MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — A fully-staffed drug unit and a new crime scene unit were included in Sheriff Brad Freeman's goals to accomplish before he took office a year ago.
He says, "With this, you can commit resources just to Monroe County. You don't have to be on somebody else's third or fourth string."
During his campaign, Freeman saw drugs as the county's biggest issue. In his first year, drug arrests went up significantly.
He says, "We're slowly chipping away at it and making good cases rather than just mass numbers."
Freeman made strides in the deputy shortage as well. He started out 15 short. Now, he has 6 spots to fill.
He says, "The word has gotten out that our pay is up through other agencies talking and just making the rounds that we've actually seen our applications increase."
The goal is to become fully-staffed, while still recruiting for future vacancies.
Freeman says, "It's great when somebody retires and you've got a pool of people that are great applicants and are sitting there waiting on a job and want to work here."
With a full year under his belt, Freeman is already looking on to the next.
He says, "You want everything to be as best as it can, and I think it has been very good, and hopefully next year will be even better."
In his next year as sheriff, Freeman wants to bring a K-9 unit solely assigned to the school system, to help identify any weapons that may sneak into schools.
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