The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is one of the largest and most highly trained law enforcement agencies in the County and includes several divisions and specialty units serving more than 900,000 residents with a staff of 130 law enforcement officers, 3 K-9s and 20 admin staff. The mission of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is to protect and serve a diverse community of residents by respecting and valuing diverse life experiences and heritages in order to ensure that all voices are valued and heard.
Sean Kilkenny was elected in 2015 and reelected in 2019. He is a retired LT Colonel in the Army having served 2 decades in the US Army and Army Reserves. Sean is married and has 2 daughters. He also runs a Law Practice.
I'm betting you might not know what a County Sheriff's Office actually does and what are its biggest challenges. Certainly, the biggest challenge they face are recruitment and retention. Unfortunately, the deputies are paid less than many local police throughout the County and they often leave for better paying jobs.
Some of the many divisions and duties within the department:
- CERT Team which handles high profile incidents
- K-9 Unit has 3 K-9s which work with other agencies on many shared operations.
- BOMB Unit has 9 Techs and robots (which can go a mile out from tech)
- Bike Control Unit
- Motorcycle Deputies
- Honor Guard (which recently won the State Competition)
- Ballot Security
- Training. Gun safety
- Warrant Division
- Transportation and Detention: Transport prisoners throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and perform extraditions from other states for court proceedings.
- Courts: Enforce court orders.
- Ensure safety within the Montgomery County Justice Complex.
- Civil: Serve all criminal and civil writs issued by the Courts.
- DUI: Assist other law enforcement agencies process DUI offenders.
- Real Estate: Conduct sales of real and personal property.
- Issue licenses to carry firearms.
- Assist local and regional law enforcement agencies during emergencies and apprehensions.
- The Sheriff's Office is called upon during riots, prison breaches, strikes and other emergencies which are or may be a breach of the peace.
There is much to learn about the County Sherrif's Department and its History.
Here are two links you might want to take a look at. Become informed!
1 Power Point Presentation PowerPoint Presentation (montcopa.org)
2 Website for Montco Sheriff's Department https://montcopa.org/428/About-the-Office
Thank you, Sean, for the interesting and informative talk. We hope you return again soon.