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Westchester County, New York There are sixty-two counties in the State of New York. Five of these are boroughs of New York City and do not have functioning county governments. Westchester County is a suburban county with approximately 940,000 residents. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. It was named after Chester, in England. The county seat is White Plains, Westchester County Clerk Westchester County is generally divided into northern and southern areas. The northern portion (places north of Interstate 287/Cross Westchester Expressway) is often seen as rural and wealthy; the southern portion (White Plains and south) is more urban. These generalities, however, do not necessarily hold true in all communities. For example, Bronxville, Larchmont, Rye and Scarsdale in the southern portion are among the wealthiest communities in the entire U.S., and Peekskill in the northern portion is relatively urban and low-middle income. The Westchester County Department of planning divides the county into North, Central and South sub-regions. At the closest point, Westchester is only 2 miles north of Manhattan (from Broadway & Caryl Avenue in southern Yonkers to Broadway & West 228th Street in the Marble Hill section of Manhattan) One can walk this distance in about 40 minutes, the amount of time it would typically take to drive from Westchester to Manhattan. However, most places in Westchester are much farther from most places in Manhattan than this unusual example may suggest. Cities There are six cities in Westchester County. Mount Vernon 3rd Largest New Rochelle 2nd Largest Peekskill 5th Largest Rye (Rye is also the name of a town) 6th Largest White Plains 4th Largest Yonkers Largest Towns and Villages There are 19 towns in Westchester County. Any land area in the county that is not contained in one of the cities is in a town. A town may contain zero, one or multiple villages. The towns of Harrison, Mount Kisco, and Scarsdale are coterminous with the village of the same name. Two villages are split between two towns—Briarcliff Manor crosses the border between Ossining town and Mount Pleasant, and Mamaroneck village straddles the boundary between Mamaroneck town and Rye town. With the exception of the towns of Rye and Pelham, all the towns contain area and residents which do not belong to any village. These areas may contain communities referred to as hamlets. Hamlets have no legal status and depend upon the town for all municipal government and services. There are also areas called census-designated places (CDPs), which are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. A CDP may or may not correspond to a hamlet. Because some municipalities have the same name, it is often necessary to indicate whether one is referring to the city, town, village, or hamlet. For example, the town of Rye is completely separate from the city of Rye. Pelham is the name of a town and also of a village in the town. The village of Mamaroneck is located partially in the town of Mamaroneck and partially in the town of Rye, but has nothing to do with the city of Rye. All of the towns have Justice Courts, and some of the villages do as well. The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office On January 1, 2006, the Honorable Janet DiFiore, JSC, was sworn in as the 32nd District Attorney of Westchester County. The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office prosecutes over 30,000 criminal cases a year, throughout the 457 square miles of Westchester County. The office staff of 239 people includes the District Attorney, 120 Assistant District Attorneys, 38 investigators, and 80 support personnel, comprising the largest local prosecutorial agency in New York State north of New York City. The 120 Assistant District Attorneys operate out of the District Attorney’s main office in White Plains, as well as eight branch offices located throughout the County. The District Attorney’s office works with over 40 local police departments, the Westchester Department of Public Safety, New York State Police as well as various other State and Federal law enforcement agencies on a daily and ongoing basis. The Westchester County District Attorney’s office is organized into five divisions, each supervised by a Second Deputy District Attorney. They are the Superior Court Trial Division, Local Criminal Courts and Grand Jury Division, Appeals and Special Litigation Division, Investigations Division and Special Prosecutions Division. Each division is then broken up into operational bureaus. The Grand Jury Bureau evaluates all general felony cases that are to be presented to a Westchester County Grand Jury. Here, Assistant District Attorneys decide on appropriate final charges, gather necessary reports and documents, interview witnesses and eventually present the cases to the Grand Jury. Grand Jury Assistant District Attorneys deal almost exclusively with felony charges. The Local Criminal Courts and Grand Jury Division prosecutes the bulk of the 30,000 criminal cases originating in the city, town and village courts of Westchester County. Assistant District Attorneys are assigned to the eight branch offices located throughout the County. The intent of having the eight branch offices is to have the prosecutorial services closer to the affected communities. Through the use of these branch offices, police personnel have ready access to the prosecutors in their own localities to discuss local issues. The Local Criminal Courts Bureau also works closely with the local police departments and provides training and advice on a constant basis. The District Attorney's Office has, in most instances, delegated their authority to prosecute traffic tickets or infractions to local police and the NYS Police. Motor Vehicle and Traffic Offenses The local criminal courts in these areas also handle criminal traffic violations, like traffic tickets, DWI, driving with a suspended license, or reckless driving. For information about criminal traffic violations, contact the local criminal court. In addition to the local law enforcement of traffic laws, the New York State Police and many Sheriff's and municipal police departments conduct speed enforcement as part of their daily, routine patrols throughout Westchester County. NYS Troopers issue over 900,000 tickets each year in New York State. Statistics show that troopers, while comprising less than 6% of New York's total law enforcement personnel, make about 30% of all DWI arrests in New York State, issue 47% of all citations for occupant restraints, and 55% of all speeding tickets. Since September 1, 2006, NYS Police decided to discontinue its prior practice of allowing state troopers to plea bargain traffic tickets. Each municipality has been attempting to address this change in protocol in various ways, but generally by adding prosecutors to handle such matters or by compelling each defendant to plead guilty as charged or take their traffic case to trial. The NYSDMV does not record out-of-state violations committed by NYS drivers in other jurisdictions. The exceptions are alcohol-related violations, drug-related violations, and moving violations committed in Quebec or Ontario. Under special agreements, traffic convictions in Quebec or Ontario are recorded on NYS driver license records and carry points. Except for violations in Ontario and Quebec, points are not added to your NYS record for out-of-state violations. If you do not respond to a ticket or fail to pay a fine for a moving violation that you committed in any state except Alaska, California, Michigan, Montana, Oregon or Wisconsin, the DMV suspends your NYS driver license until you respond to the ticket or pay the fine. If a driver from a state except these six states fails to respond to a traffic ticket issued in NYS, their driver license will be suspended until the driver responds to the traffic ticket in NYS Drivers from other states must contact the DMV in their home state to get information about the effect of a traffic violation conviction that occurs in NYS. If you receive a conviction for an alcohol-related or drug-related driving violation in any state, your NYS driver license is revoked for at least six months. Government The county executive is Andrew J. Spano (D). The district attorney is Janet DiFiore (R). The county clerk is Timothy C. Idoni (D). The Board of Legislators has seventeen members, each representing a district in the county. The Westchester County Clerk, located at 110 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Blvd., White Plains, New York 10601, telephone: (914) 995-3080 (enter through the Westchester County Courthouse) is the Clerk for the Supreme and County Courts. All records for these courts are recorded and filed within the Legal Division. This division is also responsible for non-court related county legal functions such as registering a business or filing a lien, etc. The Westchester County Clerk's Office has records of felony convictions. If you were convicted of, or are looking for a conviction for a misdemeanor or violation, you should contact the city, town or village court where the arrest took place. For a felony disposition, you may come into the office to obtain a certified copy. For local information, the city, town and village clerk’s of the particular municipality may be of assistance. CITY CLERK'S PHONE NUMBERS VILLAGE CLERK'S PHONE NUMBERS TOWN CLERK'S PHONE NUMBERS Adjacent Counties: Putnam County, New York - north Putnam County, New York - north Fairfield County, Connecticut - northeast Bergen County, New Jersey - southwest Rockland County, New York - west Bronx County, New York - south Putnam County, New York - north
Source(s): westchestergov., westchesterclerk.com, da.westchester.ny.us and wikipedia.org. |
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