The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office plans to hire four more deputies in November as the agency prepares to lose more than 170 years of combined experience at the end of the year.
Several leaders in the sheriff’s office will retire in December, and Sheriff Doug Cox hopes that hiring four new deputies and getting them through training before that happens will keep the number of law enforcement officers manning the streets the same.
“Seeing as how they will already be academy-trained, they will start the first of the year with their boots on the ground,” Cox said.
To replace the five retiring leaders — Cox, Chief Deputy Col. Randy Werden, Maj. Jerry Pickett, Maj. Bob Sexton and Lt. Eric Cox — the new sheriff will most likely pull four deputies off the street, Cox said. Getting four new deputies trained before then will help the sheriff’s office.
This is only the second time in the past 30 years that the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office has needed to hire more than two deputies at the same time, Cox said in a letter to the county council.
The Johnson County Council unanimously approved the request for $16,064, which will be used to pay those additional deputies while they undergo field training and shadow experienced deputies in November and December.
Cox, who did not seek re-election as sheriff because he was limited to two terms under state law, said he wanted to ensure the sheriff’s office was left with the resources necessary to serve the community.
“We want the citizens of Johnson County to remain as safe as possible during this transition,” Cox said in the letter to the council.
Salaries for those new deputies are already included in the 2019 budget, Cox said. The number of sheriff’s deputies employed by the county will not change.
Three of the four deputies Cox plans to hire have already graduated from the law enforcement academy, he said.
