ADEL — About 60 people attended Thursday afternoon’s ceremonies in Dallas County Superior Court Room 300 to witness five promotions within the Dallas County Sheriff’s office and one swearing in of a new deputy sheriff.
Dallas County Sheriff Chad Leonard, flanked by his First Chief Deputy Doug Lande and Second Chief Deputy Adam Infante, welcomed the family, friends and well wishers attending the ceremonies.
Leonard praised the strength of his law-enforcement team and noted that with these promotions, “this is the first time in our history that we’ve been able to provide first-line supervision on every shift.”
The sheriff also thanked the Dallas County Board of Supervisors, with whose help “we’ve been able to accomplish this long-term goal of having supervision on both the jail and patrol on all three shifts,” Leonard said.
Leonard also described the rigorous process of earning a promotion within his office, saying “the deputies and jailers did a great job in the process, and the promotion is well deserved.”
In the Patrol Division of the Dallas County Sheriff’s office, two deputies were promoted to the rank of sergeant: Sgt. Tom Peterson and Sgt. Neal Vanderleest were sworn into office and received their regalia and certificates from Leonard, Lande and Infante.
Three staff members in the Jail Division of the Dallas County Sheriff’s office received promotions. Heather Renshaw-Roll was promoted from the rank of sergeant to lieutenant, and Darla O’Banion and Heidi McKibben were promoted from the rank of correctional officer to the rank of sergeant.
Family members of the promoted jailers shared the honor of bestowing the regalia.
Along with the five promotion ceremonies, Justin Adema was sworn in as a Dallas County Deputy Sheriff.
A reception followed the ceremonies, with refreshments served on the second floor of the Dallas County Courthouse.
The sheriff’s office currently has a staff of about 80 full-time and part-time employees.
