I used to live in Dawson County and was a deputy there for a little while. I feel that the board of commissioners is doing an injustice to the citizens of the great county by not supporting your sheriff.

When I worked there we ran four deputies for the whole county and city. When one of us got a hot call the closest would start easing toward that call and the others would back off being proactive in the zones that they were working. So basically one zone lost coverage so the deputy that was on the hot call had back up coming and the other two zones lost a proactive officer because we knew if we got into a situation where we needed backup, we could be without. Day shift: If you had court then the county was down an officer. Night shift: If you had court that day you just had to suck it up and try and stay awake.

Good thing I'm not the judge on the case. My verdict would be by the end of the year (2018) the sheriff's office must fill all the positions that was on the 2015 study and in 2019 another study to be done and the county would have to meet that study by the end of 2021.

Your great county deserves the best protection and the deputies there need the support of the BOC to help ensure they can give you their best as they put their lives on the line.

Hamp Phillips

Milton