Toby Shelley’s Record. Sourced. Verifiable.
Don’t take our word for it. Every claim below is documented and linked to its original source.
[Jan 2025] Under Shelley’s leadership, department policy led to an 11-year-old girl being handcuffed for a crime she didn’t commit — a policy a constitutional law professor later called “an obvious constitutional problem.” [read the source]
[Jan 2025] The NYCLU condemned the department, saying it was “extremely disturbed by the aggressive treatment of an 11-year-old Black child.” [read the source]
[2015] In his own words: Shelley described profiling people who “look different” in Marcellus, a mostly-white community. [read the source]
[2015] The Democratic Party’s county committee withdrew its endorsement of Shelley’s campaign, calling racial profiling something the party’s principles “allow no tolerance for, in any context.” [read the source]
Department Policy Led to an 11-Year-Old Girl Being Handcuffed for a Crime She Didn’t Commit
Under Sheriff Shelley’s leadership, deputies searching for a suspect who fled a stolen car six blocks away stopped a group of children walking home from school and handcuffed an 11-year-old girl, behind her back, on a public sidewalk. She hadn’t done anything wrong.
“I couldn’t even finish watching the video… that’s not how you handle children.” — The girl’s mother, CNY Central, Jan. 14, 2025
Asked whether seven minutes in handcuffs was excessive for a child who’d done nothing wrong, Shelley called it “good police work.” His defense rested on the department’s standard practice of automatically handcuffing every detainee, including juveniles, regardless of circumstance — a practice a Syracuse University constitutional law professor later called “an obvious constitutional problem.” Syracuse.com’s own editorial board also publicly challenged the sheriff’s handling of the incident, in a piece that went on to win a Syracuse Press Club award.
The NYCLU Condemned the Department (Jan. 2025)
In response to the incident, the New York Civil Liberties Union released a statement condemning the sheriff’s office directly:
“…extremely disturbed by the aggressive treatment of an 11-year-old Black child…” — NYCLU statement, Jan. 2025
The organization also noted there was no justification for handcuffing a scared child who posed no threat, and raised concerns about implicit bias in how officers perceived her.
Marcellus: Sheriff Shelley’s Own Words on Profiling (2015)
Running for county executive in 2015, Shelley told a reporter that officers can’t stop someone based on appearance alone — then offered an example of when he thought context mattered:
“…out in Marcellus — a community that is mostly Caucasian — if you see someone who looks different, you might just stop and talk to them.” — Toby Shelley, Syracuse New Times, June 10, 2015
The Conservative Party platform Shelley was running on at the time explicitly endorsed profiling and stop-and-frisk as police tactics.
The Democratic Party Withdrew Its Support
The Onondaga County Democratic Committee voted unanimously to withdraw its endorsement of Shelley’s campaign over the Marcellus remarks.
“The issue of racial profiling is a serious matter and one that the Democratic Party’s principles allow no tolerance for, in any context.” — Onondaga County Democratic Committee, via Syracuse.com, June 2015
Read them yourself.