Stanwick won't run for Sheriff again

BROOKINGS — After seven terms as Brookings County Sheriff — and nearly 50 years in law enforcement in Brookings — Marty Stanwick has decided to retire from his office when his term finishes in January, he told The Brookings Beacon.

Stanwick, who spent nearly 21 years with the Brookings Police Department before running for sheriff and holding the office for 28 years, said it was simply time.

“I just thought it was probably time to make a change,” he said. “One of the things is, I’ve got a new granddaughter, so I want to spend time with her, spend some more time with family, and do the things I haven’t had the chance to do, you know?

“I have two daughters, and, well, all they know me is through police work,” Stanwick said. “I didn’t always have time to spend a lot of time with them because I was busy. A lot of times I was working when they were having events and things like that. So I want to make sure I spend time with my granddaughter.”

With Stanwick stepping aside, Brookings County will have a wide open race for sheriff for the first time in a generation. Three candidates have declared intentions to run, including: Shawn Hostler, a Brookings County commissioner who is running in the Republican primary; Dave Biteler, the current assistant sheriff under Stanwick, who is also running as a Republican; and Sgt. Manny Langstraat, who also works for the Sheriff’s Office and will run as an independent.

Stanwick said he was likely to endorse a candidate to succeed him, but he would wait until after the June primaries to make that choice public.

In South Dakota, county sheriffs are directly elected and statutorily responsible for law enforcement in their respective counties.

The Brookings County Sheriff provides an array of law enforcement services, including running the Brookings County Detention Center, providing law enforcement by contract to smaller towns in the county, serving and processing warrants, civil service and other duties as officers of the court. The Brookings County Sheriff’s Office has around 20 full-time personnel, including deputies, corrections officers and staff.

The primaries this year are June 2, with the general election falling on Nov. 3. Stanwick will remain sheriff until the first county commission meeting in Jan. of 2027, when his successor will be sworn in.

Stanwick pointed out two large factors that changed the job during his long tenure in police work in the county: Technology and a recent loss of trust in police.

“Attitudes towards the police — a lot of that changed after George Floyd, in that, nationwide, you know, we kind of lost the respect of the public, and that’s something that we’ve got to try to get back, is to trust the police. They just don’t trust us as much — and so it’s also harder to retain officers or get the officers, too,” Stanwick said.

He also said rapidly advancing technology — especially software and other products such as body cameras and their archiving systems — present budget challenges, especially to smaller, county departments, including sheriff’s offices.

“I’ve always been budget conscious, you know, and so we can maintain, because you never know when budgets will be cut on that type of stuff, and then we try to maintain the same services, but it doesn’t always add up,” he said.

The other challenge for his successor, Stanwick said, will be recruiting and training staff.

“We have more and more dealings with people who have mental illness and addiction-type situations, you know — you have to make sure our officers are trained to handle those types of situations and things like that,”

In the broad sense, Stanwick also added he would like to see a future sheriff continue with a community policing model — which is both a trendy term in law enforcement, but also a throwback to the old days in Brookings County, when a prime anti-drunk driving action might have been offering rides home.

“I think they just need to make sure that they continue to be a proactive rather than reactive,” Stanwick said.

“A lot of times when we react, we’re too reactive right after things. So try to be more proactive and continue with that. You know, try to prevent traffic crashes and so forth.”

Stanwick offered specific examples of that kind of police work, citing dressing up intersections where citizens complain drivers blow stop signs, equipping deputies with the technology to contact mental health professionals when needed and trying to get information about known telephone and internet scams out to residents as quickly as possible.

He also championed the role of an engaged elected sheriff in the county.

“I think transparency is the glue,” Stanwick said. “I tried to do public meetings and things like that, make sure that we communicate with not just the council people and commissioners, but with the public at large. you know.

“I hope that the next sheriff will continue trying to promote talking about the scams, and just those communications in general. I think it’s important to educate and communicate in this role,” he said.

It’s no coincidence, either, that the gregarious Stanwick said he would miss chatting with people the most when he left the sheriff’s office.

“I’ll probably miss the people the most,” he said. “Just getting out in the community. I have an open-door policy. So a lot of times people will come see me and visit about issues.

And sometimes they just come in to shoot the breeze. So I hope the next sheriff will continue to have that open door and not be closed off.”

Linehan is the Beacon’s managing editor and welcomes tips and comments at BrookingsBeacon@gmail.com