Philip C. Povero is a graduate of Geneva High School, Finger Lakes Community College and the Rochester Institute of Technology with a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice. He began his career in 1972 as a Sheriff’s Correction and Communications Officer. In 1973, he was assigned to Road Patrol. From 1977 to 1990, he served as a Criminal Investigator. He was elected Sheriff in 1990 and re-elected in 1994, 1998 and 2002. During his tenure, the Ontario County Sheriff’s Office has acquired State Accreditation for its law enforcement, corrections, emergency communications, court security and civil divisions. The Sheriff has implemented the D.A.R.E. Program and provided School Resource Officers to Ontario County School Districts. In 2005, “Project Life Saver,” a radio system to locate missing Alzheimer patients, was implemented by the Sheriff.
Construction was completed on a new 276-bed direct-supervision jail in October, 2003, with the entire building project finishing more than one million dollars under budget.
Sheriff Povero is past President and current Executive Committee member of the New York State Sheriffs’ Association and Chairman of the Finger Lakes Law Enforcement Academy Board of Directors. He is a co-chairman of the New York State Law Enforcement Executive Committee on Counter Terrorism and Homeland Security. Sheriff Povero has two grown children.

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