Retiring for final time, Franklin County Sheriff Anthony supports Sites for job
Franklin County Sheriff Dane Anthony announced he will retire for good this year and will support Chief Deputy Ben Sites in the primary election.
Anthony said he has worked in the sheriff’s office for 29 years, 12 of them in separate terms as sheriff. He served as sheriff for eight years before retiring in 2016, then ran successfully against his replacement in 2019.
Anthony said he came out of retirement because he felt the policies and structure of the office were in “jeopardy” under then-Sheriff James Brown, and he had to get the office back on the path on which he left it.
The unexpected challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, plus an organizational overhaul and the move into the new judicial center, Anthony said, created some changes to his plan for his return as sheriff. However, collaboration between county government and the courts made for a successful term, he said.
Anthony said he will leave with a “genuine sense of accomplishment and pride.” He plans to stay involved, however, by serving with the Friends of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, a new nonprofit that supports the K-9 program and other initiatives not included in the general fund budget.
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Anthony supports Sites
As sheriff, Anthony hired Sites to the sheriff’s office in 2011. Sites, 33, previously ran for sheriff in 2015, but came in second to Brown in the four-way Republican primary.
According to Anthony, Sites already has the knowledge necessary to lead the sheriff’s office. He credited Sites for implementing training programs and working with him to restructure the office, cut overtime, install new technology and obtain the office’s first K-9.
Anthony’s announcement continued: “Sites has already begun recreating, workshopping, and refining the Office’s strategic plan, and has several major initiatives in his vision for the Office over what he hopes to be several terms in Office. One of these will come to fruition by summer of 2023 when the Sheriff’s Office will be the first Law Enforcement Agency in Franklin County with a certified UAS (Drone) program, all of which was made possible through Federal assistance Sites obtained.”
Sites serves as an instructor with the Pennsylvania Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff training academy and has developed a number of training programs in various law enforcement topics for Penn State and Temple Universities. He also serves on dozens of county and statewide committees that work to shape the future of public service.
For the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Sites created the Community Engagement Team in 2020. It recently received a national award.
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Sites graduated from Chambersburg Area Senior High School in 2007. He has a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in public administration from Shippensburg University. He volunteers with community organizations and serves on the board of directors for the Chambersburg Memorial YMCA and Franklin County Public Safety Training Center.
Sites lives in Greene Township with his wife, Hilary, and their two children.
This article originally appeared on Chambersburg Public Opinion: Franklin County Sheriff Dane Anthony to retire, supports Ben Sites
