Eleven NYS Sheriffs represented New York at the National Sheriffs Association annual training conference held in Indianapolis, Indiana from June 29 through July 2, where nearly 2,000 Sheriff’s gathered from across the USA and over 500 criminal justice-related exhibitors attended.  New York Sheriffs attended various committee meetings on many law enforcement issues and heard notable keynote speakers, including U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), US Attorney General Michael Mukasey, FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison, and from NBC News (Ret.) Col. Kenneth Allard. While at the national conference, Sheriffs endorsed a change to the National Incident Management System (NIMS) based principally on the sponsorship of New York City Police Deputy Commissioner Phil Pulaski.  Deputy Commissioner Pulaski had previously made his presentation to our New York Sheriffs at a meeting in Albany held earlier this year. 

The Sheriffs were enthusiastic and very proud in their support of Erie County Deputy Sheriff Thomas Meredith, who was honored at the national conference and received the coveted “NSA Deputy Sheriff of the Year” award for his heroic actions during an incident in 2007, in which gun fire was exchange and Deputy Meredith saved the life of a crime victim.  Deputy Meredith was also honored as the 2008 Deputy of the Year by the New York State Sheriffs’ Association Institute at its annual meeting in February, 2008.

In 2007, Deputy Meredith was called to investigate a report of an attempted suicide.  When he arrived at the scene, he found a man and woman struggling inside a home.  The woman ran, with the man chasing her and firing a handgun at her.  She was shot three times, but survived the attack.  Deputy Meredith exchanged gunfire with the man and repeatedly told him to drop his weapon. When the man was about to fire another shot from his weapon at the woman, who was then trapped on a porch of a nearby house, Deputy Meredith shot and killed the man.  Incredibly, after the incident, police officers found pipe bombs in a backpack that the man had been carrying.  At his apartment, officers later found numerous long-barreled rifles, a dart gun, a .32 caliber pistol, a blow gun, a cross-bow, several pistol grip shotguns, three assault rifles, “ninja stars,” a dozen pipe bombs and a significant amount of ammunition.

Sheriff Timothy Howard said that Deputy Meredith’s brave actions saved the life of the woman.  “It was heroic, and he was clearly endangering himself” in pursuing this man who was in the act of firing a gun.   Sheriff Howard said that if Deputy Meredith had not shot the perpetrator, the woman would have been killed.