GRADUATION DAY … Williams County Sheriff Tom Kochert posed proudly, following his graduation in February 2021 from the Ohio Attorney General’s Newly Elected Sheriffs’ Academy, with Sheriff Keith Everhart (on left) and Ohio AG Dave Yost. Everhart is the President of the Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association, which hosted the course. The picture was taken of Kochert holding his Graduation Certificate with the two men, in Columbus at the Crowne Plaza Hotel North after the Graduation Ceremony. (Photo courtesy of Sheriff Thomas Kochert)
By: Rebecca Miller
Sheriff Tom Kochert had an interesting, long, spread out beginning as the Williams County Sheriff, with some challenges along the way.
It feels like he has been the county sheriff for quite a while because he was appointed by the Commissioners after the Primary election in May 2020, and sworn in on June 9, 2020.
Even though he was in the office which had been vacated by Steve Towns and filled temporarily by Gary Mohre, he still had to run in the General Election, against Gary Mohre who also chose to run, and Kochert was elected in November 2020.
Newly elected officials are sworn in during the January following the election, so Kochert’s most recent official act was being sworn in on January 4, 2021.
The past six weeks have continued to be as busy as the first six months were, with some events occurring due to his officially being elected. Every new Sheriff in Ohio is required to attend the Ohio Attorney General’s Newly Elected Sheriffs’ Academy and even with Covid messing with the schedule, it is still required.
It is held in Columbus at the Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association. “Every Sheriff in Ohio is a member in the BSSA, as are deputies, and it provides invaluable services to every Sheriff’s office in Ohio,” Kochert said in a phone interview. “BSSA has tremendous lobbying power with quite a voice in the legislature.”
The OAG’s Academy is a three week course and the sheriffs stay there for it. Normally they do two weeks immediately after they are elected and one week after they are sworn in, but with the COVID pandemic messing up just about everything, it also messed up the schedule for this year’s Academy.
Kochert and all the other newly elected Sheriffs did one week in December 2020, the second week was in January 2021 after they were sworn in, and the third week was in February 2021. The course is offered through OPOTA, the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy.
“It was a little different for us,” Kochert said, “because the continuity was broken, but it was 8 hrs a day of classroom instruction from tenured sheriffs, those with three or more terms. The Attorney General himself, Dave Yost, taught one. Keith Faber, the Ohio State Auditor taught a couple.
The director of the Ohio Prison System, (or the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction), Annette Chambers-Smith, taught one.
“There was so much. So many different teachers came and taught…Police, resource agencies, some from OPOTA for the classes on Use of Force and Deadly Force Updates.
So many different topics were covered – courts, protection orders, whole days on junkyards, scrapyards and abandoned vehicles, permits, processes, sheriff sales and auctions, and others I can’t think of without looking at the Syllabus.”
As a result, Sheriff Kochert is now qualified for Certified Law Enforcement Manager. The BSSA offer re-awards each year to keep learning.
Everything he learned will be needed and will be used during his time as Sheriff, which he hopes and plans to be for eight years.
Williams County is a member of CCNO (Correctional Center of Northwest Ohio) so Kochert sits on the control board and meets monthly with the director. He is also on the Board of the Multi Area Narcotics Task Force (MAN Task Force) that covers six counties.
PACT, Protecting All Children Taskforce, is another group of which he is a part, with Job and Family Services Director Fred Lord, Judge Karen Gallagher, Williams County Prosecutor Katie Zartman, and Commissioner Brian Davis.
Being Sheriff is a job of extreme multi tasking, and Kochert loves it all. It requires a lot of hours and he finds himself usually putting in 12 to 13 hours a day.
He shared that former Williams County Sheriff Al Word told him, when he was running, “You have no idea how many hours you are going to work!”
“And he was right,” Kochert said with a laugh. “We are not mandated to work a certain amount of hours, but basically it never stops. Normally a 12 hour day and then you are on standby all the time with your phone, for questions or advice, or to come and help with specific situations.”
“The supervisors have been given plenty of power on their shift, but they know to call me for gray areas. “
“They are exceptional at running it up the chain. Chief Deputy Jeff Lehman is doing a great job, too. He is phenomenal. He gives great advice and he and the deputies are all flowing well in their jobs.”
Everyone in the department is “all on the same team and working together really well. They are responding well to the new administration. The judge has commented on the number of indictments and the case loads they are bringing in, and that they are being done well.
This is possible greatly in part to the hiring of the Detectives. The value of having Detectives has been amazingly helpful to assimilate crimes more quickly.
The number of open cases in the second shift is lower than it has been in years, but the number of indictments is going up which means we are solving cases, getting them to a prosecutor in a timely manner, and people are getting indicted.
The Permanent Zones for Patrol officers are in the works and will probably begin as early as this summer. It was hard to get enough deputies to cover three permanent zones. But they are soon going to have enough.
They have just hired two new ones who are in training. Mileage is going down and the amount of time that they have available to patrol has grown. People are calling to say they like having them patrolling more. Adding the Detectives took that time off the Road patrols.
Having permanent zones will make it possible for each deputy to really get to know the area and the people where they patrol as well as keeping them from needing to drive all over the county during a shift.
Kochert spoke often during his campaign about the need for training and he has gotten that ball rolling. One of the newer set ups is called Roll Call Training.
Officers come in a little earlier on a training day and those on shift leave just a little later. During that overlap of the two shifts, they use that hour for training from all kinds of sources. It has been successful and the deputies appear to like it.
“It is an informal setting to talk and ask questions, a non hostile environment where they can share their concerns and the speaker/teacher can as well. These are being held about once every four to six weeks.
Several area police departments are working with the Sheriff’s Department and “the cooperation has been incredible,” he said. Starting on March 1, 2021, there will a Sheriff deputy in JFS, with an office there.
The Deputy will work for the Sheriff, but will be attending any meetings where needed. They will be assisting as a liaison with other law enforcement agencies in the county also.
Fred Lord and Sheriff Kochert wrote the job description together and PACT helped formulate how it will work.
The five new cars are almost ready to hit the road. He was able to purchase brand new radar units to be installed in all of the new vehicles and at least one of those will be on each shift.
Some new work stations have been purchased for the office and for the substations. The Montpelier Substation will make it easier for the deputies to cut down on mileage as they can do there what they would normally do in the office in Bryan.
Two area pastors, Dan Fernihough from New Hope in Bryan and Ben Harris from House of Prayer in Montpelier have agreed to be chaplains. Both will be attending the International Association of Police Chaplains Certification program in Indiana for four days.
This will certify them in all areas of police chaplaincy.
They will help with counseling for the deputies after use of force, any substance abuse they may struggle with, and any other counseling needs they may have.
They will go with the officers to notify next of kin when needed. They will be sworn in and have a uniform as Sheriff Chaplains for ride alongs, attending trainings, and hanging around so the deputies get to know them.
“It should be a great addition,” Kochert said. “They are the relaxed type of clergy and will fit right in with the guys around this “cop shop”. With all the office has been through there are some guys who need that opportunity.”
One last thing he mentioned before the end of the interview was that he has revitalized the drone program. “A lot of new things are coming down the pike.”
Rebecca can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter