The Genesee Community College Foundation is inducting both the 2020 and 2021 honorees into its Alumni Hall of Fame in Batavia today — and among them is the sheriff of Cattaraugus County.
Sheriff Timothy S. Whitcomb is among four GCC alumni to be so honored today for “forever marking their contributions to their communities and the pride they have brought to Genesee Community College.”
A graduate of GCC in 1989, he has served as Cattaraugus County sheriff since first being elected in November 2009, and his law enforcement career has spanned more than three decades.
The Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office includes a road patrol division, the Southern Tier Drug Task Force, K-9 unit, a full Criminal Investigation Bureau, school resource officers, courtroom security and special investigation details, including sex crimes and arson.
There are marine and snowmobile divisions and a special response team, often referred to as SWAT. The Sheriff’s Office handles 911 communications for the entire county while also operating the 150-bed county jail.
Whitcomb earned a master’s degree in counseling education from St. Bonaventure University and is a certified police instructor in the areas of interview and interrogation, the investigation of sex crimes and the Law Enforcement Response to School Violence. He is a graduate of the 206th Session of the Federal Bureau Investigation’s National Academy and he recently was certified as a special response team fitness specialist.
Whitcomb has been an adjunct professor for both St. Bonaventure and SUNY Jamestown Community College and has served as president of the New York State Sheriffs Association and is a past president of the State of New York Police Juvenile Officer Association.
He is also a board member and PTP director for Law Enforcement Operations at TTMPT (Talk to Me Post Tour), an independent not-for-profit group of retired police officers and police professionals, while he actively speaks nationwide on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
