Sheriff's Office beefs up traffic division

The Monroe County Sheriff's Office continues to grow its ranks.

On Tuesday, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a request from Monroe County Sheriff Troy Goodnough to create two additional deputy sheriff positions. The newdeputies will be assigned to the Sheriff’s Office Traffic Services Division to help address growing traffic-relatedcomplaints.

Additionally, these deputies will patrol primary and secondary roads, perform accident prevention demonstrations and respond to traffic related calls for service.

On December 31, 2020, there were 76 certified deputies and command officers on the Sheriff’s Office roster, which represented 158,080 hours of boots on the street. Since January 1, 2021, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, along with Monroe Charter Township, Frenchtown Charter Township, Airport Community Schools, Ida Public Schools, Mason Consolidated Schools, Jefferson Schools and the Monroe County Intermediate School District approved the creation of additional positions.

Starting January 1, 2023, the Sheriff’s Office is approved for 89 certified deputies and command officers, which is a 14% increase from January 1, 2021. In addition to the new positions, in May of 2021, a number of the positions transitioned from eight hour shifts to twelve hour shifts, increasing the hours of boots on the street to 192,608 hours, an increase of 17%.

"The Sheriff would like to thank the Board of Commissioners for their continued support and shared vision and goals of the Sheriff’s Office," the sheriff's office said in a press release.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Sheriff's Office beefs up traffic division