The Catskill Chronicle

A high-risk arrest warrant training exercise at an abandoned hotel, while in the background, Undersheriff Eric Chaboty watches the team deploy. 

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

SULLIVAN COUNTY – “When the bell rings, you’ve got to go in and stop the carnage,” said Sullivan County Sheriff Michael A. Schiff of the county’s new emergency law enforcement response team.

A full-auto live training exercise at a shooting range.

In recent years, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) has witnessed a dramatic transformation on the watch of a trio of former New York State Police Troopers: Sheriff Michael A. Schiff, Undersheriff Eric J. Chaboty, and Chief of Patrol Arthur J. Hawker.

Over the past four years, the SCSO has added a fleet of distinctive black and white patrol vehicles, a ramped up marine unit, a horse mounted patrol, and on May 1, 2009 a rapid response team became operational.

“In February 2006 we had one of our deputies fired upon going to a domestic in a hostage/standoff situation on a bitter cold night,” recalled Sheriff Schiff of the February 3, ’06  incident outside Narrowsburg in which Deputy Cyrus Barnes responding in a marked patrol car to a call at the residence of 51-year old William “Chris” Morris was promptly fired upon by Morris wielding a vintage 45-70 Springfield rifle. One slug from Morris’ rifle punched a large hole in the driver’s side door, a shot that narrowly missed the officer.

Practice makes perfect. Serving a high-risk arrest warrant on a bad guy in a vacant hotel.

That scenario sparked the local sheriff and undersheriff to put the creation of a response team on the front burner. It was already on their minds in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre of April 20, 1999 in which two students gunned down 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives. The Columbine incident marked the fourth deadliest school massacre in U.S. history, after the 1927 Bath School killings, University of Texas shootings of 1966 and the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.

“We started thinking about it seriously after deputy Barnes pulled up in the driveway and the guy took a shot at him with a buffalo gun,” said Chaboty. “It was an inch below his butt…Cyrus had the presence of mind to shine the car’s spotlight in the guy’s face, back out of there before the guy could reload, and then call for backup.”

A live-fire night training exercise.

Less than a month before the SCSO team got the green light to go operational, a suicidal gunman killed 14 people in Binghamton, NY, about an hour from the Sullivan County border.

Schiff stated that in the aftermath of Columbine, tactical law enforcement response to armed and deadly hostage/shooting situations changed in essence from “sit back and see what happens” thinking, to a pro-active response to shut down the suspect(s) quickly without further loss of precious life.

On that cold and rainy night back in February ’06 deputies responded from Monticello – and those who were off-duty – from home; with their own weapons, and although a NYSP tactical rifleman (sniper) responded in short order, it took almost  3 ½ to four hours for a NYSP mobile response team to arrive at the scene.

Sheriff Mike Schiff and his tactical response team at a shooting range.

“People are under the misconception that here is a [NYSP] SWAT team standing by at the Liberty barracks or at headquarters in Middletown waiting to be called out, but that’s not the case,” said Chaboty. “Those guys do a great job, they’re phenomenal, but it takes a while to assemble them…we need a team that’s able to respond now, resolve it quickly, or hold it down until the State Police arrives.”

“This isn’t instead of the State Police, it’s until they can take the field,” added Schiff.

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