DUBLIN, Ga. — Laurens County Sheriff Larry Dean took office in 2017 and is running for a third term this year.
He says he's proud that since he took office he increased manpower on the streets. He's also proud of a $7,000 pay raise he acquired for his starting deputies recently.
"I think we've made a lot of success with this sheriff's department here and I would like to continue the legacy that this sheriff's department has," Dean said.
He said one way he's trying to continue his legacy is by making the county safer. He said violent crime rates have gone down since he took office.
"I created a crime suppression unit to work along with our drug unit here in Laurens County," Dean said.
The unit works with the Atlanta Drug Force Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Dean said drugs are one of Laurens County's biggest problems, especially fentanyl. Another big problem is mental health, which is why he's increased training for officers by over a hundred hours.
He said when he took office, deputies were only required to complete about 20 to 25 training hours. Last year, he increased that number to 129 hours, and he is still looking to increase it more.
"Law enforcement officers are being critiqued so much harder nowadays, so the more training you can get at...you got your mental health issues. You got people with ADHD. You need- all these officers, an officer has just a matter of seconds to figure all this out. And you have to get these people in classrooms where they can understand this stuff because, like I said, mental health is a major issue in our county, and it's in every county," Dean said.
He's added seven school resource officers to have one in every single school and had about 65 teachers trained in taking down an armed intruder.
On top of increasing training for deputies, he hopes to bump up their pay again to be more competitive with Dublin Police.
"We don't wanna put a burden on the taxpayers of this county 'cause we just had a re-evaluation of our, of property in this county. But yes, I would like to see it go up, because we still are behind our sister agency in town," Dean said.
If re-elected, he wants to continue pro-active policing, by having deputies patrol neighborhoods and and take guns off the streets. He also wants to continue his department's working relationship with other agencies.
"We'll go and set up roadblocks with GSP, we'll go and set up roadblocks with our, with our cities officers. And just be pro-law enforcement. We just put blue lights up in your neighborhood. With the people out late at night, traveling, we just get out and do road checks," Dean said.
Before taking office, Dean spent three years with the Department of Corrections, and 25 years with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. He worked as a game warden and conservation ranger.
You can watch our full interview with Dean here.