Yesterday afternoon (Dec. 1), the Wright County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) conducted a swearing-in ceremony for 37 new employees – including the presentation of Challenge Coins and certificates by the WCSO Command Staff and the pinning of badges for deputies and correctional officers.
The 37 employees included 18 deputies, seven correctional officers, five communications officers, four support staff and one computer forensic specialist, technical application specialist and park ranger.
Wright County Sheriff Sean Deringer said he was in awe of the standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 people who witnessed the swearing-in at the Wright County Board Room. In his four years as sheriff, Deringer has overseen these ceremonies before and they’re always extremely special and personal to him.
“This is one of the days that we cherish as an organization,” Deringer said. “Not only were we honoring the new employees coming into our work family, it was overwhelming to come to the podium and look out at more than 200 people – most of them friends and family members of the 37 men and women that we were swearing in. It is so humbling to be in the position that we’re in today and this is why it matters. Is our line of work hard? Yes. Is it worth it? You bet it’s worth it.”
Deringer told the new employees there were four basic qualities necessary for the men and women of the WCSO – to do everything legal, do everything ethical, be a good partner and treat all people with dignity and respect. He told the new employees if they do those four simple things, he and the rest of the WCSO will always have their backs.
Deringer stressed family often during the presentation – the personal families that each of the new employees brings with them to the job and the work family they are becoming a part of. He stressed that there has to be a balance maintained between the two and advised the new employees to never lose sight of the priority the families at home play in being successful in the law enforcement profession.
“It all comes down to prioritizing your home family,” Deringer said. “If your home family is not healthy, nothing in the world is right. I want them to recognize that I know that because they will be pulled away from their families often in this line of work and they need to know that we respect and understand the need to keep their home families healthy.”
Deringer said he looks forward to many more swearing-in ceremonies at the Wright County Government Center, as opposed to the out-building of the Sheriff’s Office, which was little more than a glorified pole shed.
He felt the ceremony got the respect it was due in new surroundings, where family, friends and members of the WCSO family could gather together to witness the beginnings of what he hopes will be careers as long as the one he has enjoyed.
“It’s always gratifying to see the faces of the new people coming into our office,” Deringer said. “You can see the excitement that they have for starting a career that they hope – and we hope – will be a long career with the Wright County Sheriff’s Office. I was in their shoes many years ago with the same hopes. It really gets to your heart when see the dedication it took to get to this point and the careers these men and women are going to have now and long after I’m no longer sheriff.”