Orange County: Sheriff Paul Arteta: Man on a Mission

Orange County: Sheriff Paul Arteta: Man on a Mission
By Holly Finley, Detective Inv. BXDAO (Ret.)

Orange County New York Sheriff Paul Arteta is on a mission to revolutionize his agency through modernization, morale and team building, leadership and vision. Orange County is in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley area. The Sheriff's Office staff of 500 dedicated public servants is responsible for the protection and service to the county's 839-square mile area with a population of just over 400,000. The ambitious 55-year-old sheriff has a lot of ground to cover and has thus far been very productive. In the exclusive interview, you will find out more about Arteta’s professional plans as well as expose the human side of policing. Blue Magazine thanks Sheriff Arteta for speaking with us about many pressing law enforcement issues.

Holly (Blue Magazine): Who is Paul Arteta as a person? What are your values? What's important to you?

Sheriff Arteta: My family, foremost, that means a lot to me. I'm half Spanish, half Italian — the Italian side, you know, we did Sunday dinners with 30 or 40 people in the family. And then the Spanish side, it was the same thing, just a little bit different. And after that, I love this community. I worked here for now going on 30 years, first working 28 years in the sheriff's office. I retired, went to the village of Montgomery Police Department as deputy police chief and was fortunate enough to get elected. And now I'm here as sheriff.

Holly: Tell us more about your career in law enforcement.

Sheriff Arteta: I started out in corrections as a correction officer. I did two years in the old jail that no longer exists. And after the two years, I took the test for deputy sheriff and I was a deputy for a number of years and then worked my way through every rank, I was an investigator, investigative sergeant, sergeant of the patrol and lieutenant. I was a captain before I retired.

Holly: What made you succeed in winning the election to become sheriff?

Sheriff Arteta: I think my demeanor and control. I'm just a regular guy. And it doesn't get to my head that I am the sheriff or that I was running for sheriff. I can relate to people. And I actually talk to people and I go out to different events. Some people say I'm all over the place. I do like to go to a lot of different events and just speak to the people and get ideas from them because they're the ones that are seeing what's missing out there. So I try to be attentive to that, and I think that's what won the election.

Holly: How do you see the relationship you have within the community?

Sheriff Arteta: I believe I have a great relationship with the community. During the campaign, I ventured out to every single community, even some that, you know, they maybe they don't like law enforcement or don't want to see their presence. I want to hear what they have to say, because even though there are folks out there that may not like law enforcement, they need us. And without us, there'd be chaos. But we're not forcing ourselves on the different communities. We just want to help where help is needed.

Holly: How have you created these bonds?

Sheriff Arteta: One of them was throughout my career, I would go out to all different businesses, introduce myself on a personal level. I patronize a lot of the different businesses, love going out to dinner, love going to different new places, and that's what we do. And that's how you help your community get stronger. Other than that, it was just my interactions with each different business that I can get in touch with. I just go around and speak to people and, you know, sometimes they have a little bit of information to give you and other times it's just, how's the weather?

Holly: What is leadership to you?

Sheriff Arteta: Leadership is the ability to see into the future and help those around you achieve in a positive manner. We have a lot of accreditations which tell us how to do things right now, but we always have to predict what's going on in the future. For example, the artificial intelligence, that's to me, it's going to be our biggest nightmare in law enforcement because they can mimic any one of us and make us look like we're saying something. So that's looking into the future, trying to help prevent anything that occurs in that manner. So just keeping ahead of the times as law enforcement, we're expected to know what's going on at all times. And that's what the general public feels that we should know, and we try to stay ahead of the times.

Holly: What would you say your best traits are as a person?

Sheriff Arteta: I'm honest, sincere. When I tell you I'm going to do something, I do it.

Holly: Worst traits, what are your character flaws?

Sheriff Arteta: I don't have enough time to get a lot of things done. So, I don't know if it's necessarily a flaw. It's a flaw that I try to do as many things as possible.

Holly: What, if any, are the challenges that you face as the new sheriff?

Sheriff Arteta: Some of the challenges are the previous administration ran things in their manner, and I'm running things in my vision of the sheriff's office and how it should be run. It's not that far off, but there's a lot of things moving into the 21st century we wanted to do. And bringing the morale up within the agency.

Holly: How prepared is Orange County for a crisis?

Sheriff Arteta: I think Orange County is very well prepared. We work well with our emergency operations center, with the county executive, the district attorney, the county clerk. We're ready for just about anything that that comes to us.

Holly: How do you deal with officers in distress with obvious depression or substance abuse? Do you have infrastructure to help them?

Sheriff Arteta: Yes, we have our first-line supervisors and supervisors above those hopefully identify an issue before it's too out of hand. And then we'll address it with some of our members as from the county unit. Or we may just advise them to contact EAP and they can go to an outside entity, and they have great health insurance in the sheriff's office. They can go to the doctor of their choosing and speak to somebody. And that's what the bottom line is. They have to speak to somebody. They can't hold it inside.

Holly: What's your feeling on how Blue suicide has affected your department, if at all?

Sheriff Arteta: I've lived through quite a few just from my own agency that committed suicide and some from other agencies. And it’s something that we need to pay attention to. It shouldn't happen.

Holly: what would your message be to someone within your department who was contemplating suicide? What would you say to them if you were able to grab them by the shoulders?

Sheriff Arteta: Come talk to us … Don't do it. It's not worth it. You have too much to live for. You have friends and family that love you, that you're not seeing clearly right now. And if you look at all of those different variables in your life that love you and want you; just don't do it.

Blue: Can you tell me how you deal with an issue where there is a disciplinary action to be taken? How do you work that out with your deputy?

Sheriff Arteta: When the disciplinary process starts out, first-line supervisors and then it works its way up the chain and all the disciplines are handled at the chief level and the undersheriff level. In certain circumstances, they may involve me with the discipline where it's a discipline that might include termination, but for the most part, most of the disciplines are handled at the undersheriff level where he is a very levelheaded person. The undersheriff has a lot of insight into a lot of things. He worked a number of years at the state police, and then he worked as the chief investigator for the district attorney.

Holly: What is still on your to-do list?

Sheriff Arteta: We have quite a few things. We're looking at a couple of capital projects, one for this building. This building is almost 25 years old and we're having growing pains. So, we're looking at building up on the building so that we can make nice locker rooms for all of our people. We want to build a state-of-the-art K-9 facility on the grounds. The current facility is over by the Orange County Airport, and we need to expand. We had a number of dogs just graduate from the academy and K-9s coming from as far as Brandon, Vermont, to train at our academy. It's such an asset in the entire community that we need to build a state-of-the-art facility for that. We want to do a lot a lot of training here for our own folks. There's a need on some of the county roads for more traffic patrol, especially for heavy trucks and different problems that are going on, such as speeding violations of the traffic law. So, we're encouraging our folks to go out on these different roads. One of my biggest wish lists is we're looking at starting a motor unit for ceremonial purposes. I think that would be quite an asset to have in the event that there is some parade or possibly a funeral. I'd like to have a well-presented motor unit that can help assist with that.

Holly: What do you want your legacy to be?

Sheriff Arteta: I want to be remembered for making this office better before I finally retire. We want to do a lot of things here, and we're going to keep striving forward to make this the best sheriff's office around. And I just want to be known for the guy that spearheaded that. I want my colleagues and staff to remember me as the sheriff that made the most positive change in the county. We've brought in the local law enforcement agencies, and we're working very well together with them, as well as the state police. And we are accomplishing a lot in a short period of time, and we hope to accomplish a lot more during this period of time that I'm fortunate to be sheriff.

Holly: How do you want your children, wife and family to remember you?

Sheriff Arteta: I want them to remember me as the guy that is not only their dad, but I did a very big job in the county and I did it very well to my best potential. And I want them to do the same thing and everything they do.