the limits of the appropriations therefore, as she or he deems necessary for the conduct of her or his office. Such deputies shall attend upon the terms and sittings of the supreme court and of the county courts in the county as may be required by law and perform such other duties as the sheriff may direct. The undersheriff shall execute the powers and duties of the office in the absence or inability of the sheriff to act and in the event a vacancy occurs in the office of the sheriff, the undersheriff shall execute the said powers and duties until a new sheriff has been elected or appointed and has qualified.
      2. The sheriff may appoint, within the appropriations provided therefore, a jailer, matron, chaplains, physicians, guards, keepers, clerks and other employees of the county jail. The matron shall have sole charge of the female prisoners and of that portion of the jail in which female prisoners are detained, subject to the direction of the sheriff or jailer. A matron shall be in attendance at all times when females are confined in the jail.
      3. The sheriff or undersheriff may deputize any person to do particular acts.
      4. Each appointment or revocation thereof made pursuant to this article shall be in writing and filed in the office of the county clerk. All the persons appointed pursuant to this article shall serve during the pleasure of the sheriff.
      5. Before the appointment by the sheriff of any person as an undersheriff or a deputy, other than a person deputized to do particular acts, such person shall be fingerprinted by the sheriff and the sheriff shall cause such fingerprints to be compared with fingerprints filed with the appropriate division or department of New York State government and the federal bureau of investigation.
      6. The sheriff may, within the limits of the appropriations provided therefore, employ such number of part time deputies, who shall be paid such compensation as the county legislature may determine. Such deputies shall be appointed in the same manner as regular deputies and shall have only those duties and powers authorized by the sheriff.
      7. The sheriff may in her or his discretion deputize the peace officers of cities, towns and villages within the county and agents of societies incorporated for the purpose of prevention of cruelty to animals, for the purpose of authorizing arrest without a warrant outside the territorial limits of such city, town or village when such crime or infraction was committed within such territorial limits in the presence of such peace officer or agent. Such peace officer or agent shall not be deemed an officer, agent, servant or employee of the county.

Section 21.04 Emergency provisions.

1. For the protection of human life and property during an emergency, the sheriff may deputize orally or in writing such number of additional special deputies as she or he deems necessary. If she or he is unable to continue the services of such special deputies without compensation, she or he may pay the compensation of any such special deputies in such amount as the county legislature may determine for each day any such special deputy is actually engaged in assisting her or him in the performance of her or his duties. If the county legislature shall fail to fix the compensation of such special deputies, the sheriff may fix such compensation at not exceeding ten dollars ($10) per day for each such special deputy. The compensation of any special deputy so appointed shall be audited and paid as a county charge.
2. If, in the protection of human life and property, the sheriff shall deem it necessary to hire any equipment or apparatus together with the operator thereof, she or he may hire the same during the period of an emergency or catastrophe at a reasonable charge therefore. The same shall be audited and paid as a county charge.
3. The county legislature shall have power to appropriate and set aside a fund for the purpose of paying in advance of audit expenditures of a sheriff in an emergency or catastrophe for services and expenses of special deputies and for the hiring of equipment and apparatus and the operator thereof. The county executive may authorize the sheriff to issue orders on the comptroller for the payment thereof. The county executive may further direct the rendering by the sheriff to the comptroller, of an accounting of such expenditures with verified or certified vouchers attached. The claimant and the sheriff shall be jointly and severally liable for any items of expenditure for other than a lawful county purpose and disallowed upon a final audit. Such expenditure so disallowed shall be recovered in an action brought in the name of the county.

Section 21.05 Disbursements.

Whenever the sheriff is required by law to transport a prisoner or any other person and the cost of such travel and transportation is made a county charge by law, the sheriff or person deputized by her or him shall, within the appropriations provided therefore, be entitled to her or his actual disbursements incurred for travel, lodging and food.

Section 21.06 Bond of sheriff.

The sheriff, undersheriff and such of her or his deputies and employees as the county executive shall require shall each give a surety bond to the county in a sum to be fixed by the county legislature conditioned for the faithful performance of her or his duties, which bond shall be approved as to form by the county attorney and as to sufficiency of surety by the county executive and filed in the office of the county clerk.