Yippi-Ki-Yay Cowboy Hilton

by Contributor | May 10, 2026 12:46 pm

A video of an Oswego County Sheriff’s deputy stopping a vehicle and his interaction with the occupants and a Border Patrol Officer was released by New York Focus this week. I found it to be vulgar, xenophobic and racist. The Deputy appears to violate NY State law regarding how long you can hold someone for the purpose of calling a “translator”. Maybe the Sheriff could teach his deputies how translation apps work on their phones. When I worked as a nurse in corrections I used them for multiple languages with great success.

 

The bigger issue to me is what does the unprofessional conduct of a Sheriff’s Deputy sounding like this on his body camera say about him and the leadership of Sheriff Hilton and the Oswego County Legislature?

 

As an Army Officer that led soldiers dealing with other NATO countries, this kind of interaction would not have been tolerated. The way you deal with other agencies and the public comes from the top of the team.  If you are a “Cowboy” and treat everything with that attitude you will see those behaviors trickle down.

 

The fact that this deputy felt comfortable to be this vulgar and xenophobic on camera tells me that the body cameras are not reviewed on a regular basis. If they are reviewed and it still is happening that tells me the Sheriff considers the behavior acceptable. The statement “You should be forced to speak English when you come here,” is interesting when my experience has been that Americans travelling outside this country refuse to learn enough of the local language to ask where the bathroom is, or how to order food. Was this deputy counseled on his actions and speech during this traffic stop when the tape was reviewed? I doubt it!

 

This cowboy attitude is also reflected in the Sheriff’s attitude towards a No-Collusion Policy and his comments last week regarding wanting to sign agreements with Syracuse PD and the Madison County Sheriff, which will come up during the Legislature meeting this Thursday the 14th.

 

The County Legislature led by Chair Jim Weatherup does not seem to care how Hilton conducts himself, and they don’t seem interested in correcting issues brought to their attention. on more than one occasion.

 

Maybe Weatherup and the other Republican Legislators need to think about how much the Sheriff’s attitude and actions are costing the county the NYS Attorney General is already in the process of investigating the Sheriff for similar actions prior to the Cato ICE raid in September. Why does the Republican dominated County Legislature continue to support the Sheriff in wasting County money and violating NYS law? Fighting real crimes would be a better use of money than fighting (an immoral) culture war!

Jim Cannon, RN

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/yippi-ki-yay-cowboy-hilton/

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