Q&A with Aiken County Sheriff Candidate Marty Sawyer | Aiken Area News

Marty Sawyer is running for Aiken County Sheriff.

The current sheriff, Michael Hunt, announced in early 2023 that he would not seek re-election.

Sawyer's opponents in the June 11 Republican primary are Stuart Prettel and Ed Wilson.

Sawyer has nearly 40 years of public service experience.

In 1985, he joined the Graniteville-Vaucluse-Warrenville volunteer firefighters. He was a captain when he left the fire service in 2000.

Sawyer became a public safety officer with the Aiken Department of Public Safety in 1989. He worked in the patrol division for eight years.

After assignments in the special operations and narcotics divisions, as well as the ATF RAGE task force, Sawyer was promoted to captain of investigations in 2012.

His duties as captain include overseeing adult and juvenile investigations, narcotics investigations, victim services, property and evidence, and school resource officers.

Sawyer received the Medal of Valor from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Association in 2012 and was named the CSRA Narcotics Officer of the Year.

The Aiken Department of Public Safety awarded Sawyer the Medal of Valor in 2012 and the Distinguished Service Award in 2015. He was named Officer of the Year in 1994.

In 2016, Sawyer was selected to attend the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Sawyer and his wife, Kimberly, have two daughters and are members of St. John's United Methodist Church in Aiken.

Why do you want to be sheriff of Aiken County?

I saw crime skyrocketing everywhere. I have the desire and experience to make and keep Aiken a safer place. I am the only candidate who has been a Class 1 Police Officer since 1992 and is capable of taking the Sheriff's Office in the direction it needs to go.

What do you believe is Aiken County's biggest law enforcement challenge and what do you plan to do about it?