Sheriffs head back to class

West Virginia’s sheriffs got a chance to head back to the classroom this week. The West Virginia Sheriffs’ Association held a 2-day ‘New Sheriff School.’

There are 35 brand new sheriffs in West Virginia. Twenty-three of them, plus 8 current sheriffs, attended the event to learn all about the job and brush up on some skills.

Rudi Raynes-Kidder, the executive Director of the WVSA says many sheriffs have a background in law enforcement but not all.

“The job encompasses so much more than that. They have to learn how to prepare a budget, how to work in the tax office, how to train their tax deputies, how to train their law enforcement deputies,” stresses Raynes-Kidder.

On Monday and Tuesday the sheriffs got a crash course in Sheriff 101.

“The sheriff has to wear many different hats. They truly are real Renaissance..I would say Renaissance men but we have one female now too,” says Raynes-Kidder.

Sonya Porter is the new sheriff in Logan County with 19-years service in law enforcement. Raynes-Kidder says there’s also a former contractor, Preston County’s Dallas Wolfe III and a son following in his father’s footsteps. Adam Gissy of Lewis County is just 28 and took the place of his dad former sheriff Michael Gissy.

Raynes-Kidder says the New Sheriffs School gives the law enforcement leaders a brief overview of what they’ll be doing over the next four years and people to contact when they have questions.