This letter is about Sullivan County Sheriff candidate Timothy Dymond and is based on my years of experience of working with him and my knowledge of his character.

From 2019 to my retirement at the end of 2023, I held various leadership roles with the New York State Police while assigned to Division Headquarters, including lieutenant colonel, colonel—field commander, first deputy superintendent and acting superintendent. During these years and assignments, I had the opportunity to meet and very closely work with Timothy Dymond, as both senior investigator and while he was the New York State Police Investigators Association (NYSPIA) president.  

My support for Tim’s candidacy for Sullivan County Sheriff is based on my firsthand knowledge of his leadership capabilities, compassion, vision, ethics and integrity, and not just on friendship.

As the field commander, I had operational oversight of the State Police Uniform Force and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. My tenure in this role included the time period impacted by COVID-19, Black Lives Matter protests and significant law changes to, but not limited to, bail reform, discovery reform and Raise the Age. The pandemic and these new laws effectuated change in how the state police performed our duties. I had the opportunity to work very closely with Tim while crafting state policies to ensure our adherence to these new laws and pandemic mandates while advancing officer safety. 

Although many within law enforcement disagreed with some facets of these laws and mandates from a public safety perspective, I found that Tim had a sincere respect for the rule of law. During these meetings, Tim also displayed an impressive depth of knowledge of laws, policies and practices that greatly enhanced our ability to quickly craft policies to meet these legislative mandates.

In his role as NYSPIA president, I also worked directly with Tim on all administrative disciplinary matters, promotions and transfers of members within NYSPIA. Tim always presented himself in a professional manner, with a focus on fairness and equality. During my interactions with Tim during the adjudication of disciplinary matters, I found him to be very reasonable and collaborative. Tim never lost focus on his duty to fight to preserve the rights of his membership, while acknowledging the importance of adhering to our rules and regulations. Tim was also committed and strived to ensure all members of NYSPIA operated at the highest level of professionalism.  

Sadly, I also worked closely with Tim following the death of numerous state police members, specifically members of NYSPIA. In our private interactions with the surviving family members, Tim showed a sincere and tremendous sense of compassion and empathy. Tim was always hyper-focused on the needs of the families, whether it was ensuring that their wishes for the funeral were carried out to perfection, that they received all the appropriate death benefits and/or had the grief counseling services they needed.  

In all my dealings with Tim, he always displayed the type of knowledge, experience, ethics and integrity the people of Sullivan County deserve in their sheriff. Based on all the aforementioned reasons, I am strongly supporting Timothy Dymond’s candidacy for Sullivan County Sheriff.  

Steven A. Nigrelli is a retired member of the New York State Police.