First woman named a Saratoga County sheriff's lieutenant

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

New Director of Emergency Communications Steven Gordon, left, and Lt. Shelley Zieske take the oaths at the Saratoga County Sheriff's Office promotion ceremony, Jan. 12, 2016.

Saratoga County Sheriff’s Investigator Shelley A. Zieske today became the first woman ever promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the sheriff’s office.

Zieske will be becoming a road patrol lieutenant in a promotion Sheriff Michael H. Zurlo described as “historic.”

Zieske, who has worked for the sheriff’s office for 21 years, was also the first woman named an investigator when she was promoted to that title in 2002.

Zieske downplayed the significance of the appointments.

“Historically, I don’t think I’m different from anyone else who gets promoted,” she said. “It’s just gender, that gets notice, but I think I’m just as happy and excited as anyone else who gets a promotion.”

At a ceremony in Ballston Spa, Zurlo also appointed Sgt. Steven G. Gordon to the new post of director of emergency communications, overseeing a dispatch center that receives more than 80,000 emergency calls and 100,000 non-emergency calls every year.

Deputies James P. Leonard and George R. Maxfield were promoted to sergeant, and Deputy Matthew Robinson was promoted to investigator, Zurlo said.

He also announced that Carson Salaway and John J. Carey have been hired as new road patrol deputies, and Keiann Raphael-Johnson, Ashley Stanley and David Rodriquez has been hired as corrections officers.