Sheriff Baxter on Policing Changes in Rochester

Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter returns to Rochester Living for a wide-ranging conversation about the dramatic transformation of law enforcement over his four-decade career — and where policing in Rochester is headed next. From the shift from enforcement-first to service-first culture, to the cutting-edge Regional Investigation Operations Center (RIOC) that is now the first of its kind in New York State, this episode is essential listening for anyone who cares about public safety in Western New York.

Four Decades of Change: From Nightsticks to Drones

Sheriff Baxter began his career in 1987, at a time when law enforcement operated with a fundamentally different philosophy. The tools were blunter — he recalls the era of the blackjack, a leather-wrapped lead weapon once common in police work — and the mindset was oriented toward catching criminals rather than serving communities. Over the decades, that culture has shifted profoundly. Today's officers are trained as public servants first, and Baxter credits the post-2020 period as a turning point in how law enforcement articulates its mission.

Technology has been the other great transformation. When Baxter started, there were no computers in patrol cars. Today, a deputy logging into a vehicle spends ten to fifteen minutes syncing software updates before hitting the road. The situational awareness available to a modern officer — real-time data feeds, license plate readers, drone surveillance, and integrated camera networks — is something that would have been unimaginable in 1987.

The RIOC: Rochester's Real-Time Crime Center

The centerpiece of this episode is Baxter's description of the Regional Investigation Operations Center, which Monroe County cut the ribbon on in late 2025. The RIOC is the first facility of its kind in New York State, and Baxter describes it as a quarter-of-a-football-field wall of screens where crime analysts monitor license plate readers, traffic cameras, school security feeds, and real-time 911 data simultaneously.

The practical impact is already being felt. Baxter describes a case where a deputy used historical license plate reader data to identify a pattern of movement for a wanted violent felony suspect — and set up a successful intercept based on that pattern. In another example, when a school shooting alarm comes in, analysts can immediately pull up the school's own camera system, cross-reference license plate data from the surrounding area over the past 48 hours, and push actionable intelligence to responding officers in real time. 'This is a game changer,' Baxter says. 'Until recently, you had people sitting frame by frame looking for the same car.'

Bail Reform, Public Safety, and the Protect Act

Baxter does not shy away from the political dimensions of public safety. He speaks directly about New York State's bail reform laws, which he argues have created a dangerous revolving door — particularly for individuals caught with illegal firearms. His statistic is striking: over 50 percent of people apprehended by Monroe County deputies in the city of Rochester are released with no bail or minimal intervention. 'You pointed a gun at a kid,' he says. 'We're not going to keep you in jail for a few more days?'

New York is the only state in the nation that does not allow judges to consider dangerousness as a standard for pretrial detention. Baxter has been working with a bipartisan coalition — including inner-city pastors, crime victims, and legislators from both parties — to advance the Protect Act, a bill currently in committee that would fill the gaps in bail reform without rolling back the entire framework. 'We're not looking to go back,' he says. 'We're just looking to fill the gaps. Like any business plan, you evaluate and make improvements.'

Drone Technology and the Threats Ahead

The conversation turns to what keeps Baxter up at night: the weaponization of consumer drones. He describes a recent barricade situation where a suspect launched his own personal drone to surveil the responding SWAT team — a scenario that would have been science fiction a decade ago. Monroe County now has 21 certified drone operators and recently installed license plate reader cameras at key intersections throughout the county, but Baxter is pushing for state legislation that would allow local law enforcement to take drones out of the air when necessary. A federal law passed in December 2025 has begun to open that door.

He also raises the threat of drone drops at correctional facilities — a tactic already documented in other jurisdictions — and the broader challenge of keeping pace with technology that evolves faster than the laws governing it. 'The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago,' he says. 'The second-best time is now.'

Scams, Retail Theft, and the Hidden Crime Wave

Baxter closes with two issues that rarely make headlines but represent a significant and growing public safety challenge. The first is financial scams targeting seniors — voice-cloning technology now allows criminals to impersonate family members with frightening accuracy, and Baxter urges residents to establish a family code word for exactly these situations. The second is retail theft: during a four-day undercover detail at a handful of Monroe County box stores, deputies made 80 apprehensions. More striking, those same stores revealed $7.3 million in unreported theft losses over an 18-month period — losses they wrote off rather than reported, meaning the true scale of retail crime in the region is dramatically undercounted in official statistics.

Watch or Listen

Episode 235 is available now on YouTube and on all major podcast platforms. Follow Rochester Living on Instagram @rochesterlivingpod for clips and updates.