Paul Szmal: FLX Morning continues at 8.39 and we're joined this morning by Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck for his usual visit. Morning Brian, how are you sir?
Brian Schenck: Good morning Paul and good morning to everybody that's listening today. I hate to start things off on a bad note but there was an unfortunate situation that happened with Deputy Ruff, can you shed a little light on that for people who may not be familiar with the situation?
Paul Szmal: Sure, definitely an unfortunate situation but glad to report he's doing okay now. But while making some rounds in the jail, Custody Deputy Ruff on May 7th was assaulted by one of the inmates here at our facility and just didn't see it coming and it was a very difficult thing to watch. I did release the video to the public and I'm quite certain that Finger Lakes Daily News had posted on that as well but did release that a few days ago and it shows Deputy Ruff being attacked unexpectedly by this inmate who had made some makeshift weapons from some items he was able to get a hold of within the facility and it was unfortunate. Deputy Ruff suffered some injuries to his head, neck and shoulders but he was out about a month and did come back this week so we're glad to have him back for sure.
Brian Schenck: I'm glad to hear that he is doing well and have these situations remained isolated or do they become more prevalent because I know that you're dealing with some population that is state ready but hasn't been able to move out yet.
Paul Szmal: It's been challenging. We have seen these types of incidents thankfully, knock on wood, not so much in our facility increased significantly but we are seeing that happen more often here and I know at the state level, the State Department of Corrections, it's no secret that they're dealing with many of these types of incidents on a daily basis so I know that our people are always remaining very vigilant and making sure that they're doing everything they can to make sure that they're avoiding these types of situations but dealing with the population we deal with, it's just inevitable that unfortunately these things happen from time to time and I commend the professional men and women of our Sheriff's Office and certainly every Sheriff's Office out there and our state corrections officers that do these difficult jobs that they're able to maintain public safety by watching these individuals and certainly do this in an environment that puts their own personal safety at risk so kudos to those people that do these jobs. We do see more and more of these things happening today and it's unfortunate and there's a number of reasons for that but it is what it is.
Brian Schenck: The logic of releasing the video, I think people hear reports they may be a little desensitized but to see the graphic nature of the attack and how it went down, that's a completely different thing.
Paul Szmal: It sure is and I intentionally released that because I want the public to see what goes on behind those walls. I know oftentimes when police officers or sheriff's deputies or state troopers out on the street encounter an individual and there's some type of confrontation and they unfortunately sustain injury, we see those types of stories in the news all the time but we don't so much when it comes to our corrections officers and the people that work behind those walls and the work that they do is extremely dangerous. It's just as important as what goes on out there on the street when it comes to public safety and I just want the public to know what our officers and our sheriff's deputies are dealing with this population within our jail facilities.
Brian Schenck: Speaking of that population, the last time we talked there was a significant delay in the state accepting state-ready inmates that are being housed at the county correctional facility. Is that still the case?
Paul Szmal: That is still the case. Unfortunately, the state is really dragging their feet on taking individuals who have been sentenced to state time so those would be your more serious felonies with a sentence beyond a year that would go to the state correctional facilities. I think the state is clearly dragging their feet because they're still having challenges at the state level with staffing and being able to safely maintain their facilities so they're not taking these state-readies as quickly as they should and that's going on across the state and I believe somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 inmates statewide are ready to be taken to state facilities but the state is just not taking them so we are compensated by the state for $100 per day for any state-ready individual that is in our custody beyond ten days after they're ready, however, it doesn't cover additional overtime if we have to sit on these individuals with a constant watch because they have some type of issue that requires that or if there's medical needs or those types of things so the local taxpayers are saddled with another what I look at as an unfunded state mandate by them not accepting these individuals who are getting $100 a day but sometimes that doesn't cover our cost to deal with them.
Brian Schenck: Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck is with us here on FLX Morning, Brian a couple of days ago some heavy rains particularly down in Steuben County caused some flooding and water issues were there any issues in Cayuga County that you were aware of or referred to?
Paul Szmal: Thankfully no significant flooding issues or you know issues with downed trees or wires or anything along those lines I was very concerned when the storm came through I know that in Cayuga County and Seneca County and some of the other counties in your listening area will will tend to have flooding issues when these types of storms come through but thankfully for us at the southern end of the county it didn't turn into a major issue for us here but boy are we we are getting pretty waterlogged I know everybody's having difficulty you know mowing lawns and doing that type of thing and we've had difficulty patrolling with our boats out there there really hasn't been good weather for people to be out there enjoying our lakes and waterways and we haven't been doing a lot of navigation patrol either because of that but with the water that we've been receiving in all of this rain it's it's raising our lake levels and you know for those that use the lakes they know that there tends to be a lot of floating debris from washout when when we receive these heavy storms so I just would caution anybody that's out there on our lakes and waterways to be watching out for you know floating debris you know tree limbs and logs and things like that from from the washout because I know our lake levels are up and that can be a concern.
Brian Schenck: Do you have regular boating patrols or is it more just of the spot check variety here and there?
Paul Szmal: We try to get out there primarily on the weekends we do have boats that we put out on Owasco Lake, Cayuga Lake and Lake Ontario in the bay and then we have a fourth boat that in our rivers like the Seneca River and some of our smaller lakes Cross Lake and those areas we'll periodically get out there but our primary focus is really Friday through through Sunday when we can be out there when we have the heaviest traffic and if there's events through the week like you know fireworks events or different things that will draw people in large numbers to a particular area we'll try to get a boat out there then but it's been a little a little challenging over the last few years with staffing you know we struggle with that area as a lot of a lot of people are in different areas in law enforcement but we do try to make sure that we're providing some coverage out there when when there's the most traffic out there.
Brian Schenck: I wanted to ask you about something that people may think is a courtesy but there's actually a little bit more to it and that's when you mow the lawn blowing grass clippings out in the road.
Paul Szmal: Yeah I know this is something that is brought to our attention periodically I'm asked about from time to time and with all of the rain and difficult weather we have had I know that we're not able to mow as much as we would like to but our lawns are a lot taller when we're mowing and and if you're mowing grass clippings into the road not only is it a bad idea to do that but it's also against the vehicle and traffic law so it can be dangerous certainly for motorcycles you know if you're if you're blowing heavy grass into the road and I see this from time to time when I travel the county but you know I would encourage anyone that's mowing near the roadway to make sure you're not blowing those clippings into the road or you know if you have to do that or you have done that get out into the road and blow them back into the yard because it is a violation of the vehicle and traffic law you can actually be ticketed for doing that and in worst worst case scenario if somebody were to get into an accident because of that it could certainly be more serious than that.
Brian Schenck: Yeah there could be liability issues involved with that kind of a situation.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely and you've got some open interviews coming up so let's let's talk about when those are available for people and what positions you're looking for.
Brian Schenck: Sure so we are going to start actually starting today from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. we're going to welcome anybody that wants to just come into our sheriff's office on county house road and inquire about open positions where we're always recruiting for all of our divisions our road patrol division our jail division and we'd like to have anyone if you're interested or just want to find out some more information about what it looks like we would welcome you just to stop by and we can kind of walk you through the process and let you know how you can how you can get started with that so I know all of our law enforcement agencies and in your listening area Paul are constantly recruiting and hoping to fill open positions and I'm sure they would be welcome to something similar as well but we're going to focus primarily on Thursdays 2 to 4 we welcome anybody or by appointment give us a call or email us if you can't make that time frame we'd love to sit down and talk to you about open positions and careers here with us.
Paul Szmal: All right as always we appreciate it Sheriff Schenck thank you very much.
Brian Schenck: Thank you Paul I appreciate you and all the listeners thank you have a great day.
Paul Szmal: It is 850 on FLX morning.
