(Pictured left to right Undersheriff Greg Walker, Deputy Brian Thompson and Sheriff Bill Sheron)
“I believe God is calling me to reach people in the community before handcuffs,” says Deputy Brian Thompson during his retirement get together at the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday afternoon.
Thompson says watching so many deaths due to Opiod abuse and so many young people dying has affected him.
“I didn’t feel I was personally reaching people, it is too late when they are 39-45 and they are dying left and right.”
Thompson says he hopes to reach out to many different people after retirement through the Genesee Country Church in Oakfield. He also hopes to reach out by starting a ministry in the jail and helping fellow corrections officers and police officers. He feels that police officers talk to other police officers because they know where they have been.
“I think it opens up an opportunity to share my heart to them in a different way by being retired, I’m outside of the office kinda, but still understand what they are going through.”
Truth is what people are looking for says Thompson.
“They are looking for truth, but looking for it in the falseness of a needle, trying to find it in the falseness of escape, trying to find it in the falseness of escaping pain, pain is a reality, it allows us no where left to go, when we try to escape it, it comes with death.”
Thompson believes there is already enough things going on in our community to assist people. “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, we need to help one another.”
“I think there is an opportunity out there right now to reach young people and people who are in these situations and tell them they are special and unique and they are made in the image of God.”
“That’s what caused me to say enough is enough, I’m going to put down this part of my life and go out and serve full time.”
(Thompson with Jail Superintendent William Zipfel)
Thompson who started as a corrections officer in November of 1991, was appointed to Deputy Sheriff in August of 1993 and served in road patrol and the Drug Task Force. Thompson also re-started the Sheriff’s Department K-9 program again in 1999 with help from former Sheriff Maha and the community who helped raise funds for the program and to buy a dog.
“K-9 was just a dream I had while serving as a US Army Military Police Officer in three years of active duty, I thought it would never happen in the civilian world because K-9 is so small.”
Besides his active duty, Thompson also served 5 years with the National Guard in Saudi Arabia in Dessert Shield and Storm. He says he learned a lot about himself and different cultures and about being away from home.
In January of 2014, Thompson would have to give up the job as K-9 Officer after being injured during a traffic stop. Thompson’s life changed a bit when he got tangled up with Parolee Scott Kopper on Rt. 33 in Corfu.
“Scott got caught up in the fight or flight syndrome and I tried to stop him and take the keys to his car during the stop, my arm got caught in his window and he put the window up and dragged me up and down the road. Thankfully, two wonderful truck drivers came along and saved my life, I am very thankful for them.”
Kopper is serving a 7 year prison term for assault after the incident.
Thompson says he hopes to have a friendship or relationship with Kopper when he gets out of prison.
After the the assault, Thompson says he went to work in the courthouse which has been a sort of recovery time for him.
“When I started at the court house it was more of chance to heal and my hips were bothering me from being dragged up and down the road.”
But after a while Thompson says he began to understand the aspect of law enforcement behind the scenes in dealing with the Public Defenders Office, the DA’s Office and the people behind the scenes in County and Family court.
“All they do, I had no idea, they are very under appreciated.”
Thompson says he plans to keep law enforcement status by working security in some of the smaller courts in the area and as a seasonal extra help for Darien Lake concert dates with the Sheriff’s Office.
“Many of our retires are coming back to fill in and then they maintain their status for two years,” says Sheriff Sheron.
The Sheriff’s Office has lost a third of their workforce in the past two years due to recent retirements. The department is in the midst of interviewing candidates and putting them through the the steps and then hoping to get them to school by September 11th. The whole process to get a a new deputy on board takes about a year.
“Brian was a class act, he is the most honest, trustworthy, hard working individual that I think I have ever known, very proud to have him with us,” says Sheriff Sheron.
Sheron believes the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office is like a family.
Retired Warrant Officer Eric Olson, who retired in 2012 after 37 years, was on hand today to wish Thompson luck. Olson has been someone Thompson can call when there is a question over the years.
“He’s a 3 o’clock in the morning type person, If you call Brian at 3 a.m. and needed help he wouldn’t miss it,” say Olson.
Olson says Thompson is a profound man of faith, “Never heard him swear, never not a cuss word out of him, he was always there.”
“Brian is a very caring person and he cares about citizens and his fellow workers, he is member of our family and he is moving on but he will always be a member of our family here,” says Sheriff Sheron.
“He’s going to be missed, those are big shoes that are going to have to be filled.”