Members of the State's Security Guard Advisory Council are State officers or employees for the purposes of Public Officers Law §17

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Members of the State's Security Guard Advisory Council are State officers or employees for the purposes of Public Officers Law §17
Opinions of the Attorney General, Formal Opinion 2012- F2

Public Officers Law §17 provides for the defense and indemnification of State officers and employees sued in a civil action or proceeding in any state or federal court for acts or omissions involving the performance of their official duties.
The Attorney General has advised Gina L. Bianchi, Esq., DeputyCommissioner and Counsel, New York State’s Division of Criminal Justice Services, thatmembers of the Security Guard Advisory Council are State officers or employeesfor the purposes of Public Officers Law §17.
Presumably the same would be true with respect to the provisions of Public Officers Law §19's applicability  to such Council members. 
Public Officers Law §19 provides, in pertinent part, that it is “the duty of the state to pay reasonable attorneys' fees andlitigation expenses incurred by or on behalf of an employee in his or herdefense of a criminal proceeding in a state or federal court arising out of anyact which occurred while such employee was acting within the scope of his* public employment or duties upon his acquittal orupon the dismissal of the criminal charges against him.”
Withrespect to political subdivisions of the State, Public Officers Law §18 authorizes such entities, “by the adoption of local law,by-law, resolution, rule or regulation,” to provide for the defense and indemnification of its officers and employees in the event any such persons are sued in federal or state courts in a civil matter related to theperformance of their official duties.
* §22 of the General ConstructionLaw, in pertinent part, provides that “Whenever words of the masculineor feminine gender appear in any law, rule or regulation, unless the sense ofthe sentence indicates otherwise, they shall be deemed to refer to both male orfemale persons.”
The Attorney General's Opinion 2012-F2 is posted on theInternet as a PDF file at:http://www.ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/opinion/2012-f2pw.pdf