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SCHENECTADY COUNTY
Officer cited for tough task of eviction
Williams present when people lose homes
BY SARA FOSS Gazette Reporter

    Whenever Schenectady County residents are evicted, sheriff’s Deputy Donald Williams is present.
    Sometimes the residents are still sleeping and he tells them to get dressed. He pokes his head inside the closets to make sure nobody is hiding, and if the residents are upset, he tries to keep things calm. He has encountered pit bulls and uncovered puppy mills. He has evicted businesses whose employees didn’t even know they were about to lose their jobs.
    “Every situation is different,” Williams said.
    Last month Williams was awarded the New York State Sheriffs’ Association Civil Deputy of the Year Award for his work processing evictions.
    A 22-year veteran of the Schenectady County Sheriff’s Department, Williams has spent 12 years processing evictions for the department and for the past three years has been the sole offi cer managing evictions. In 2011, he processed an all-time high of 774 evictions in Schenectady County. During a recent interview, he referred to the crowbar under his desk as “the key to the city.”
    Christopher O’Brien, the executive director of the state Sheriffs’ Association, said that one of the things that impressed his organization was the sheer number of evictions Williams had processed. “The volume of evictions he’s done is staggering,” he said. “It’s a sad commentary on the economy, but it’s also just a huge amount.”
    Schenectady County Sheriff Dominic Dagostino echoed this, saying, “We’ve seen an increase in evictions because of the economic crisis.”
DIFFICULT JOB
    Williams said he was initially shocked by the number of evictions in Schenectady County and it took him a little bit of time to get used to ordering families to leave their homes.
    “Sometimes it’s hard,” Williams said. “When there are a lot of children involved, it wears on you. The hardest part is when the kids look at me and want to blame me.”
    Many of the people he evicts are struggling because of situations they have no control over, such as medical problems, while others are serial problem renters who bounce from place to place, Williams said. He said he often winds up evicting the same people over and over again and witnessing the gradual deterioration of their living conditions.
    “There are some people I might evict two or three times this year,” he said. “I do know who they are.”
    He said he sometimes fi nds himself angered by the conditions parents are letting their kids live in.
    “There’s good landlords and bad landlords and good tenants and bad tenants,” Williams said. “I can sympathize with both tenants and landlords, but I try to stay neutral.” ......................>>>>.......................>>>>>..........................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01102&AppName=1

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SCHENECTADY
Domestic violence tally high
Only NYC worse; police cite more reporting
BY BETHANY BUMP Gazette Reporter

    Schenectady County ranks first in the state outside of New York City for its number of domestic violence incidents compared to population, according to the latest available state Division of Criminal Justice Services data.
    In essence, 1.5 percent of residents in the county have reported a domestic violence incident. Schenectady is the only non-New York City county in the state to top the 1 percent mark in 2010, according to the recent data.
    But local police insist that their aggressive handling of domestic violence issues has led to a higher rate of people reporting incidents.
    “We’ve always been pretty aggressive in our handling on domestics,” said Schenectady Police Lt. Mark Mc-Cracken. “We have domestic violence advocates right here within the police station who people can access during off-duty hours. The multiple resources within the city and county are there so that if someone feels they are a victim they can come forth.”
    In Schenectady County, a total of 2,380 incidents were reported to law enforcement in 2010. Agencies that fielded reports included Schenectady city police, the town of Glenville, Niskayuna and Rotterdam police, Scotia village police, the Schenectady County Sheriff’s Department and state police based in the county.
    Reported incidents jumped by 91 from 2009, one of only two local increases in domestic violence. Fulton County, with a rate of 0.69 percent, also saw domestic violence increase by 73 reported incidents to 386 in 2010.
    Within the Capital Region, most counties reported a decrease in domestic violence. Schoharie County reported the lowest rate, 0.08 percent, with one out of every 1,129 people reporting an incident in 2010. Montgomery County has the next lowest rate, 0.17 percent, with 1 out of every 577 people reporting an incident.
    In the Capital Region, Albany County technically saw the most domestic violence incidents at 2,437, with a rate of 0.8 percent.
    The DCJS collects domestic violence data in the state as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program. The program requires law enforcement to report incidents regardless of whether an arrest was made.
    The state sorts domestic violence data by reported cases of aggravated assault, simple assault, sex offense and violation of a court protective order. .........................>>>>........................>>>>......................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00103&AppName=1