The Sheriff Officers Association (ShOA) of Nassau County, the union that represents more than 1,000 correction officers at the East Meadow-based Nassau County Correctional Facility (NCCF), is speaking out against Sheriff Edward Reilly's recent appointment of Michael J. Sposato as undersheriff. While ShOA reps argue that Sposato is not qualified for the position, Nassau Local 830 of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), the union representing some 10,000 civilian employees - including more than 100 at the jail, fully supports the appointment.

According to an interdepartmental memo issued by Reilly Nov. 16 d, Sposato, a member of the sheriff's department for over 13 years, was sworn in as undersheriff. In this position, Sposato will oversee both the NCCF and the county's Enforcement Division. As a result of Sposato's appointment, Sidney Head, who formerly served as undersheriff, was sworn in as commissioner of correction and will oversee the daily operations and management of the correction center's facilities.

Prior to this appointment, Sposato worked in the jail's kitchen for over a decade, serving first as Correction Center (CC) Title Cook and then a CC Title Kitchen Supervisor. In May 2005, Sposato was promoted to chief of staff, a position he held until being appointed undersheriff.

ShOA reps are outraged at the appointment because they believe Sposato does not have the law enforcement experience necessary for this top seat. "Only 16 months ago, Michael Sposato was a cook for more than 10 years in the kitchen of the correctional center," said ShOA President John Duer. "Today, he is the number two uniformed officer in the sheriff's department and lacks qualifications in all aspects of corrections and law enforcement ... yet has the authority to promulgate policies and procedures and direct 1,100 correction officers, 50 deputies and more than 100 civilian employees in the operation of a maximum security correctional facility, which houses more than 1,600 inmates."

According to Duer, "Nowhere in New York State is there an undersheriff who does not have extensive background and a distinguished career in law enforcement." The union firmly believes that a "correction center should be overseen by a competent manager with intimate knowledge of New York State correction law, penal law, standards and procedures as well as security measures - nothing less."

CSEA Local 830 President Jerry Laricchiuta, who began his own career in the sheriff's department holding the same titles Sposato did, said that CC Title employees do in fact learn correctional procedure and laws.

"When you get hired as a CC Title you undergo a complete full background investigation, the same done on correction officers, that includes fingerprinting, FBI involvement and an intensive background check, " said Laricchiuta. "After you get hired, you go through a special training course other county employees do not go through that includes 10 days in the correction officers training academy."

He continued, "[You] are schooled in all this because you cannot work with inmates unless you understand the rules and guidelines set forth by correctional law. For [ShOA] to say [Sposato] has no knowledge of correctional law procedures is an outright lie."

According to the sheriff's department, in addition to the training and experience he received with the department and his working knowledge of local government, Sposato successfully applied to and completed a three-week long program for senior executives in state and local government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He also attended such training programs as Emergency Preparedness - Risk-based Assessments at Hosftra University and Introduction to the National Incident Management System and Incident Command System through the Emergency Management Institute. He is also a member of the Association of American Professional Law Enforcement.

According to Laricchiuta, CSEA fully supports the appointment and said Sposato is as qualified as anyone else to serve as undersheriff based on "his experience down in the kitchen as a cook and a supervisor." "CC Supervisor is the same rank in grade as far as civil service is concerned as sergeant," said Laricchiuta.

Duer, however, argues that correction officers must study and learn the job of corrections and are required to pass written civil service exams, prior to being promoted. "Now, we are being forced to take direction from an individual with no understanding of the health and safety risks we take and the dangers we face every day 24/7," he said.

In a letter submitted to the Anton Newspapers, John Jaronczyk, a correction corporal at the facility and resident of East Meadow, refers to the appointment as the "worst mismanagement" he has seen in his almost 17 years with the department. "This position has always been appointed to a career law enforcement officer, one who has a vast knowledge of the New York State Penal Law, Criminal Procedure Law and Correction Law along with the experience a credentialed law enforcement officer would have supervising a department of this size," stated Jaronczyk.

According to Laricchiuta, as a kitchen supervisor, Sposato was authorized to supervise inmates in his work area without the presence of correction officers enabling him the ability to prove himself worthy of the position. "If there is any place in the jail where you have to be on your toes the most I would say that is the kitchen because it is the only place in the facility where employees are working hand in hand with inmates who armed with knives and other dangerous material," Laricchiuta said, adding that he began his own career working as a CC Title Cook and Supervisor before being named president of the largest union in Nassau County.

The CSEA president believes that the sheriff's union is "disgruntled" about the appointment and does not believe a non-correction officer should be allowed to serve in the position. "Administrative positions are not just limited to correction officers. There is no reason why, nor is it written anywhere, that you need to have been a correction officer to reach the rank of administration," Laricchiuta said. "Correction officers only care about correction officers. They don't care about civilian staff. This is all about egos and nothing else."

He compares Sposato's appointment to that of Art Gianelli as president/CEO of the Nassau University Medical Center. "Art Gianelli never worked in a hospital a day in his life but the county executive and the board felt that his personal qualities, his character, his knowledge of numbers and his leadership abilities, he would do a fine job over at the hospital. The man never worked a single day in a hospital and today is CEO of one of the largest public hospitals' in the country and is turning that place around, doing a better job than any other CEO has done in the past 50 years," Laricchiuta said, adding, "The correction officers have the mentality that civilians can never be in charge of them. Well that's simply not true. It's called thinking out of the box. The glass ceiling has been lifted."

Duer, however, feels this latest decision by the sheriff "brings the morale of the department to the lowest level ever seen in all our years of service to this fine county of Nassau, at the sacrifice of the safety of the officers, inmates, public and civilian personnel working in the correctional facility."

Just last month, ShOA members expressed a strong vote of "no confidence" in the leadership of Reilly, accusing him of endangering the health and safety of officers and inmates as well as the safety of the surrounding community. At this time, some 350 union members were joined by state and county lawmakers in a demonstration outside the Carman Avenue correctional facility, asking the sheriff to put an immediate end to, what they called, his harmful policies that , they state, oftentimes violate minimum standards set by the New York State Commission of Correction and Department of Labor.

"Less than three weeks later, Sheriff Reilly puts our lives and safety in the hands of an amateur. As we have said in the past, unless county officials start working with us, rather than against us, someone is going to get seriously injured or possibly wind up dead. Corrections is one of the most dangerous jobs in law enforcement," said Duer, adding, "Sheriff Reilly should be made to answer for his irresponsible and dangerous policies and actions that multiply the risks we take every day."

Three days prior to Sposato's appointment Duer and ShOA Vice President Brian Sullivan addressed the Nassau County Legislature's Public Safety Committee. They requested that the committee do a full investigation of this decision and move to have Sposato removed as undersheriff; a Public Safety Committee public hearing is scheduled for Dec. 4.

(Editor's Note: ShOA, which was formed in 1999 as a result of the Nassau County correction officers' separation from CSEA, represents approximately 1,100 correction officers who serve at the Nassau County Correctional Facility.)