HANCOCK COUNTY, W.Va. — Scott Gittings will seek a second term as Hancock County Sheriff to continue moving the agency forward.

The agency oversees most of the remaining county’s areas except the cities of Chester and Weirton.

One of Gittings’ main goals was to tweak the drug interdiction policies to not only more actively target dealers but to focus more on community additional prevention efforts, especially at the elementary school level.

The office cut one school resource officer for Weirton, but still has six assigned throughout the county. Weirton now provides one resource officer for all their city’s schools.

Technology also was a major focus of his administration’s attention. In fact, his office just received $560,000 in funds to purchase and outfit three new vehicles, 25 new body and 25 new dash cameras as well as install a new conference/training room.

Gittings explained, “It just upgrades our current cameras. Technology passes everything very fast. They’ll tie in together better. The car camera and the body camera will work as one, it will be easier for us to pull up online compared to our old system.”

Not only do body cameras provide transparency while deputies assist the public, the technology offers real-time information when mounted on an officer’s eyeglasses or chest area. The footage can reveal the officer’s view being offered to increase understanding of corroborating evidence, according to an article published by the National Institute of Justice.

“It’s important for everybody, for deputies to have them because you can’t dispute anything that happens on film,” Gittings said. “So, they have it, it’s there. It’s good for everybody.”

Gittings expects the cameras within three months.

Before taking office in 2021, he previously had served as deputy chief of the Chester Police Department, chief for the city of New Cumberland and also with the sheriff’s office, including as a canine handler.

Due to his history as a K9 officer, Gittings has a special fondness for the program. Currently Hancock County has two active K9 dual-purpose teams and is in the process of adding a third. “The handler is away at training right now, and we hope to add a fourth dog and handler later this year,” he added.

Dual-purpose canines are trained not only for narcotics detection, one of Gittings’ foci during his first term, but also patrol.

He credits Hancock County commissioners for their assistance to move the department forward, including boosting salaries for officers to a competitive level and improving benefits to help draw talent. While other police departments find them struggling for openings, Gittings said that Hancock County routinely has good response to its vacancies.

To file, candidates must have their petitions by midnight Saturday, Jan. 27 to run in the primary election set for Tuesday, May 14.