The leaders of two major Cayuga County law enforcement agencies do not support the legalization of marijuana in New York state.
Auburn Police Chief Shawn Butler and Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck are voicing concerns about the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it into law Wednesday.
Under the law, New Yorkers 21 and older can now possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana and use it in private or in public. Convictions for marijuana crimes that no longer exist will be expunged, and people with such convictions will be among those given priority for licenses to grow and sell the drug, which will be permitted beginning April 1, 2022. New York is the 16th state to legalize the drug.
The Cayuga County Sheriff s Office is looking for recruits.Â
A post on thesheriff s office Facebook page said the application deadline for a civil service exam for those seeking a deputy job is Wednesday, March 31. That written test is scheduled for Saturday, May 15. Interested people can apply through the county website at mycivilservice.cayugacounty.us/exams or call (315) 253-1284. Health and safety regulations amid the COVID-19 pandemic will be enforced.
A location for the written test has not yet been confirmed, Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck said. That exam will include reading comprehension, situational judgement, problem sensitivity and reasoning.
Schenck said the office s road patrol division currently has three vacancies. Without counting supervisors or investigators, the division currently has around 17 people. Those vacancies impact the office s operations.
Randy Smith went to the Cayuga County Jail on Wednesday under much different circumstances than he went there exactly six months earlier.
Smith, 46, of Auburn, was presented with his recovery peer advocate certification that day by Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck. Sponsored by the Heroin Epidemic Action League, Smith s training prepares him to support people in recovery from the same addiction that brought him to the jail Aug. 23. And Schenck believes Smith s success will lead to better peer support services at the facility.
Six months earlier, though, Smith didn t feel like a success.
A Cortland native, Smith started drinking when he was 14. By the time he was 21 he was using cocaine and other drugs, but alcohol was the one he abused the hardest. When he was 24, an assault charge landed him in drug court in Ithaca, as well as probation. So he got sober, and got a job as a certified nursing assistant. He also met the woman he would call his wife for the next 21 years. With her
Exploring the purchase and use of law enforcement officer body cameras will be among the priorities for the Cayuga County Sheriff s Office under its state-mandated reform plan that s been released
Cayuga County saw a slight increase in domestic violence toward the end of 2020. But the relationship between that increase and the COVID-19 pandemic is a complex one.