Traffic Enforcement & Prosecution

The Village of Saugerties is a small (but relatively busy) area located within the Town of Saugerties. The main section of the village, including Main Street/US 9W, is patrolled mainly by the local police. Jurisdiction is shared by the State Police and Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, but enforcement is handled primarily by the Saugerties Police Department. The village speed limit is 30 mph, so most speeding tickets are written for speeds less than 10 mph over the limit. In addition, the police regularly look for miscellaneous vehicle and traffic violations to initiate traffic stops.

Traffic Court

The NYS Police are prohibited from negotiating plea bargains on traffic violations.  As a result, a Special Prosecutor for the town prosecutes tickets written by the NYS police.  The overwhelming majority of state police tickets are adjudicated through plea bargains with the Special Prosecutor.  The prosecutor and both judges are reasonable about plea bargains as long as the speed was not too high. 

Local police officers typically prosecute their own tickets, though the Special Prosecutor may substitute for them.  Again, most tickets are resolved through plea bargains.

Expect a modest wait to speak to prosecutor. A wait time of 1 hour is typical. Attorneys are permitted to appear without their clients being present for traffic court.

For more information about speeding and other traffic offenses, click here.

To read some Frequently Asked Traffic Law questions, click here.

For information about having the Law Office of Glenn Magnell defend your speeding ticket or DWI charge,, click here.

Criminal Law Enforcement & Prosecution

All criminal prosecutions are handled by the Ulster County District Attorney's Office.  The Ulster DA's office has taken a fairly hard line on DWI prosecutions. In 2010 there were almost 1,200 alcohol related driving arrests impaired or intoxicated driving (DWI, DWAI, DWAI-D) in Ulster County.  Both the NYS Police and the Ulster County Sheriff's Department made numerous arrests. Most arrests occurred after dark with many taking place after midnight.  Police officers assume that many drivers who are out after midnight have consumed alcohol and or drugs.  As a result they are looking for any lawful reason to pull drivers over in order to investigate possible DWI incidents.  Alcohol checkpoints were established several times by state and local police.

In addition to DWI and DWAI, numerous arrests were made for Driving While Impaired by Drugs, Aggravated Unlicensed Operation and Driving With a Suspended Registration.  All of these offenses are "criminal" violations of the law and, as a result are prosecuted by the Ulster County District Attorney's office.  The DA’s has a general rule that breath tests of .12% or more will not be reduced through plea bargains.  However, this is not a hard and fast policy.

Neither of the town justices in Saugerties Village Court is an attorney.

For more information about DWI, click here.

To read some Frequently Asked Questions about DWI, click here.

For information about having the Law Office of Glenn Magnell represent you, click here.