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Sheriff retiring, moving on to Border Patrol

Hill County Sheriff Don Brostrom is retiring from the sheriff's office after more than 28 years in law enforcement and nine as sheriff, but he has no plans to stay idle for long.

After his going-away party March 31, he will take the weekend off and then start his new job as a law enforcement communications assistant for U.S. Border Patrol, where he will work in the dispatch center.

The job was almost an accident, he said. It started when he was helping Border Patrol with a radio problem.

"Their technician called and asked if I could come up there and help them with one of their radios," Brostrom said. "And someone up there mentioned they were hiring and said I should apply."

He said he did not take the suggestion seriously until after having a conversation with his wife. He applied to Border Patrol in November and found out in February he would be working for the federal government.

Brostrom was appointed as Hill County sheriff in September 2008. He ran and won in 2010 and 2014.

"Nobody filed against me. I talked to a buddy of mine and he says, 'How did the election go?' I said, 'Good, I got 100 percent of the vote. Nobody filed against me," he said.

Since 1998 when he took over as undersheriff, Brostrom has aggressively obtained almost $3.5 million in 48 grants for the county.

"I pretty much applied for everything that came across my desk. You apply for 10 and you get two or three," he said.

A good portion of that, more than $1.6 million, has been for interoperability, money for radios and communications infrastructure. Radio communications is dear and personal to Brostrom.

"I can tell you one of the worst moments in my life was being on First Street North, and getting my backside handed to me by a guy that was being arrested that didn't want to be arrested. And I call for backup to the sheriff's office - and mind you, I am just over the viaduct, six, eight blocks from the sheriff's office - and nobody can hear me because our repeater was down," he said.

"I was on my hand-held radio calling for backup - 'I need backup, I need backup' - and I'm fighting with this guy trying to arrest him and it's going from bad to worst. The only thing that saved me was one of the neighbors called. I think this was prior to even the implementation of 911. Someone called the office and said, 'You better get somebody over here, your deputy is getting beat up.' And of course, Tim (Solomon) came around and helped out."

Brostrom said that was when he made a promise to himself.

"The radios we had at the time were old highway patrol radios," he said. "So the radios we had in our cars were probably already 15, 20 years old when we got them. So that was always a promise I made to myself. 'If I ever get to a point of being in charge of anything around here, I'm going to try and get a better radio system.' So we've taken that C-minus system and now it's an A-plus-plus system."

He said he has learned lots of things during his time, being responsible with tax money being one of those things.

"Tim Solomon was probably one of the most frugal guys I ever knew with a budget. He was very responsible with taxpayer money, and that's something I learned from Tim," he said. "And I felt I've always been very responsible with the county dollars that come in, and even with the grant money that comes in. When we put in for a grant, we buy stuff that we truly need. ... There's stuff I purchased years ago that deputies are still using, equipment that we wouldn't have gotten at a local budget."

Leaving the sheriff's office is emotionally paradoxical, he said, adding that he is sad, excited and happy all the same. What he said he knows for sure is that he will miss the people he works with the most.

"Over my career, I've worked with some of the greatest people. We had Monte Reichelt - he was a chief deputy. Dana Roe, chief deputy at the time. Some of the old-time sergeants at the PD, Mike Ritz, Gene Stimson, Kenny Kooch. As young deputies, we learned a lot from those guys because they kind of took us under their wings to make sure we didn't get hurt or screw up," he said.

"And then just everybody I've worked with over the years." he added. "I have some of the greatest staff today. I can walk out of here and not worry about a thing 'cause I got a good undersheriff, a great chief deputy, Stan Martin."

Brostrom said he is confident the office is being left in good hands. Jamie Ross has been appointed next sheriff by the commissioners and will be sworn in March 23.

"Jamie's done every job here," he said. "He's done every job and knows how to do every job, so I have every confidence he'll do well."

 

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