The Sheriff's Office has maintained a presence at the Albany International Airport since the early 1970's. Over the years it has evolved into a full time 24 hour patrol station, which, being located in the Capital of New York State is a necessity. The station itself consists of 18 sworn officers. Due to the unique function of airport policing, deputies and their supervisors receive specialized training in such areas as: Transportation Security Administration Rules and Regulations, Bomb & BioTerrorism Threats, High- Jacking, Dignitary Protection and Aircraft Emergency Procedures.

A number of the deputies are also cross designated as US Customs Officers. Our agency was among the first in the country to implement bicycle patrols at an airport. The Sheriff's Office maintains close working relationships with Federal, State, Local as well as Foreign Law Enforcement Agencies. Contacts with these agencies include such duties as criminal investigation, protection of both foreign and domestic officials, transportation of high profile prisoners, investigation of aviation incidents and the sharing of intelligence information. Deputies train and preplan emergency responses to crisis situations with other agencies to insure a swift and effective response to incidents which may arise at the airport.

Since the events of September 11, 2001, and the additional mandates implemented by the federal government, the Airport Station has strived to meet or exceed all of the new requirements. Working closely with the airlines and airport management, it continues to be this unit's goal to make the safety and security of the traveling public the number one priority, while keeping in mind the importance of positive community relations.

The Albany County Sheriff’s Office E911/Communications Center provides dispatch services to the Office of the Sheriff, the New York State Police, the City of Cohoes Police and Fire, the City of Watervliet Police and Fire, the Village of Green Island Police and Fire, the Town of Coeymans Police and Fire, ten volunteer fire companies, and five ambulance companies. The E/911 Communications Center also provides services, as needed, for several other state and local law enforcement agencies as well as Albany County’s Highway and Probation Departments.

The Albany County Sheriff’s Office E911/Communications Center is the primary E911 answering point for six towns, three villages and two cities. In two of these municipalities, 911 calls that do not require emergency medical dispatch are transferred upon receipt and determination. However, if the call is of a medical nature then the Albany County Telecommunicator must follow through with the call until the fire department or ambulance arrives on the scene.

The Albany County Sheriff’s Office E911/Communications Center is also the station responsible for the management and administration of the 911 system throughout Albany County encompassing all jurisdictions. During the course of the year, the technology unit of the Sheriff’s Office E911 Program has effectively supported the technical needs of first responders throughout the County of Albany. The technology unit, which is housed in the Albany County Communications Center, implements and maintains cutting edge technical tools for first responders in multiple law enforcement and public safety agencies and disciplines. The primary and secondary Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) that are supported by this unit are the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, the Albany Police Department, the Colonie Police Department, the Bethlehem Police Department, the Guilderland Police Department, the New York State Police at the Empire State Plaza, and the Menands Police Department. In addition to these PSAPs, this unit is responsible for technology that is deployed in over fifty different fire departments and emergency medical service departments within the County of Albany.  As a result, the unit handles requests for the support and maintenance of nearly eighty different systems and applications.

Albany County Sheriff Mass Notification System FAQ

The Sheriff’s Transportation and Court Security Unit is charged with the duties of transporting prisoners committed to the custody of the Albany County Sheriff to and from various courts and facilities throughout the State of New York.

This unit also provides security for the Albany County Courthouse, Albany County Judicial Center and the various local criminal courts upon request.

Additionally, this unit provides for the security of individuals, secured in the Albany City Police Court holding facility, who have been committed to the custody of the Sheriff.

The Headquarters of the Albany County Sheriff's Office is located at the Albany County Courthouse in Albany, New York. Offices located at Headquarters include those of the Sheriff, the Undersheriffs, and the Chief Deputies.

Units currently assigned to Headquarters include the Office of Professional Development, the Office of Professional Standards, the Court Security and Prisoner Transportation Unit, Civil Enforcement Unit, the Support / Special Services Unit, the Human Resources Liaison, the Grant Management Unit, the Office of Legal Affairs, and the Business Office.

It will continue to be a goal at Headquarters to provide the highest level of security at the Albany County Judicial Center and the Albany County Courthouse and to maintain a safe environment for those who work and visit these facilities.

Through improved supervision and updated training measures, it will be a continued objective of the Court Security and Transportation Unit to provide for the safety and security for those persons in the care and custody of the Albany County Sheriff's Office during transportation to and from various court appearances. In addition, we will continue to conform to Commission of Corrections standards while they are being held at various court locations.

All Headquarters units will also continue to assist all units throughout the agency when the necessity arises. Efforts will be made to continue to work together with all units to ensure all details, expected or unexpected, are properly covered and all units are properly staffed.

The Albany County Sheriff’s Uniform Patrol Division operates from the Sheriff’s Albany County Public Safety Building housed in the former Clarksville Elementary School in Clarksville, New York. Members of the Patrol Division provide primary law enforcement services to the five western most towns in Albany County and also provide supplemental services to many of the other towns, villages, and cities within the county. The Sheriff’s Patrol Division is staffed twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Members of the Albany County Sheriff’s Patrol respond to approximately 23,000 calls for service a year and make an average of 450 arrests.

In addition to their law enforcement duties, patrol members also provide community assistance in a variety of other ways. For example, the Sheriff’s Patrol responded to 1,293 fire and emergency medical service calls this year. Due to the nature of their patrol responsibilities, Sheriff’s Deputies are frequently the first responders to an incident, accident, or EMS related call. While on patrol, Sheriff’s Deputies are assigned an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and Naloxone, also known as Narcan, a medication used to reverse the effects of opioids. Through training and experience, deputies often provide assistance until fire and medical units can arrive at the location. As an integral part of the community, the Sheriff’s Patrol provides a vast array of services to the residents of western Albany County who would otherwise be left without a primary, full service law enforcement agency. Other support services are provided for community events ranging from road races and community parades to holiday celebrations, prescription take back events, and continuing education courses. The Sheriff’s Public Safety Building also plays host to a variety of informational and public service events presented by the Sheriff’s Office and has the capabilities to serve as a shelter in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency.

The Criminal Investigations Unit is based out of the Sheriff’s Office Patrol Station in Clarksville, New York. This unit is responsible for providing comprehensive investigative assistance along with technical support to units within the Sheriff’s Office and other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies throughout Albany County.

The Investigators assigned to this unit are highly trained in a multitude of areas such as crime scene investigations, sex offenses, assaults, homicides, burglaries, robberies, crimes against children, crimes against the elderly, auto theft, gang intelligence, financial crimes, white collar crimes, illegal gambling, evidence collection, fire investigations, insurance fraud, accident investigations, narcotics investigations, illegal firearms investigations, sex trafficking investigations, human trafficking investigations and computer crimes. These areas only touch on the different crimes investigated by this unit and the training and expertise of the investigators assigned to the unit.

The unit is currently comprised of two senior investigators and seven investigators. Current staffing levels have allowed for an investigator to be on duty seven days per week and on call 24 hours per day. 

The Albany County Sheriff’s Office has a highly trained, fully staffed Emergency Response Team. The Emergency Response Team (E.R.T.) is designed to be a rapid deployment team, which can be dispatched quickly to any volatile situation. Members of this team are trained in Tactical Insertions, Crowd Control, Dignitary Protection, High Risk Transports, High Risk Warrant Service and Hostage / Crisis Negotiations. The team is available 24-hours a day to respond to assist the Sheriff’s Office or any other agency requiring these special skills.

In 2012 the Emergency Response Team (E.R.T.) was one of the first SWAT teams in the State of New York to receive the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services SWAT Team Certification. This standard was approved by the New York State Municipal Police Training Council (MPTC) on December 1, 2010. The standard complies with the select standards of the New York State Law Enforcement Accreditation Program and goals and objectives of the New York State Homeland Security Strategy.

The New York State SWAT Team Standards will give agencies the opportunity to provide a high level of emergency service to the communities they serve.

The Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol operates from the Sheriff’s Public Safety Building in Clarksville, NY. Currently the Sheriff’s Office has a fleet of three boats, a 26’ Wellcraft Center Console, 25' Pro-Line Cruiser and a 17' Boston Whaler. The smallest of the three boats is mainly utilized on the smaller lakes in the hill towns of Albany County and for emergency responses with the Dive Team.  The 25’ Pro-Line routinely patrols the Hudson River from the south end of the river in Coeymans while the 26’ Wellcraft is utilized for special details and remains in Albany for rapid response to emergencies on the North end of the River. The Sheriff’s Office partners with the State of New York in a grant program wherein 75% of the expenditures of the Marine Patrol are reimbursed. This creates a savings for the tax payers of Albany County and enables the Sheriff’s Office to provide these services.

The Law Enforcement Training Unit is charged with the responsibility of coordinating the activities and maintaining the records relating to Basic, Supervisory, Specialized and In-service training programs. This includes all programs attended, taught, and sponsored by or for members of the Law Enforcement Division. The training unit coordinates and records thousands of hours of training each year and maintains the agency’s police and peace officer registries with NYS DCJS.

The Training Unit Director also oversees the administration of the Sheriff’s Public Safety Training Institute which provides multi-disciplinary training to emergency services personnel. This includes not only the Basic Course for Police Officers, which is now in its fourth session and has included numerous other regional agencies, but also an EMT academy. The Director coordinates instruction by agency training cadre as well as instructors from partnering entities. This includes other law enforcement and government agencies as well as civic and community groups and local educational institutions. The Sheriff’s Public Safety Institute strives to provide the highest level of training while utilizing new methods and technology from a collaborative multi-disciplined approach.

Since 1981, the Albany County STOP-DWI Program has served to educate the community regarding the dangers of impaired driving and provide funding to groups and organizations engaged in activities which support our mission to reduce alcohol and drug related crashes in Albany County.

The Albany County STOP-DWI Program is fully committed towards the deterrence model approach and will continue to focus a great amount of effort and resources to reduce impaired driving crashes. Law enforcement efforts will continue not only with saturation patrol details, but through education and awareness. Surviving victim’s and families will also participate in our efforts by sharing their experience as a way to personalize the devastating consequences of impaired driving.

Payments for Victim Impact Panels and Alive at 25

 Albany County STOP-DWI offers:

• Anti-DWI Programs including speakers and DVD'S
• High school mini-grants to assist with alcohol and drug-free prom-time events
• Handouts and printed materials
• DWI Program displays and educational events

Albany County STOP-DWI supports or funds the efforts of:

• Addictions Care Center of Albany, Inc. (ACCA)
• Honor Court - Altamont Program
• St. Peter's Addiction Recovery Center (SPARC)
• Albany County Drug Court
• Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD)
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
• Parents Who Host
• Albany County Traffic Safety Board (ACTSB)

Albany County STOP-DWI provides funding to:

• Twelve (12) local law enforcement agencies within Albany County
• Albany County District Attorney's Office
• Albany County Probation Department

Albany County STOP-DWI offers education and awareness programs:

• Victim Impact Panels
• Pre-prom season awareness assemblies
• Mobile Education Center
• Choices
• Community event displays

 For more information about these programs please contact (518) 720-8100.

Albany County Traffic Safety Board

Canines are an essential tool at the Sheriff’s Office.

A canine’s superior sense of smell allows them to not only detect miniscule odors undetectable by their human law enforcement counterparts, but to distinguish these odors from an array of distracting and/or more powerful odors. They are unmatched locating tools that increase the safety of the community and fellow officers.

The Canine Unit is composed of Labrador Retrievers, German Shepherds, Dutch Shepherds and Bloodhounds. Each canine is specialized for different purposes including tracking, evidence recovery, criminal apprehension, narcotics detection, and explosives detection.

There is extensive training for each canine to pass New York State Division of Criminal Justice standards as well as certification through the United States Police Canine Association. The Sheriff’s Office has provided training and certification for its own members and over 100 local canine teams.

The Canine Unit assists local and federal law enforcement entities daily as well as providing support at the Albany International Airport, Correctional Facility, and other county facilities.   

The Professional Standards Unit is responsible for investigating and managing inquiries into all complaints and allegations made against sworn and civilian members of the Sheriff’s Office. This unit maintains investigative responsibility for the Law Enforcement Division, the Corrections Division and the Emergency Medical Service Division and is routinely consulted during the development and implementation of policies and procedures for each. In addition to the management of the personnel complaint process, the unit is also tasked with conducting staff and station level inspections throughout the agency. The inspection process serves to maintain professional operations throughout the agency while simultaneously ensuring compliance with the New York State Accreditation Standards and agency general orders. The Professional Standards Unit continually strives to ensure that each investigation is conducted objectively, thoroughly and without bias. Citizens are encouraged to contact the Professional Standards Unit at any time if they wish to express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a sworn or civilian member of this agency.

Senior Investigator Jeffrey Hoose is assigned to the Professional Standards Unit and may be reached at (518) 655-7957.

The Albany County Sheriff’s Office is the 4th agency in New York State to achieve the recognition of being fully accredited. This agency joins the Livingston, Monroe and Yates County Sheriff’s Offices in receiving accreditation in Law Enforcement, Court Security, Civil, E911 / Dispatch and Corrections Divisions.

The accreditation programs are designed to assist agencies in evaluating and improving their overall performance. They provide a formal recognition that an agency meets or exceeds a high level of quality in their respective divisions. By meeting or exceeding this expectation of quality, the professionalism of the agency improves. These expectations are met by following what have been identified as critical and non-critical standards, which serve to improve the manner in which the agency serves the public. The accreditation program is evidence that the agency’s policies, procedures and operations meet the current standards of policing’s best practices and are  sources of pride for all sworn and non-sworn members of the Albany County Sheriff’s Office.

CHOICES flyer

Choices is a high impact awareness program targeting impaired driving, drug use, and addiction. This innovative program uses a combination of open discussion, visuals, and speakers to increase the overall awareness of the consequences of risky behaviors. Choices currently targets teens from 8th grade and above, with future aspirations to include parent sessions. The goal is to not only increase awareness in the community, but also show the importance of opening the lines of communication about difficult topics. 

Since 2016, over 6600 people have been through Choices and have described the program as emotional, sobering, eye-opening, and powerful.  

Choices is a free, three-hour program currently offered to area school districts as a visiting field trip. Other options may be available by request. For more information or scheduling please contact the STOP-DWI Unit at (518) 720-8100 or by email at Tracy.Mance@albanycountyny.gov

In 2016,

• 2,433 drivers between the ages of 16 – 19 years old died in vehicle crashes.
• 292,742 teens were treated in emergency rooms for injuries due to motor vehicle crashes
• 59,779 drug over dose deaths were reported nationally.

As a community we can decrease these numbers to make a safer and healthier life style for everyone. 
Help prevent your child from making destructive decisions.

A Community Liaison Officer is a member of the Sheriff’s Office who has been designated to be the “face for the community.”

It is the Liaison’s job to be in the public’s eye to promote our Agency’s agenda of modern day Community Policing. The Community Liaison Officer attends regular meetings in the Hilltowns, participates in crime prevention programs, and serves as a point of contact and representative for the Sheriff’s Office.

Investigator Amy Kowalski has been designated the Community Liaison Officer and also oversees the Agency’s Explorer Post. She is available for non-emergency concerns, questions and for scheduling informational talks. She also serves as the contact to coordinate events for the Sheriff’s Office to attend.

If you would like to speak with the Community Liaison Officer about a question or concern, schedule an event for the Agency to attend, or inquire about the Sheriff’s Explorer Post, please contact Senior Investigator Kowalski at (518) 655-7958 or amy.kowalski@albanycountyny.gov.