This is the response that I received from the Delaware County to this FOIL request.
Please, note that Delaware County claimed that no records exist in answer to my questions 1, 2, 3, 5, 5 and 7.
I already wrote in the previous post about search of attorney files, and that is a clear violation of attorney-client privilege and interference with criminal defendants' right to counsel which is only confirmed by the lack of written policy.
The lack of records in answer to my question No. 2 is a risk to public safety.
In other words, Delaware County does not have a written policy that would require the County to order an officer to desk duty and to turn in his pistol and TASER if, let's say, as Derek Bowie claimed under oath on the stand, his disability from a dog bite was so bad that his fingers were getting numb.
Yet, Deputy Derek Bowie was not ordered to desk duty despite his "seriously numbed fingers" and, as a consequence, the public in Delaware County was at his mercy.
Imagine if Derek Bowie's fingers get completely numb when he is driving, or he grabs his pistol or TASER and then his fingers get numb on him or on you. He then will either not be able to protect a person when he needs to protect him or her (and that includes his partner, another police officer), or he can accidentally misfire - at any of you, with sad consequences.
What I absolutely loved is that Delaware County, while claiming it is certified by the Criminal Justice Department and while it has to show compliance in accordance with such certification on over 130 parameters, claims to have no record whatsoever of such compliance.
Of course, I will verify that with the Criminal Justice Department and will ask it to revoke Delaware County Sheriff's certification if no such records are kept.
If I learn that it is simply a stonewalling tactic, I will sue under Article 78, as required by New York Freedom of Information Law, with a request for attorney fees.
Both ways, it is a losing tactic for Delaware County to make claims as, let's say, disingenuous as this one.
Furthermore, Delaware County has no records showing certification of the "non-lethal" weapons, TASERS which can be, as various reports in this country and abroad show, can be very lethal.
This is clear liability of the county not to certify TASERS at all, or on each day when they are released or used, and that liability, if it results in a fatality, injury or a lawsuit, will be backed up with your own money, county taxpayers, so, please, pay attention.
The same refers to lack of records in response to questions No. 6 and 7.
It is elementary to have such certification and sign-out procedures of the TASER equipment, for the safety of both the officers themselves and the public.
Apparently, Delaware County doesn't give a damn about that safety.
And as to training as to how to use TASERS, see question No. 9 and Delaware County's response to it, "by policy, all employees who carry TASER guns, are certified accordingly".
Yet, no records of such policies or certifications are provided, so, as with policies to search attorney files, this is just an ad hoc invention to keep at bay the information-hungry civil rights attorney.
How safe are you, residents and visitors of Delaware County? Apparently, not safe at all.
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