Lenawee County Sheriff's Office continues to focus on recruitment, retention in 2023

ADRIAN — Recruitment and retention of officers continues to be a challenge for the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office as it sets its objectives for 2023.

“Not surprisingly, one of the main goals is still hiring and retention and recruiting,” Sheriff Troy Bevier said. “This will be an ongoing effort. It's what we’ll be doing from now on, is always being in one stage or another in hiring.”

The office is down three positions at the jail, but has three good applicants who are currently in the background check phase. It is also down two positions in dispatch, but has two good applicants, Bevier said.

Road patrol is full now but there are pending retirements. Also, road patrol is losing two deputies who are under contract as school resource officers, one with Addison Community Schools and the other with the Madison School District. As a result, the office may be requesting the Lenawee County Commission to add a couple of road patrol positions down the road, Bevier said.

The office recently had two retirements, one from the jail and one from dispatch, with one who is coming from road patrol in February. Another road patrol deputy will be meeting the time requirement for retirement, so the office is preparing for that slot as well, Bevier said.

“That’s totally up to the employee, but we like to be prepared just in case. They’ll have the amount of time, and they qualify for retirement, and it will just be whether they decide to retire or not,” Bevier said.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee County sheriff: Top goal for 2023 is recruitment, retention