I am writing to encourage your consideration and recommendation to vote for police Captain Marty Sawyer as our next Aiken County Sheriff. I have met a very pleasant Marty several times over the past 20 years, and each time you cannot leave that meeting without an understanding of the passion he has for serving both our city and our county of Aiken.
I recently spent more time with Marty to specifically understand him both more personally and to learn what drives him to aspire to be our next sheriff. His three priorities are unique and include the meany reasons I am writing to the Aiken County residents and its Aiken Standard readers.
Marty believes all employees at the sheriff’s office are his No. 1 priority and commitment. He explained the better product of employees he can help produce, the better deputy we get when we call for the sheriff’s office assistance.
There are four ways he plans to make these employees his priority: (1) better training and equipment; (2) improve his deputies’ physical fitness so they are more likely to hold their own in a fight or physically strenuous situation. He believes, “the better your physical shape, the better mentally you are as well.” He will be asking County Council for additional financial support to fund his physical fitness incentives to most importantly (3) help improve all our deputies, dispatchers, and jail personnel’s mental fitness. He will also require all certified officers, detention center employees and dispatchers to attend a yearly mental health checkup. More specifically, and after they have experienced a critical event, he will further have them attend an after-action debriefing.
His second priority is increasing the transparency between the sheriff’s office and the community, furthered by his third priority of regular community engagement. Marty and the sheriff’s office cannot make Aiken County a safer place without the community’s help. The community and the sheriff’s office must collaborate with community groups, prosecutors, and judges to keep Aiken safe.
Current research finds the management and culture of a department are the most crucial factors influencing police behavior. How the department is managed will dramatically affect how officers behave toward citizens. And how officers behave toward citizens will affect whether citizens view law enforcement as an institution with integrity.
Please join me in supporting and voting for Marty Sawyer on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
Rhett N. Sinclair
Aiken
