Mission Statement

The Rockland County Sheriff's Police Division is dedicated to the protection of life and property, prevention of crime through patrol and enforcement, without prejudice, and the provision of a safer environment in which our citizens can live, work, and pursue a better quality of life.


Core Values

Accreditation

The Police Division is an accredited agency, participating in the Law Enforecement Agency Accreditation Program.


General Functions of the Police Division

The Rockland County Sheriff’s Patrol is the Police Division of the Sheriff’s Office. It is a police agency at the county level responsible for the protection of county properties, roads, thoroughfares, holdings and interests. The Division will handle any and all complaints occurring in or on Rockland county properties. This is accomplished under the direction of the Sheriff by utilizing aggressive modern police patrol techniques. The Division will assist any and all outside agencies, resources permitting, as requested by that agency. The organization is headed by the Chief, has one Captain and five Lieutenants, thirteen Sergeants and fifty Patrol Officers. It has several sub–units such as Marine, Mounted, Crime Scene, Arson Bomb, K9, Intelligence and Computer crimes. Each sub unit performs specialized and distinct functions. The units are staffed by well-trained police officers supported by a civilian complement of clerical and technical workers.

Police Division Units

Command Staff

Uniform Patrol

This is a 24/7, 365-days a year operation. Officers are assigned to conduct the primary and basic function of the Division’s mission, which is the provision of public safety services to the County of Rockland. These services include physical security and police response to all county operating centers, facilities and holdings including but is not limited to:


Officers of the uniform road patrol also provide local law enforcement assistance, when requested, in the areas of:


Officers also provide traffic safety services such as:


Bureau of Criminal Investigation

The Rockland County Sheriff’s office Crime Scene Unit was established in 1958 at the request of the Police Chiefs and District Attorney of Rockland County. It is the main source of Crime Scene Investigation for nearly every Police agency in Rockland. The Rockland County Sheriff’s Crime Scene Unit has three level 3 fingerprint examiners. No other law enforcement agency in Rockland County has attained such a high level of certification. The members of this unit also provide expert courtroom testimony in county, state and federal investigations.

Some of the various services performed by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation are listed below:

Community Relations programs:

Aviation Unit

The Sheriff’s Office Aviation unit provides aerial law enforcement support utilizing a helicopter and drones for various incidents including search and rescue operations, missing and endangered persons, event monitoring, crime prevention, and fire support.

K9 Unit

The Patrol Division K9 unit currently consists of four K9 teams for tracking, drug and explosives detection plus one K9 team for arson investigations. These K9 teams are made available on a 24 hour basis.

Marine Unit

The Marine Unit was established as a full service navigational safety and enforcement unit. It is partially funded by state revenues and is based in the northern part of Rockland County, New York. It utilizes three vessels to patrol the County’s 33-mile water boundary from Bear Mountain South to Palisades, New York. This unit provides enforcement, safety, ecological and rescue services while interacting with all emergency services and environmental agencies. The Unit is tasked with providing security at the Bear Mountain Bridge, Tappan Zee Bridge and the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, in conjunction with United States Coast Guard and the Governor’s Hudson River Estuary Law Enforcement Task Force. Recently the Marine unit has been requested to provide contract policing for by the Tappan Zee Constructors for the new bridge being built. Coverage will be split between the North and South ends of the county.


Mounted Unit

The Mounted Unit was established to provide specialized and general mounted police services to all the people of Rockland County.

The Mounted Unit regularly patrols the County parks and County operating centers. Upon request, mounted patrols are also conducted in public access and parking areas of local shopping centers during times of high traffic. Mounted Units have responded to the scenes of labor disputes and public disorder, to assist with containment and dispersal operations. During the school year the Unit is assigned to Rockland Community College.

In addition the Mounted Unit participates in community policing functions like crowd control, traffic direction and search and rescue. The ability of the horses to negotiate terrain that vehicles cannot access vastly increases the chances of locating a lost or injured person. High visibility mounted patrols function in conjunction with local police jurisdictions to provide coverage in areas that have shown a high incidence of street crime, like drug sales, robberies and assaults. In response to a request from the Chiefs of Police, the unit is currently assigned to the Villages of Nyack, Spring Valley and Haverstraw on the weekends.

Transport Unit

The prisoner transport unit was established in the early 1980s after the New York State Chiefs’ Association filed a lawsuit and forced all Sheriffs throughout the State to take custody of all prisoners upon remand by the Judge to the custody of the Sheriff. The unit is responsible for the handling and movement of all inmates committed to the Rockland County Correctional Facility. It executes all remand orders from local and county courts as well as orders to produce from both these jurisdictions. In addition inmates are transported to and from local clinics and hospitals and other institutions, out of the county, including State and New York City correctional facilities. The unit comprises of recently retired law enforcement professionals. The officers of this unit are responsible for the care, custody and control of several thousand inmates, yearly, while transporting them, outside the Correctional facility.

Reserve Force

The Rockland County Sheriff’s Reserve Police Force is an all-volunteer force from diverse social, ethnic, religious and occupational backgrounds that is used to augment and supplement full time law enforcement staff. They can assist the regular staff during times of declared emergencies, assist with traffic and crowd control at parades, sports and special events, residential house checks, crime prevention and traffic safety.

Animal Abuse Registry

The Rockland County Sheriff's Office maintains an Animal Abuse Registry. The Rockland County Legislature had established Local Law #2 of 2011 known as the Animal Abuser Registry Law to create an online animal abuser registry. This registry is for individuals residing in Rockland County, who are convicted of animal abuse crimes.