BUNNELL, FLa. – The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office welcomed eight new deputies to its ranks on Wednesday, March 3, 2016. The class included seven men and one woman. All eight will serve as deputies on road patrol in the Neighborhood Services Division.
There are now 192 sworn officers serving Flagler County. 148 are road deputies and 44 are detention deputies. Sheriff James L. Manfre performed the swearing-in ceremony. He wants the new deputies to be well-known in the community.
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“I’m very confident that each one of these new deputies will embrace this new vision,” Sheriff Manfre said. “This is not a job. It’s an avocation. Something you believe in your heart.”
The eight new deputies had to complete more than 700 hours of basic recruit training at a law enforcement academy before they could be sworn in.
The sheriff said he’s known one of the new deputies since 2000. Leland Dawson played baseball as an 8-year-old on the sheriff’s son’s team. Sheriff Manfre said while he was attending his son Alec’s baseball games he got to know Dawson’s family. Leland Dawson is now 25-years-old. His father worked for the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office from October 1998 to June 2003.