For Immediate Release
July 12, 2021

Suffolk’s Top Cop Taps College RTV for Training Assist

Suffolk County Community College Radio and Television Production interns are helping Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini produce training videos for his office’s prosecutors.

Seven Suffolk County Community College Radio and Television Production (RTV) interns are helping Suffolk crime fighters after being tapped by Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini to help produce training videos for his office’s prosecutors.

“Here in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office we invest heavily in top class training for members of our team. When new prosecutors join our Office, they undergo three weeks of training right off the bat, and even the most seasoned members of our team participate in the Office’s rigorous ongoing training program every single year on top of their busy schedules,” District Attorney Sini said. “Being able to have these training materials available to ADAs on-demand at all times is an invaluable tool, and we are grateful to SCCC for making that possible. This was certainly a win-win for our Office and for the participants in the RTV program. I thank SCCC for their continued partnership and look forward to expanding this program in the future.”

RTV Professor and Assistant Academic Chair Gayle Sheridan said the opportunity is a natural fit for the students who travelled to the Riverhead court complex to shoot the first of several training videos for Sini’s office, the State’s 6^th largest prosecutor’s office with more than 204 attorneys.

Sheridan said that working with the district attorney’s team was an invaluable learning opportunity for RTV student interns because it’s was a “real life planning, shooting and editing experience.”

“The DA’s team are the content experts,” Sheridan explained, “and we are the skilled production team. Students learned how to combine those skills to produce an effective instructional tool.”

“Using a multicamera approach gave students the chance to see and experience what the possibilities are as well as the complexities of a field production. Dealing with ‘talent’ outside the RTV program gave students a chance to see what that was like too,” Sheridan said.

The students, Sheridan said, worked through scripts and script revisions as well as blocking movements.

Sheridan said that the students will now also learn how to do postproduction multicamera editing, an important skill she said for when RTV students are competing for jobs.  “Our students shine because they have really strong production skills,” Sheridan boasted. 

Laura Adams, 39 of Nesconset, a camera operator and post production editor on the technically challenging four-camera shoot said the experience was both rewarding and invaluable.

“The partnership between Suffolk County Community College and The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office provided an amazing production experience for RTV students. Throughout our involvement, we were able to apply our skills, collaborate with talent, and gain an invaluable understanding of our chosen field of study,” Adams said.

Student Interns:

Laura Adams, Nesconset

Rob Scioscia, Mastic

Melina Williams, Centereach

Dylan Strickland, Medford

Henry Yanza, East Patchogue

Justin Rivera, Commack

Zachary Rodrigues, Lake Ronkonkoma