Archive: News

Peter Meskill

Peter Meskill has lived in Trumansburg all his life.  He and his wife Dale have three children, Diana (a medical student), Michael (an accountant), and Kelly (studying to be a special education teacher).  Meskill worked as a real estate broker for 13 years, and has served in local government and his community for many years.  He is currently finishing his 12th year (third term) as Tompkins County Sheriff.  He stopped the Lansing Star this week by to talk about his candidacy.  Here is what he had to say:


Lansing Star: Why are you running again now?

Peter Meskill: I'm running because I really enjoy the job.  It's a passion for me.  Public service has been a passion all my life.  I've been in the Trumansburg Fire Department since I was 17.  I'm a life member there.  I served two terms on the Trumansburg Village Board.  I served one complete term and part of a second term on the County Legislature.  I've served 12 years here.

So for me it's really a way of life.  It's not simply a job or career.  It's what I really enjoy doing, which is serving the public.

LS: Four years ago the election boiled down to management versus law enforcement experience, and it seems that is what is happening again this year.  So this is a recurring theme for you.  What do you offer in the law enforcement experience area?

PM: Well, I offer 12 years of being the Sheriff of Tompkins County.

The Sheriff's office is a unique and diverse operation.  There are almost 90 people that work there.  We run a corrections office and a jail.  We run a civil office, and law enforcement.  Law enforcement is actually the smaller part of the operation than the civil office and the jail.  The civil office and jail are constitutionally mandated offices of sheriffs of the State of New York.  Law enforcement is a local option, and our county has chosen to have law enforcement with a sheriff.

I think I offer 12 years of experience doing everything at the Sheriff's Office: managing a well run jail.  The jail was just accredited last year; a jail where I've saved the County millions of dollars over 12 years by getting variances, keeping inmates here.  So we're saving taxpayers' money.

In addition to that we're running reentry and recidivism programs that help people that come out of the jail to come back into the community.  Probably 98% of all the inmates that come through our jail on an annual basis go back to the community that you and I live in, so it's important to do all we can to give them skills -- the people that wish to do it -- and give them contacts and try to educate and make them aware of the things that are good, and aren't so good, and get them back on track in te right way with the right kind of help.  So when they're out they can be successful.  The program -- we've been doing it now for four or five years -- has been very successful.

LS: Which of the two do you think is more important, management or policing experience?

PM: To me it's a complete thing.  I've been the Sheriff for 12 years, so I have experience in all facets of the Sheriff's Office.  The Sheriff, I think, is like a CEO.  You run the operation.  You oversee the operation.  You surround yourself with the best possible staff you can.  That's a basic management theory that's been proven time and time again. 

You surround yourself with the best possible people to try to make a difference, to cover all the bases whether it's management of the budget, or management of resources.  Making sure staff are professionally trained and that they keep up on that professionalism and training.  Making sure there is accountability of the staff and their actions, that they carry out their jobs and serve the public.

LS: When I look at the endorsements for both candidates I see that you have many more in numbers, some organizations, and many past and present leaders from our community.  The 'elephant in the room' for your opponent is the Tompkins County Democratic Committee's endorsement of you, and your 'elephant in the room' is the Tompkins County Deputy Sheriff's Associations's endorsement of your opponent.  How do you think this will affect people's perceptions of you as a candidate, or his?

PM: I don't know how it's going to affect Ken's operation or candidacy.  From my perspective I'm glad that I've got endorsements from a plethora of people that come from varied walks of live and from geographically varied areas throughout the county.  People who are community leaders past and present, people that are just normal people on the street whose names you might not even recognize.  The Democratic Party recognizing the good work that I've done over the last 12 years as Sheriff of the County.  The UAW, that has always been a staunch supporter throughout my career in law enforcement in the Sheriff's Office.  I think that's really important.

In reference to the deputies' endorsement, I'll give you a couple of facts.  First of all it wasn't near a unanimous vote.  Second of all, I'm not surprised that the deputies did not get out and endorse me.  I've never seen deputies from any sheriff's office endorse a sitting sheriff.  It's typically not done, because there is the issue of management versus the union.  There are times when there is conflict with that.  It's a natural occurrence in any business or work environment.

So I'm not really concerned about that.  Their issue seems to be that they are so long out of contract, and the Sheriff doesn't control the contract.  The County Legislature makes the decision as to what parameters and wages they are going to pay and the County Administrator carries that function out.

However I will say that I have advocated for my people, and advocated for good and meaningful wages.  But balancing that with the demands of the taxpayers.  You and I both know that taxes are high in this area.  Taxes are a difficult issue for people.  I think my skills as Sheriff over the years have proven that in fact we've been able to hold the line on budgets and hold the line on expenditures and still provide a really good service.

To me that's what's importance.  It's a great balance of a lot of people from a lot of walks of life throughout the County that are recognizing the good work I accomplished over 12 years. 

Along with the great staff I have.  It's not a single issue thing.  It think that's an important point.  The Sheriff himself or herself cannot run the operation all by themselves.  There are 90 employees.  You need a great team.  I've put together a very experienced team: the Undersheriff, the Captain, the Chief of the jail, and the Lieutenant of the jail.  They do a fantastic job.

That's what I said at the beginning.  it's a basic tenet of management theory: surround yourself with the best possible people, people that are smarter than you.  You want the best you can get to carry out the operation, the mission, and objectives of our entire agency.  For me that's an important issue, because I haven't heard my opponent really speak to that.  In fact I've heard my opponent state the opposite, where he says that it's his choice dictate what will happen.  The reality is that the Sheriff is responsible for everything that your staff does, or does not do.  Properly or improperly.  I take full responsibility for everything that occurs in the Sheriff's Office and deal with that in an appropriate fashion.

You as one individual, whoever that person may be as Sheriff of the County, can not carry out the functions of the Sheriff's Office all by yourself.  It would be a dictatorship like we've seen in history in years gone by in other countries.  I don't think that's a good thing.  I try to empower my staff to make decisions both in the jail and on the road, based on solid policies and procedures we have written, and that we have utilized to reach our objectives based on our mission.


LS: Given the budget we've had until now, do you think the Sheriff's Department has been able to be effective?

PM: I think we've been very effective,despite the fact that we don't have a budget that I would like to have.  I would like to have some more staff working, especially in the area of law enforcement with deputy sheriffs.  But I realize the burden on the taxpayers and the economic times we're facing.  So we do the very best that we can, making sure that people are professionally trained, making sure they have clear policies and procedures so that they understand what their role is here in the community, serving the public.  Most of our business is service.  While we say 'serve and protect,' 90% plus of what we do is to serve the residents of our county.

LS: I know that the County Administrator has asked for more across the board cuts from departments.  Do you think the department will be able to continue to be effective with these cuts?

PM: Yes, I think we'll be able to.  The preliminary numbers look like we're going to be able to keep law enforcement staffing at the current level assuming that the Legislature approves the County Administrator's recommendations.  We're going to lose some funding for equipment and vehicles and supplies.  

We lost a lot of money for that last year.  Last year we reduced overtime in law enforcement alone by $70,000.  We're dealing those cuts during the course of this year.  But I understand that very well.  I understand the County fiscal policy.  I helped create it back in the 1990s.   I understand the importance of getting by in a tough economic time and still providing good service.

I believe we'll be able to do that.  Would I like more?  Yes.  But I understand that's really not within the realm of possibility in the economic times we live in.

LS: In looking at the 2009 annual report it seems to me that this department is foot-forward in terms of applying for grants, such as the one Captain Osborne acquired for rifles for patrol vehicles.  I think grants are going to get a lot more competitive really soon, if it hasn't already.  Is that going to be the way to deal with budget cuts?

PM: We've used it as a way to deal with it ever since I became Sheriff in dealing with either cuts, or reducing or enhancing our operation.  Enhancing the operation by combining it with the budget that the County Legislature allocated us, or using the grant money when things start to get cut to maintain our operation.  We've received lots of different grants from Homeland Security for traffic safety operations.  you mentioned the patrol rifles -- that was actually a joint grant with the City of Ithaca where they got a patrol vehicle and we got patrol rifles.  We've been doing a great job with traffic safety grants through the New York State government Traffic Safety Committee, and using targeted enforcement in targeted areas.

It actually does exactly what it's supposed to do.  It reduces injuries and accidents.  It's not a question of punishing people by writing a ticket.  it's a question of going after certain types of aggressive driving behavior and enforcing the law.  It proves that we reduce accidents and injuries in those areas where we are able to effectively do that.

LS: You're the police force for a lot of this county, and you can't be everywhere at one time, right?  So targeting addresses that problem?

PM: We try to use targeted enforcement based on our data that shows where we've had a lot of accidents or injuries, and try to reduce them  Our data proves that we have been effective in reducing accidents and injuries in those areas.

LS: Community outreach seems to be a big focus of your administration.  Obviously you hope they will have an effect on the community and that will reduce the amount of crime, and also victims.  Do they also add an element to how your officers deal with the public in enforcement scenarios?  Is community outreach going to continue to be important?

PM: We will definitely continue with our community outreach programs.  I think it's extremely important.  We're paid a good amount of money to provide service and protection for county residents.  One of the best ways to do that is to effectively interact with them. To be out in the community with them, whether we're at festivals, or when we have the time, stopping in a coffee shop to talk to people about what's going on in their neighborhood, their community, their area.

Tome it's an essential element of insuring that we're in touch with our community, that we understand our community, and that we get a sense of what our community wants from us.  Those are extremely critical.  They may sound large and non-specific, but those things actually allow us to become specific when we conduct our programs and decide how we do our programs and decide what we bring back to the public.

We've had some great success with some informal neighborhood watch programs in relation to burglaries and larcenies in the last 12 to 18 months, and we're establishing a couple more right now throughout the county at the request of neighborhood.  We've reduced burglaries at least 60%.

In part it was because we were able to build community relationships, build the communication back and forth, address suspicious activity in their area, and get back to them.  Tell them what we found and what we didn't find, what's going on, and thank them for communicating with us.  They, in turn, tell us about that.  Besides making a call to 911 they give us other information.  When we funnel it through a couple of people -- so you don't have 50 people telling you the same story.  You have a couple of people communicating with their neighborhoods, and they funnel it back to us. 

It's worked extremely well.  If you talked to the people in the communities -- I've talked to a few of them to see how they feel about it -- they're very happy with it.  It's been very successful and it's the kind of thing we're going to continue to do regardless of what the budgets are.  Because it's so critical to communicate and understand what the community is, what they want, and what they expect from us.

LS: Is the jail just chugging along and running well or do you see improvements that need to be made there?

PM: I think the jail is much more than chugging along.  During my 12 years there the jail has moved in a very positive direction.  We've all but eliminated board-outs.  Two weeks after I walked in the office in 1991 we did eliminate board-outs.  We were able to do that through 2004 when the County Board decided they were not going to build or add on to the new jail and the Commission of Corrections took away the variances.

LS: What about inmates and officers' safety?  Is it more crowded?

PM: When we have variances, yes, there are more people there.  But we've got a great staff of people that are very good at what they do, very professionally trained.  They maintain professionalism throughout the course of the work and their duties.  The accreditation that we worked on and received last year shows that we are above standard in how we do our job.

That's really important because we actually take those standards, put them in a file, and take daily reports on things that happen.  We document what we've done and how we address issues and problems and concerns to insure we have consistency and professionalism.  It reduced liability inside the jail.  It reduces insurance costs for the County.  It gives the community a sense that this place is well run and these people are doing a great job, and this is what we expect.  And they're happy about it, as happy as you can be.

We do what we do, we do it very well, and we cover all the bases.  Not just to cover our backsides, but to insure that we're providing a professional service.  As the sheriff of a county you're responsible for every inmate in your custody, both in your jail and others if you have to board them out.

LS: Do you want to say more about your candidacy or anything we haven't covered?

PM: I've been Sheriff for 12 years.  I have a vsat amount of experience in all facets of the Sheriff's Office.  In the jail, in law enforcement, and civil.  I have a broad management and business experience both in formal education and in experience in the world.  I think all those factors combine with working with a great staff of people -- Undersheriff Tubbs, Captain Osborne, Lieutenant Bunce, and Chief Niemi.  It really makes a difference n how we work and protect and serve the public.

I'm hopeful that the voter in this county -- the Democrats in the primary and all the voters in the general election in November -- will realize that and continue to support that good work.

I've been going door to door for a couple of months now.  The comments I've been getting are 'the Sheriff's Office does a great job,' or 'We're happy to support you.'  Those type of comments.  To me that's very heartwarming, because I know things that I've done or instituted have carried through the entire staff.  Things that they have brought back to me we've adjusted and changed to make something different and better to provide what we're supposed to.  That is good solid service and safety for the community.

The recidivism program we have had in the jail now for several years has been very successful.  While it's not huge in numbers, it's been successful.  We keep chipping away at that problem.  My ability to gain new variances this year from the Commissioner of Corrections and work with the and work with the current Commissioner Tom  Beilein, has not only signed the County a quarter of a million dollars a year, but has also enabled inmates to stay here so they can access services throughout our criminal justice system and to access the extra services we have in our jail.

Not every county has the kind of services available that we do in this county, both in-house and external in the criminal justice system.  So I think those are important points.

The first year I was there we instituted a child safety seat program.  We still do that, and do that very vigorously to this day.  We think that makes a big difference properly teaching people how to use car seats and how to install their children in the car seats.  We teach youth snow mobile operation courses and go to a wide variety of community events to engage people.  To me those are the things that are really important.

On top of that I have always stayed within budget.  When I came here 12 years ago the Sheriff's Office was 25% over budget.  It was a million dollars a year over budget between the jail and law enforcement in overtime and in board-outs.  We've corrected all that.  Whatever the County Board allows us for a budget, we've stayed within that budget and/or had excess money left over and still provided a depth and a breadth of services  that are needed in the County.  I'm really proud of that fact.  It's not something I accomplished myself.  It's something I try to set the pace for, but I think it comes from an empowerment and training and management philosophy that allows everyone in the Sheriff's Office to do their thing and become part of and feel good about the organization.

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