Editorial faults Onondaga sheriff’s weak response to deputy misconduct

The sheriff’s reaction to Deputy Joseph Strom’s misconduct finding sent the wrong message to both deputies and the public, a criticism sharpened by the facts in the case, the department’s own policies, and Onondaga County’s long-running calls for accountability.

The New York State Attorney General’s Office issued its findings letter on July 29, 2025, after the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office referred Strom on May 5, 2024, based on five complaints. Investigators concluded that Strom engaged in a pattern of misconduct. The letter said the review included internal files, video footage, governing policies, Strom’s disciplinary record, and his response-to-resistance reports dating to January 1, 2022.

One episode stood out. On May 21, 2023, at about 2:20 a.m., Strom saw a speeding vehicle on the highway, activated his lights and sirens, and tried to make a traffic stop. When the driver sped away, he deactivated the lights and sirens and failed to notify the sheriff’s office of a vehicle pursuit, as policy required. OCSO analysis found the chase lasted about five minutes, reached 117 miles per hour on the highway, and climbed above 90 miles per hour in the City of Syracuse.

The attorney general’s letter said Strom told investigators, “I wasn’t letting him go. That’s my issue; old school, he wasn’t getting away,” and also found that he gave investigators false accounts. That combination, overzealousness on the road and dishonesty afterward, is what makes the sheriff’s response so consequential. A department can talk about standards all it wants, but deputies take their cues from what leaders reward, excuse, or minimize when a case lands on the sheriff’s desk.

The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office says its Internal Affairs unit investigates allegations of inappropriate conduct and assists with disciplinary proceedings. That structure gives the department a chance to police itself, but it also raises the bar for transparency when the findings are serious. In Onondaga County, where the Legislature created an independent Justice Center Oversight Committee in 2015 to review jail and justice center incidents and complaints, residents have made clear they expect more than internal explanations after misconduct is documented.

Sheriff Toby Shelley should have treated Strom’s conduct as a warning sign, not just a personnel matter. After a five-minute chase that hit 117 miles per hour and a false account to investigators, the public needed a firmer answer about accountability, not a cautious one.