Each Thursday, we put one of our local newsmakers On The Spot. This week: Cayuga County Sheriff David Gould

I am very glad to have the chance to explain to our citizens the duties of the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office Marine Patrol Division.

We have 19 part-time officers, seven current or retired police officers and 12 peace officers. The boat patrol consists of four boats, which we use on Cayuga, Owasco, Cross and Skaneateles Lakes, Lake Ontario, Lake Como, Duck Lake and we also patrol the New York State Canal System located within Cayuga County. I feel we have a great Marine Division due to our many experienced members. I also feel that we live in the best region in our state, because of the beautiful lakes and waterways that exist in Cayuga County. During our boating season each year, we have not only local citizens using these great waterways, but we get thousands of visitors to our area each year and a great number of those visitors come to Cayuga County because of the access to so many lakes and our state Canal System.

Since I took office in 2007, I have said and will continue to say, as long as I hold this great office of sheriff, that our hard working citizens and guests to our area will be treated with respect and kindness when they are using all the waterways within our county.

I have asked our boat patrol deputies to perform the same duty as our road patrol deputies, that duty being to protect and serve our great citizens. I certainly want it to be clear that although our boat deputies will treat people with respect, that we expect that our officers will also be treated respectfully.

There are certain cases on the waterways, as there are on the roadways, that our deputies will not accept. The most serious is boating while intoxicated.

In these cases, there will certainly be criminal action taken.

The safety of the people using our waterways, whether it be on a boat, Sea-do, other watercraft, or swimming is the priority of our Sheriff's Marine Patrol, and this priority carries over to the respect that will be shown to everyone using our lakes and canal system.

I truly hope our citizens enjoy our terrific waterways and in doing so, they know that our Marine Patrol will be treating them fairly and respectfully.