NEWS FROM THE OFFICE OF

ULSTER COUNTY COMPTROLLER

ELLIOTT AUERBACH
ELLIOTT AUERBACH COUNTY COMPTROLLER 244 FAIR STREET KINGSTON, NEW YORK 12401 PHONE: 845: 340-3529 eaue@co.ulster,ny.us
www.co.ulster.ny.us/resources/comptroller

Comptrollers URGENT Plea

A CALL TO PRESERVE ORDER IN A LAW AND ORDER PROGRAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KINGSTON, NY (September 17, 2012) The Office of the Ulster County Comptroller has issued a memo to the County Legislature urging caution in the adoption of a retroactive Memorandum of Understanding regarding the law enforcement program known as URGENT, which is scheduled to be under consideration at Wednesdays legislative session. The program, formally known as the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team, has been in existence since 2007, and is a joint law enforcement task force focused on the investigation of gang members and gang related activity within the County. Since its inception, participating law enforcement agencies have included several Ulster County local police departments, the District Attorneys Office and the Sheriffs Office. During 2011, the City of Kingston, which had been a member since the beginning of the program, withdrew its participation from the program. In June 2012, Kingston requested a meeting with the County Attorneys Office to unwind the relationshipsand resolve the disposition of outstanding expenses and assets of the program, a reference to the fact that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) governing the operation of the program contemplated a sharing of seized assets after processing by the federal government. This prompted a review of the program by the Comptrollers Office to ascertain the expenses and assets of the program. It was immediately apparent that one of the challenges of the review was a lack of clarity in the language of the original MOU and its many renewals. The documents leave many important terms ambiguous, and there is some question whether any previous version of the MOU was properly authorized by the participating agencies or the County Legislature. The Comptrollers report will be released by the end of the month. In the meantime, the County Legislature has been asked to approve a revised MOU covering the period January 2011 through December 2012. While some aspects of the MOU have been modified, much of it remains essentially the same, and the Comptrollers Office had requested
The mission of the Ulster County Comptrollers Office is to serve as an independent agency of the people and to protect the public interest by monitoring County government and to assess and report on the degree to which its operation is economical, efficient and its financial condition sound.

previously that no action be taken by the legislature until the report was issued, to ensure that they were acting with full knowledge of the issues. The Legislatures Law Enforcement Committee nevertheless reported the resolution out of committee and it is presently on the Legislative Agenda for the 19th. In an effort to make certain that the Legislature acts with the necessary facts, Deputy Comptroller Joe Eriole has issued a memo to the legislature setting forth ten distinct issues in the new MOU, and urging legislators to make the necessary inquiries and changes prior to adopting it. Some of the issues are: The MOU is retroactive, which raises issues of its enforceability, especially without Kingstons approval The MOU remains unclear as to how seized funds are distributed The MOU has no provision for the rights of the parties if another member agency leaves, as Kingston did Until the Kingston inquiry is resolved, it may be prejudicial to the County and the program to retroactively adopt a MOU

Its not the program we question, but the process. And whats at stake is the use and distribution of hundreds of thousands of dollars in criminally generated funds, says County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach. The URGENT program is important and should be continued. It is precisely because of our concern for the program that we urge the legislature not to act hastily in adopting a retroactive MOU, says County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach. Says Auerbach, We know the Sheriff and many of the legislators want to get a fully approved agreement in place as soon as possible, but our investigation reveals too many deficiencies in past practice which are carried over in this proposed MOU. To approve it carries forward those deficiencies, and may create new ones.

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The mission of the Ulster County Comptrollers Office is to serve as an independent agency of the people and to protect the public interest by monitoring County government and to assess and report on the degree to which its operation is economical, efficient and its financial condition sound.