This is a response to Reva Navarro’s My View, which appeared in the March 6-12, 2025 edition of the River Reporter. Her letter concerned the Republican primary election for sheriff in Sullivan County. 

First of all, Ms. Navarro fails to disclose to your readers that she is a part of the Tim Dymond for Sheriff campaign. The Dymond campaign committee’s NYS Board of Elections filer ID number is registered to Ms. Navarro’s address in Orange County. Ms. Navarro also fails to disclose that she has been promised a job in Tim Dymond’s administration should he be elected sheriff. 

In her letter, Ms. Navarro is a little disingenuous when she criticizes Sheriff Mike Schiff and I for not attending the NYS Sheriff’s Association Conference this past January. She knows we couldn’t be there because we were at the wake and funeral service for Bethel Constable Doug Ketcham, who died in the line of duty after 47 years of dedicated service. A better question for Ms. Navarro is: having been the top ranking member of the state police in Sullivan County, why weren’t you at Constable Ketcham’s funeral?

Ms. Navarro says that she is appalled at the words that I have spoken toward females. She is being intentionally vague as to what those words were and who they were said to, in an effort to mislead the public. If Ms. Navarro is referring to the term “Estrogen Mafia,” she fails to mention that I was cleared of any wrongdoing by the county’s corporate compliance. She also fails to condemn the feminist-oriented websites on the internet that sell T-shirts with that saying printed on them.

Ms. Navarro dismisses the sheriff’s use of the BEAST evidence-tracking software as not being the latest technology, but fails to mention that it gets upgraded to the latest version on a regular basis. The reality is that every other police agency in Sullivan County, including the state police, are still handwriting evidence tags with a pen and paper.

Moving on to Ms. Navarro’s comments about the Sheriff’s Office Emergency Services Unit (ESU), what she refers to as SWAT. The sheriff’s ESU team was formed in 2006 after a deputy was shot at while responding to a domestic violence call in Narrowsburg. At that time, it took the state police Mobile Response Team (MRT) four hours to reach the scene. The sheriff decided to form his own response team that could hold down an incident until agencies with additional resources could come and help. Ms. Navarro then goes on to claim that our Emergency Services Unit is the reason we are understaffed at the sheriff’s office. Here again, Reva Navarro is being less than candid with the public. ESU is not a full-time assignment. Unit members perform their regular duties and are on call, to be deployed in an emergency. Understaffing in itself is a statewide problem for law enforcement agencies, including the state police. When I was the State Police PBA union delegate, there were 444 troopers assigned to Troop F. Now there are only about 289 troopers. 

Ms. Navarro asks about the implementation of body cameras. Like everything else, all it takes is money. Even though body cameras are NOT required by law, we have had preliminary talks with the county manager and legislators as to how we will fund them. The storage of video is the expensive part, not necessarily the camera.

Regarding the voluntary accreditation program, the Sheriff’s Office is working to update our policy and procedures in order to participate. Currently, the Village of Liberty is the only accredited municipal agency in Sullivan County. The challenge for the Sheriff’s Office is getting not only the patrol division accredited, but the jail and civil divisions as well.

Reva Navarro asks who the chief of patrol is at the sheriff’s office. Chief Blake Muthig is the current chief. He is out on extended medical leave. Prior to the position of chief being established in 2006, the Sheriff’s Patrol was run by the undersheriff. In the absence of Chief Muthig, the patrol is being run by me, with the assistance of the chief of the jail division, Hal Smith, who has over 40 years on the job, 27 of it within the sheriff’s administration.

Next, Ms. Navarro touches on the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) technology grants that two out of the six municipal law enforcement agencies in Sullivan County applied for and received. The Sheriff’s Office already had most of the technology that the grant would have funded. Instead, we continue to pursue grants that are more compatible with our agency’s needs.

On the topic of the jail being under capacity, Ms. Navarro’s comments about housing federal or other counties’ inmates shows a lack of knowledge in the field of correctional services. Aside from the regulatory issues associated with taking in outside inmates, you need to be fully staffed. As we have seen from the recent state prison strike and the staffing shortages in nearly every county jail, you can’t wave a magic wand to get correction officers through the door. Without the proper staffing levels, taking inmates from outside the county puts the facility at risk.

Ms. Navarro concludes her letter by suggesting that the Sheriff’s Office should “collaborate with the other agencies.” Really? Sheriff Mike Schiff has done that from day one. The Sheriff’s Office has a well-documented record of interagency cooperation as reported by the news media. And the comment about asking the public. “What can we do for you?” gave us a laugh. The Dymond campaign has been critical of our community outreach programs, including our attendance at pancake breakfasts, church dinners and at Coffee with the Sheriff, where we ask that exact question.

Reva Navarro’s My View piece should be regarded as a red herring. The respect and professionalism of the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office has increased exponentially over the last 19 years under the leadership of Mike Schiff. The sheriff looks forward to serving the citizens of Sullivan County and continuing his record of accomplishments for another four years.

Eric Chaboty is the Sullivan County Undersheriff.