Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media outgoing Greene County Sheriff Greg Seeley appears to be defying county policy by announcing his plan to deputize his son before the end of the year. Matthew Seeley graduated last week from the Zone 14 Police Academy. In a Facebook post at the time, Seeley’s office congratulated Matthew and two other graduates, Joseph Caputo and Megan Downey, referring to each of them as “deputy.” The younger Seeley will not officially become a deputy until after he takes the civil service exam on Sept. 14. Pending the results of that exam, he would be hired by the sheriff, Greene County Administrator Shaun Gordon said. “It will take 15 to 90 days to get the test results back,” Groden said. “If his dad is still sheriff, he has to pass on any job offering. Until his dad is retired, he cannot be hired.” Asked about a potential policy violation, Seeley said he paid for Matthew’s training himself, while the other two deputies attended at the county’s expense. Matthew will be hired as a per-diem deputy, he said. Seeley is angry because his son may lose an employment opportunity. “I’m furious my kid has to get penalized over this,” he said. “That policy is absolutely wrong.” The sheriff says he and his son are being treated unfairly. “I’m not disputing the policy exists,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t know if I ever looked at the manual.” Seeley is a longtime county employee and he has served as sheriff for 12 years. “It should be about what you know, not who you know,” Independence party sheriff candidate DIana Benoit said. “There has to be standards for hiring, more than just what civil service has. You have to be careful with nepotism and hiring families.” The decision to hire Matthew Seeley was made prior to his graduation, Benoit said, because the sheriff’s office typically sponsors deputies’ training at the police academy. Republican candidate Pete Kusminsky declined to comment. The Greene County Sheriff’s Office is not a state accredited law enforcement agency. Benefits of the accreditation program include, among other things, a set of professional standards, assurance of fair selection and recruitment and promotion processes. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.