Hauppauge - Suffolk Executive Steve Levy joined Sheriff Vincent DeMarco today in declaring the highway patrol shift from Suffolk police officers to deputy sheriffs a success based on statistics compiled since the September 2008 transition.

The officials cited newly compiled data covering March 15 - September 15, 2009. Over this recent six-month period, sheriff personnel issued 12,947 tickets, handled 1,046 motor vehicle crashes, and made 183 arrests of motorists for driving while intoxicated (DWI) on the Long Island Expressway (LIE) and Sunrise Highway. These numbers align closely to the March 15 - September 15, 2008 period, when Suffolk police patrolled these same state roads and issued 15,463 tickets, handled 1,090 motor vehicle crashes and made 181 DWI arrests. The number of summonses issued by sheriffs jumped 113 percent compared to the September 15, 2008 - March 15, 2009 period.

"When we shifted sheriffs to the highways, we said that we could save taxpayers more than $8 million during a significant global economic downturn while also maintaining the previous level of public safety," said Levy. "Our decision proved to be both fiscally prudent and responsible from a standpoint of motorist safety."

The county executive noted that the decline in motor vehicle crashes represented the second straight six-month comparative period that accidents declined while deputy sheriffs were patrolling the LIE and Sunrise. "Crashes, not tickets, are indicative of public safety," said Levy. "The fact that there were 115 fewer crashes, a reduction of five percent, since deputy sheriffs took over highway patrols is even more noteworthy considering that there was 132 percent more snowfall over this period."

Sheriff DeMarco added, "Deputy sheriffs have demonstrated great responsibility in taking on these patrol duties and are to be commended for their efforts."

Deputy sheriffs issued more than twice as many summonses during the most recent six-month period as they had over the prior six months. The previous, lower ticket rate was temporary, DeMarco explained, because the state had delayed payment for sheriffs to patrol LIE High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes and deputy sheriffs only began patrolling HOV lanes in mid-April. If the sheriffs had been patrolling the HOV lanes over the additional five-week period from March 15 - April 20, DeMarco noted, the number of summonses issued would have been greater than the 12,947 figure that is reported for the entire six-month statistical period. During the first three weeks that the sheriff got authorization from the state to patrol the HOV lanes (from April 17 - May 8, 2009), there were a total of 532 tickets written during dedicated HOV patrols, a trend that continued in the weeks and months that followed.

The transition to deputy sheriffs occurred in 2008 after New York State failed to assume its proper role in patrolling the state-owned LIE and Sunrise Highway. Levy said the change would save taxpayers millions of dollars, largely due to two factors: (1) the salary and benefits of top-step deputy sheriffs averages $42,000 less than that of top-step police officers, and (2) the shift would put up to 55 police officers into neighborhood patrols and negate the need to hire a new police class.

The county executive and sheriff expressed confidence in the move, describing how the deputy sheriffs' training, equipment and experience ensured the same high level of patrol service that had previously been provided by Suffolk police officers.

Suffolk deputy sheriffs' training includes the same six months of basic coursework that is provided to Suffolk police officers at the Suffolk Police Academy. The training includes more than 1,100 total hours in topics including New York State laws, law enforcement skills, community interaction and mass casualties and major events. Additional enhanced training is also taken by deputy sheriffs covering use of Radar and Lidar equipment, Intoxilyzer devices, commercial vehicle enforcement training, field sobriety testing, highway vehicle stops, drug trafficker training, street level interdiction, vehicle searches and weapons of mass destruction response.

Deputy sheriffs' vehicles have essentially the same equipment as vehicles driven by Suffolk police officers, DeMarco noted. The equipment includes radar and lidar devices, sirens, police radios, laptop computers, fire extinguishers, flares, traffic cones, axes, gas masks and first aid kits. Defibrillators are available in deputy sheriffs' cars and push bumpers were installed for the highway fleet.