BY JIMMY LAWTONNorth Country This Week

CANTON -- Although he's still settling into the job, St. Lawrence County's new sheriff Rick Engle is already working to make good on his campaign promises.

In a recent interview with North Country This Week, Engle said the sheriff's office has taken over all pistol licensing responsibilities and began meeting with local school superintendents to discuss how the county's school resource officer program can better serve the county's 18 school districts.

Engle said he's also met with representatives from the county's federal border agencies in hopes of improving transparency about what's happening along St. Lawrence County's borders.

All these initiatives are taking place while the county undertakes major renovations at the public safety building where his office is located.

Pistol Licenses

Engle said that he decided to take over the background check duties for a few reasons, one of which was concerns raised by the thousands of people he met with on the campaign trail.

Engle said that he worked with St. Lawrence County Clerk Sandy Santamoor who is the licensing agency and St. Lawrence County Judge Greg Storie to shift all of the background check duties to his office.

Engle said the Sheriff's Office has seen between 300 to 350 applications every year, with spikes occurring over the last two years.

That demand has led to background investigations being outsourced to other agencies, including municipal police and state police, which has led to numerous delays.

The Sheriff's Office was responsible for all intake of applications, including photos, fingerprints and mental health hygiene database checks but after that point criminal background investigations, reference checks and interviews could potentially be conducted by any police agency depending on demand, Engle said.

But Engle noted that other agencies were not completing the task in a timely fashion and so he dedicated an employee in his department that could keep the ball rolling.

Engle said he heard some people waited more than 18 months and he believed that wasn't fair or right.

Engle said that he also had concerns about the state's inclusion of a questionnaire that required applicants to disclose a full list of firearms that were already in the home at the time of the application being submitted.

"It's nobody's business what firearm a person lawfully owns," he said adding that he believed it

violates the constitutional rights of applicants.

"I'm not here to build a database. I'm here to protect your constitutional rights," he said.

Border transparency

Engle, alongside Undersheriff Shawn McCargar and Chief Deputy Leighton Filiatrault also discussed concerns about what's happening on St. Lawrence County borders.

Engle said that he's had productive discussions with federal agencies about sharing more information with the public to help citizens better understand what's happening along the St. Lawrence River and northern border.

Filiatrault said some people don't realize that the county has called for and extended a state of emergency to address the concerns of people entering the country, state and county illegally. He said they also might not know why it's necessary.

McCargar said that while the department doesn't plan to share details that could hinder an investigation he believes there is a balance of information that could be released.

Engle said that in the coming months the sheriff's office will be able to release better information to the public about the border activity which he thinks will be eye-opening for citizens.

"I think people have a right to know what's going on. We don't want to scare people, but we do want to open their eyes," he said.

Schools and rural safety

Engle wants to make the county's SRO program more accessible in a way that can help different school districts meet their different needs.

Engle says that he had plans to meet with superintendents to hear what sort of ideas that had about improving accessibility and discuss different potential services and costs.

Engle said that while school safety is important, services still have to be paid for and navigating that reality in a way that makes sense for all districts is like threading a needle.

Engle said that St. Lawrence County faces geographical challenges that other counties don't have to deal with, being the largest county in the state makes for long travel times in emergencies, which makes having SRO's event more important.

Engle said it's not just the rural school districts that need to be considered, he said he would like to see a deputy dedicated to patrolling and responding in the southern part of the county.

He said small hamlets like Conifer which is nestled near Tupper Lake on the St. Lawrence County border have not always received proper consideration by law enforcement.

He said the more rural parts of the county need to be part of the public safety equation.

Looking forward

Engle said he had not planned to move so quickly on all these initiatives, but after settling into his role he sees that these goals need to be addressed in a timely fashion.

Engle, who said he'd never had eyes on the sheriff's job, said that he believes the most important thing is to address the concerns raised by those he serves and that he will continue to tackle the issues put in front of him by St. Lawrence County's citizens.

"I work for you. I swore an oath to uphold your constitutional rights and that's something I'm going to do as long as I'm in this position."