In a dizzying day, county exec forces sheriff’s hand on body cams: We’ll pay for them
Updated Apr 23, 2021;
Syracuse, NY Onondaga County Sheriff Gene Conway said in a Syracuse.com article published Friday morning that he had no plans to outfit sheriff’s deputies with body cameras, echoing a stance he’s held for at least four years.
In an extraordinary 9 1/2 hours after Syracuse.com’s story published at 6 a.m., the county went from no plans for body cameras to a pledge to pay for the cameras with
a possible rollout in the next year.
Here’s how it unfolded: At 6 a.m., Syracuse.com published a story about the sheriff’s inaction on cameras. Conway called a 10 a.m. news conference to complain about the story, but said he’d start planning a body camera program right away if given the money. At 3:30 p.m., County Executive Ryan McMahon held his own news conference to promise money for the program.
Sheriff Conway refuses body cameras while more U.S. police forces embrace them
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A Newark, N.J. police officer displays how a body cam is worn during a news conference unveiling the department s new cameras in 2017. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)AP
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Syracuse, N.Y. The New York State Police this month started to equip troopers with body cameras.
Sheriff’s deputies in Erie, Monroe and Albany counties three of the biggest Upstate counties wear body cameras. One department has had them for six years.
In Onondaga County, at least 10 of the county’s 15 police departments including the Syracuse Police Department use the cameras.
After Syracuse.com article, Sheriff Conway says he welcomes body cameras if county provides money
Updated Apr 23, 2021;
Syracuse, NY After a Syracuse.com story Friday reported the Onondaga County Sheriff Office has no body cameras and no plans for them, Sheriff Gene Conway called a news conference to say he would welcome the cameras if the county provided money for them.
Conway said that he always supported the idea of body cameras, but hadn’t asked for money to implement them since being rebuffed from a pilot program in 2017.
As of now, the sheriff said he has no projections for how much a body-camera program would cost or how many deputies it would take to run.
Deputies ID man who they say pulled airsoft gun during road rage incident on I-81
Updated Apr 21, 2021;
Syracuse, N.Y. A Liverpool man has been identified by deputies as the person they say pointed an airsoft gun at another driver during a road rage incident Saturday on Interstate 81.
Kenneth Scott Jr., 38, was charged with second-degree menacing after pointing the gun at another driver near the 7th North Street exit, according to Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Jon Seeber. An airsoft gun is like a BB-gun but fires non-metal spheres.
The incident was reported just before 2:30 p.m. when the driver who was threatened got off I-81 and drove to Destiny USA to call 911, deputies said.
5 Jamesville inmates go to hospital after K2 overdoses, deputies say
Updated Apr 19, 2021;
One inmate was found unresponsive in his cell, said Sgt. Jon Seeber, a sheriff’s office spokesman.
K2 is also known as spike and synthetic marijuana, which contains a synthetic version of THC made from chemicals. Deputies do not yet know how the drug was brought into the prison.
Deputies found the inmate at 7:42 p.m. on Saturday. The medical staff gave the inmate naloxone and the inmate regained consciousness, deputies said.
The inmate was then taken to Upstate University Hospital to be treated and was then released, Seeber said.