Ashley Hunter, ECB Publishing, Inc.
Earlier this year, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO) Captain Massey stepped down from his role in order to pursue the upcoming office of Sheriff. This left an empty spot within the sheriff's office.
Selected to fill the seat left empty by Massey is Monticello's born-and-raised Gerald Knetch.
Knetch has been in a law enforcement related field since 1995, when he started out in the Jefferson County Jail. In 1997, Knetch began working as a patrolman with the Monticello Police Department before he returned to serving Jefferson County as a deputy with the JCSO.
As one of the officers who was employed under Jefferson County's Sheriff David Hobbs, Knetch says he is pleased with the JCSO as a whole.
“We have a good Sheriff's Office here,” said Knetch. “I just want to continue with the Sheriff's Office that was under Hobbs and Capt. Massey and make sure everything is ran in a good way”
It is to those who came before him that Knetch gives all the credit. “I've been here a long time, I know the department and I grew up watching some really good people be in the role I am in now,” Knetch claims.
For Knetch, he says he entered law enforcement as an opportunity to help people. Every day in law enforcement is different from the days that follow or precede it.
Further, being in law enforcement gives Captain Knetch the opportunity to make a difference in his home town community.
“It's better to be a peace officer than a police officer,” he adds.
Personally, he finds the situations where he is able to directly help people, such as finding lost loved ones or reconnecting families, the most satisfying; during those moments, he says he finds the most satisfaction in his profession of choice.
In his future with the JCSO, Captain Knetch would like to see the Sheriff's Office get out more and provide more community-based services around the county, such as a neighborhood crime watch.
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