Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr.

On January 1, 2018, Dr. Errol D. Toulon, Jr. became Suffolk County, New York’s 67th Sheriff and the County’s first African American to be elected to a non-judicial countywide office. Now serving his second term as Suffolk’s highest-ranking law enforcement official, he continues to work to serve and protect the county’s 1.5 million residents through innovative programs to reduce crime and recidivism, and by implementing sound fiscal policies. Early in his first term, he reorganized departments into multi-disciplinary teams focused on corrections intelligence gathering, violent crimes, gang activity, and human trafficking. In 2021, he was reelected to a second term and remains highly focused on using data and technological assets to capture crime patterns and ultimately maintain public safety across Suffolk County.

In his first year, Sheriff Toulon launched the Sandy Hook Promise School Safety Initiative in the wake of heightened violence in schools nationwide. Since then, more than 30,000 students, faculty, and community members have been taught to recognize the signs of distress, especially on social media, and how to report concerning information to a trusted adult. He has also prioritized getting to the root causes of youthful delinquency and inter-generational crime. In October 2018, Sheriff Toulon launched a task force named Deconstructing the Prison Pipeline to study these issues, drive policy discussions, and implement solutions. Simultaneously, he greatly expanded correctional rehabilitation programming aimed to reduce recidivism and improve offenders’ desistance from crime. In just two years, he launched Choose Your Path for young adults, Choose to Thrive for incarcerated women, a Senior Citizen Program POD, and made significant improvements to the Sheriff’s Addiction Treatment Program. He also launched the nation’s first jail-based Human Trafficking Initiative, which assesses all county inmates for signs of victimization and trafficking.

In line with Sheriff Toulon’s commitment to rehabilitation and reducing recidivism, he launched The Sheriff's Transition and Reentry Team (also known as the START Resource Center) in February 2022. The fully staffed center aims to assist justice involved individuals re-enter the community, starting on day one of incarceration. The program has become a national model for rehabilitation and reentry, assisting inmates with services include employment assistance, mental health and addiction support, identification and housing to immediately help put them on a better path upon finishing their sentence.

Sheriff Toulon has been recognized by countless law enforcement agencies, distinguished organizations and publications across the nation for his work in corrections and law enforcement. This includes accolades from Corrections USA, Long Island NAACP, ASIS International, Touro Law Center, Times Beacon Record, City & State Magazine, Long Island Business News and NOBLE NY.
He is an active member in several renowned organizations including the Major County Sheriffs of America where he was recently assigned to their Intelligence Commanders Committee to work on ways to beneficially share intelligence nationwide. Toulon also serves on several advisory boards including the National Association of Counties, New York State Municipal Police Training Council, Sandy Hook Advisory Board, Stony Brook University Council and the Center for Criminal Justice Studies at Farmingdale State College.

Sheriff Toulon has more than 30 years of criminal justice experience, heavily centered upon corrections intelligence and combating gang violence. Prior to serving as Suffolk County Sheriff, Toulon worked for 25 years with the New York City Department of Correction beginning his career as a NYC correction officer and culminating as the Deputy Commissioner of Operations. He was assigned to the Emergency Service Unit as a captain during a challenging time when the department housed almost 25,000 inmates. He was a captain assigned to the Firearms & Tactics Unit when the World Trade Center was attacked. In July of 2014, he was named Deputy Commissioner of Operations for the New York City Department of Correction. Sheriff Toulon is certified through the Department of Homeland Security in Emergency Planning, Radiological Emergency Management, Incident Response to Terrorist Bombing, WMD Threat and Risk Assessment and State Disaster Management. In addition, he is certified to teach courses in weapons of mass destruction awareness, National Incident Management Systems (NIMS), domestic terrorism and hate crimes. He received his bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Monroe College, a master’s degree in Business Administration and a doctorate in Educational Administration from Dowling College; an advanced certificate in Homeland Security Management from Long Island University, and he attended leadership courses at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University. He is a frequent law enforcement contributor to various media outlets including Fox & Friends, Fox News, Newsmax TV, News12 LI, Newsday, CBS NY and Court TV.