The position of Chief Deputy has been reinstated for the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department. And the new Chief Deputy has been that 20 years experience in law enforcement. Sheriff Chris Smith has appointed Larry Halleman as his Chief Deputy, taking over a position that had been eliminated a few years back due to budget issues, but is now back with the latest budget for the department. Sheriff Smith talked about some of the duties of the Chief Deputy.
Halleman says he’s been in law enforcement for better than 22 years and has been at the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department for the past 17 years. He says going from colleague to supervisor will be a bit of a challenge for him.
Sheriff Smith says Fayette County was one of only a few counties in all of the state not to have a Chief Deputy. And, the Sheriff pointed out the other counties that didn’t have one are counties that don’t offer 24 hour service also didn’t have a full jail or have the volume of calls that Fayette County handles. Sheriff Smith says this will allow him some more opportunity to be able to work on some grant writing opportunities for the department.