KINGSTON, N.Y. — Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa, who took the reigns of the New York State Sheriffs’ Association last week, predicted that his one-year term won’t necessarily be an easy one.
Figueroa, 60, of Plattekill, became president of the statewide association on Thursday, Jan. 22. He, along with the other 2026 officers and the executive committee, was sworn in by Ulster County Court Judge Bryan Rounds.
The sheriff has served in various other officer roles within the association’s leadership, most recently as second vice president. He succeeds Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone.
A Democrat, Figueroa made history in 2019 when he became the state’s first Latino sheriff. He’s also the first Ulster County sheriff to lead the association in its 94-year history.
Figueroa said the association is made up of sheriffs from each of the state’s 62 counties. Many of the sheriffs are Republican. There are only “around eight” Democratic sheriffs in the state out of a total of 58 elected sheriffs. In New York City and in Westchester and Nassau counties, sheriffs are appointed.
Despite political and ideological differences among members, Figueroa said he was elected president of the association “because I bring a different perspective to the table in dealing with certain situations in law enforcement, whether it’s reimagining policing and taking a look at the culture of law enforcement, and I think they respect that. And I respect their candor.”
He said the association is a non-partisan group. “However, the majority of sheriffs are from different parties, and you have to kind of balance that out. I have a Democratic constituency, whereas most sheriffs in the state have Republican constituencies. So … we have to respect each other’s constituencies. We haven’t had any issues with that, but it’s always important to talk about it and know that it’s there.”
When reached by phone, Figueroa anticipated that his one-year term is “going to be a tough road” in terms of political and ideological differences among members.
He has not shied away from controversy.
In 2024, when Figueroa was second vice president of the association, an elected position, he supported an amendment that enshrined the right to an abortion in the state Constitution, despite the association’s claim that it would “be a huge setback for the criminal justice system.”
Even when he disagrees with the association’s majority, Figueroa said, “I’m entitled to represent my constituency and my moral obligations, and I would just not agree to it.” Most of the time, however, the association either takes controversial positions or chooses “not to get into it,” acknowledging that all sheriffs “are elected and responsible to our constituencies,” he said.
One area of disagreement currently facing the association is whether departments choose to cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in their communities.
Ulster County government and the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office do not cooperate with ICE, leading to “very energetic conversations, debates if you will,” he said. “But it’s good to have different perspectives on it. It is.”
“It’s basically your constituency,” he said. “And in today’s world of party lines, that’s where everything usually ends up. What’s great about the association is that you can have those debates, and at times — I’m trying to think of the term — they can be very energetic conversations. But after the conversations are over, we’re listening to everybody’s views. Nobody’s views are ignored.”
The purpose of the Sheriffs’ Association, he said, “is to represent all the sheriffs in the state relating to particular laws, or bills, or issues that affect all of us.” It also operates programs and issues accreditations for sheriff’s offices statewide in conjunction with the Division of Criminal Justice Services, “which puts out the guidelines for accreditation,” he said.
Among those rifts in the past were differences of opinion regarding “Green Light legislation” in support of driver’s licenses for undocumented residents, a right that is now protected and supported by state law, he said. “Before 2001, this happened after 9/11, (the state) used the broad brush approach without realizing how it would affect a lot of communities.”
“There are undocumented folks here for 34 years who’ve never done anything wrong,” Figueroa added. “Taking away their ability to drive and not having insurance on their car(s) because they don’t have a license affects our public safety. That’s why I was a big supporter of making sure that folks that are driving have driver’s licenses,” and have passed tests to obtain those licenses, he said.
In 2022, Figueroa ran unopposed for reelection to his second term as Ulster County’s sheriff. He recently announced his bid for a third term, a position he is likely to win in November without a Republican opponent. Both the Ulster County Democratic and Republican committees are scheduled to hold their conventions in February, when the parties will formally endorse a candidate for the office.
In a press release last week, the Democrat said if reelected sheriff, he will work to both enforce the law and protect the rights of the county’s residents.
Figueroa was first elected county sheriff in 2018 when he defeated incumbent Democrat Paul Van Blarcum, first in the Democratic primary and then in the general election, where VanBlarcum ran on the Republican line, Figueroa ran on a platform that called for community policing, treatment over incarceration for low-level offenders, and ensuring that the county was safe and laws were enforced evenly for everyone.
As sheriff, Figueroa has overseen the creation and expansion of ORACLE, a program in which a social worker and peer advocates worked with law enforcement to combat drug overdoses in the county. He also enhanced law enforcement training, including community-police interaction, de-escalation, and implicit bias training, according to a press release.
Figueroa said changes instituted by police nationwide after the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minnesota marked “the beginning of one of the most dramatic changes I’ve seen in my 38 years in law enforcement.”
He touted many of the changes he’s overseen as sheriff. “To say that I have a lawyer that runs professional standard. To say I have a director of community incarcerated services who’s a social worker. To have social workers and peers embedded in law enforcement. To have an officer wellness unit that has a clinical mental health social worker and a peer to deal with our first responders. It’s unheard of. A lot of that needed to be done. And it was a lot of work. … We’re still in that transformation.”
In order to make change, he said, “You have to have a seat at the table.”
Figueroa began his career as a state trooper, a position he held for 25 years. Before that, he was a U.S. Marine for 22 years.
The Sheriffs’ Association, a not-for-profit corporation, was founded in 1934 “for the purpose of assisting the sheriffs throughout the state effectively and efficiently serve the constituents of their respective counties through training, accreditation, legislative advocacy and public safety programs,” the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.