While many candidates have begun planning their campaigns for the 2022 election, Clay County Sheriff Bobby Deese won’t be among them.
This week, Deese announced he will not be seeking a second term as sheriff.
When asked if it was a difficult decision, Deese said the more he thought about it, the easier the decision was to make. “There were plenty of signs telling me it was the right decision,” he said.
“I thought about it for a while, but then I realized that being sheriff isn’t something you should think about, it’s something that requires no hesitation,” Deese said. “After spending most of my adult life in law enforcement serving others, I’m ready to slow down and focus on myself and retirement. With candidate filing in December, I decided to go ahead and announce now so anyone considering a bid at sheriff will have plenty of time to prepare.”
Deese said money and resources are among the biggest challenges the sheriff’s office faces. “We can’t compete with larger law enforcement agencies so its difficult to attract applicants and keep them. A small town has a small budget and its hard to stay current with the day to day needs of the agency,” he said.
Deese was elected in 2018 at the age of 44. The Republican candidate won the election by capturing about 56 percent of the votes in a race against Steve “Possum” Byers who ran as an unaffiliated candidate.
During his term Deese has focused on improving the office.
“We have completely restructured the entire sheriff’s office and made every effort to be more proactive, efficient and focus on community involvement,” he said. “Before I leave office I will release a year to year comparison in statistics as well as improvements and services provided by the sheriff’s office.”
When asked to explain misconceptions the public may have about the sheriff’s office, Deese said there are many things that go on behind the scenes that people don’t realize or would understand.
“There is a lot that happens the general public will never know about,” he said. “Some people don’t understand what goes into an investigation and think that criminal activity can be solved in a very short amount of time.”
What Deese said he will miss most about being sheriff is, “My staff and seeing the positive impact that we have made with people.”
What he will miss least? “The politics and the disloyalty and selfishness of people,” he said.
His advice to anyone considering becoming a candidate for sheriff in 2022 is simply, “Do it for the right reasons. Invest in the youth and don’t make it about yourself.”
While Deese is preparing to slow down a bit, he doesn’t plan to leave law enforcement entirely — at least not anytime soon.
“I will stay in law enforcement for a couple more years, then I will completely walk away from it and enjoy retirement,” he said.