SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - Does Sheriff Toulon's Election Signal A Post Racial Suffolk County

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

The election in November of Errol Toulon, Jr. as Suffolk County sheriff—the first African-American ever elected to a (nonjudicial) countywide government position in Suffolk—was unprecedented.

And unprecedented, too, was a “Media Day at the Sheriff’s Office” held earlier this month. In my memory, going back more than 50 years in Suffolk, I cannot recall an event in which the press was invited to “a round-table discussion” in which the new county sheriff laid out his agenda and vision and took any question asked by the press, To top it off, then there was a tour of the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Yaphank where the “Media Day” was held.

The word for this is transparency.

For 45 minutes Sheriff Toulon spoke on a broad range of issues—beginning with a declaration that “one of my goals is to be as transparent as possible,” how he is “very impressed with the operations in the sheriff’s office” but has his own “managerial style,” and wants “to see how things can be done better.” 

“I’m not going to hide the fact that we all know—how the sheriff’s office had had issues in the past,” he said. He’ll be emphasizing ethics, he went on, and will “set a strong model top down…Politics will not be a factor in any decision….I will keep politics out.” This includes “not accepting political contributions“ from any staff member.

Edward Walsh, a lieutenant in the sheriff’s department and also the politically powerful Suffolk County Conservative Party chairman was sentenced last year to two years in jail after his jury conviction on federal charges of wire fraud and theft of government services. He was found guilty of pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the department while golfing, gambling and politicking on county time.

Mr. Toulon emphasized having the sheriff’s office participate fully with other law enforcement agencies in the fights against the opioid epidemic and gang activity in Suffolk. 

It would be “very active” in communities in Suffolk “getting to kids before they get to me” and to “break down barriers between law enforcement and the community.”

He said he would be working to “create a support system” for women in the sheriff’s department, only 12 percent of its staffers now.

“I’m going to be very tough on crime,” he went on, and this will include gathering “intelligence” from inmates about gangs.

Still, he would strive to prevent “recidivism,” having “individuals return back to the same environment” that was a factor in their criminal behavior.

“I’m a big proponent of education,” said Sheriff Toulon, noting he has a master’s degree as well as a doctorate in education. Speaking of unprecedented, I believe Sheriff Toulon is the first sheriff of Suffolk County—since the position was established in 1683—to hold a doctorate.

Then he opened the “Media Day” to questions and I asked the first—why hadn’t he mentioned the unprecedented, indeed historical nature of his winning the Suffolk post as an African-American?

He looked at me and said he didn’t regard his victory as involving ‘the color of my skin.” He believed Suffolk voters saw “a qualified individual” and voted for qualifications and credentials.  He said that, in fact, he was unaware he was the first African-America to run for any countywide position in Suffolk (other than judicial office) until two weeks after he was nominated by the Suffolk Democratic Party.

He noted that he resides in Lake Grove where very few African-Americans otherwise live. Moreover, one of his activities, he said, is serving as a coach for an ice hockey team, not a sport in which many blacks compete, he pointed out. And as an ice hockey coach, he has “never been treated differently.”

Sheriff’s Toulon explanation was along the lines of what has been termed “post racial”—a sign that racism, at long last, might be fading. (You wouldn’t know it from some of the things that have been happening nationally over the past 15 months.) Suffolk County, with its long history of racism and prejudice, has with the election of Sheriff Toulon shown the way.

Sheriff Toulon is extremely qualified for the position. He previously was a deputy corrections commissioner in New York City and before that, for 22 years, a uniformed officer in the city’s corrections department. He knows Suffolk well having been an assistant deputy Suffolk County executive for public safety. Being Suffolk sheriff is a big job involving the supervision of almost 900 corrections officers, 250 deputy sheriffs and 130 civilian personnel and running the county’s jails in Riverside and Yaphank. The electorate has chosen a man who can ably fill it.