Sheriff Jeff Jaeger announces his bid for re-election as Lincoln County Sheriff. Jaeger, a 34-year veteran of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office has served in many capacities within the agency. Beginning his career in 1980 as a Deputy Sheriff, he spent his first years assigned to the jail and dispatch and was then promoted to a patrol position in 1985. In 1997 he was promoted to the rank of Patrol Lieutenant. Sheriff Jaeger also served 15 years as a member of the Lincoln County Special Response Team (SWAT) and 13 years as a DARE Officer. In 2006, he was elected to his current position as Sheriff.
A primary focus for Sheriff Jaeger has been on making the Sheriff’s Office more efficient in serving the public and arresting criminals. To that end, Sheriff Jaeger implemented a case by case tracking system for all criminal cases to ensure each case is properly followed through the system; Sheriff Jaeger also re-structured investigative policies and procedures to focus resources on more serious crimes.
“Tracking each case in this way allows us to make sure victims don’t feel forgotten and dramatically increases our chances of making an arrest in cases that require it,” Jaeger said.
Additionally, he has assigned an officer to a full time drug investigator position enabling that person to focus only on drug crimes and to work with surrounding agencies drug units. The result of that has been impressive, including an unprecedented 22 Federal indictments for meth related crimes.
Sheriff Jaeger is also responsible for operating the Lincoln County Jail and has implemented many cost saving measures there to include, medical billing for inmates, booking fees and privatization of food services. He also offers HSED and AODA classes for inmates inside the jail. Not only does this provide some form of rehabilitation but it also saves tax dollars as these classes previously meant overtime travel for officers. Those steps alone have saved Lincoln County hundreds of thousands of dollars since their inception. Jaeger has made it a priority to collect from law breakers that use our system. That, along with the utilization of other resources has resulted in an otherwise unrealized income to Lincoln County in the amount of 3.2 million dollars since January of 2010. Criminals that use our system should be the primary payers, not the law abiding citizen Jaeger says.
“ Moving forward, we will continue to seek fiscal efficiencies which will allow us a platform to continue our efforts in all facets of law enforcement,” Jeager said. “While minding the dollars and cents of the Sheriff’s Office is an important and necessary duty of the Sheriff, the protection of the citizens of Lincoln County will always be my first priority.”
Sheriff Jaeger says community support and support from my staff for what we have done and where we are as a leading law enforcement agency continues to be overwhelming. I am honored to serve as your Sheriff and will continue to provide Lincoln County with a professional and accountable Sheriff’s Office.
Outside of work, Sheriff Jaeger and his wife Tracey enjoy four wheeling, fishing, motorcycling and spending time with their family and friends, dogs and rescued horses.