NYSSA Awards Sheriff Dougherty and Personnel for Continued Outstanding Accreditation

LIVINGSTON COUNTY – The New York State Sheriff’s Association (NYSSA) honored Sheriff Thomas Dougherty and his staff for continuing the Sheriff’s Office’s exceptional accreditation with the re-accreditation of its Court Security Division at the Livingston County Board of Supervisors Meeting Wednesday afternoon.

With the re-accreditation of Court Security, the Sheriff’s Office continues to maintain full NYS accreditation of all five of its divisions: Law Enforcement, 911 Center, Civil, Corrections, and Court Security.

“Livingston County is one of only nine Sheriff’s Offices in New York State to achieve accreditation of its Court Security program,” said Peter Kehoe, Executive Director of the New York State Sheriff’s Association. “Court security is an area of high concern these days by the judges, who are at risk every day in their workplace, and also the employees who work in the courthouse and the citizens who have to go to the courthouse to do business.”

New York State has 39 major components and over 100 individual requirements for the Court Security Division of a Sheriff’s Office to achieve accreditation. A board of assessors from an outside agency reviewed these requirements and found that the Livingston County Sheriff’s Court Security Division met or exceeded the requirements in court security.

“Accreditation is a total team effort that starts with the County Administrator, Chairman , members of the Board of Supervisors, County Department heads, and our residents. When everybody works together we can achieve great things. Accreditation is one of those things that were very proud of. It started several years ago, but maintaining accreditation is a very difficult process.”

Dougherty especially thanked Deputy Matthew Templeton of the Court Security Division, Sgt. Jeff Hammond of the Corrections Division and Chief Deputy Jason Yasso of the Corrections Division for their work.

“These folks work hard and tirelessly to maintain our accreditation,” said Dougherty. “The reaccreditation process takes hard work by every member. These folks work hard and I’m very proud of them.”

Dougherty also thanked Kehoe and NYSSA for the honor and for being a strong resource for the Sheriff’s Office.

“New York Sheriffs continue to be such an asset, not only to me as a Sheriff but to our entire Sheriff’s Office and entire community,” said Dougherty. “They are always there when we have question or a need. As Peter says very often, nothing is given, and I can attest to that. It’s earned. We’re one of the few Sheriff’s Offices in New York that has full accreditation and again that’s a testament to everyone in this room.”