Raleigh sheriff promotes officers, learning new role
Feb. 2—In the midst of settling into his new role, Raleigh County's new Sheriff J.C. Canaday spent a small part of his day Wednesday doing one of the more enjoyable tasks that comes with the job: promoting officers.
"What we try to do with promotions, whenever we promote somebody, especially to corporal, we're starting to identify and begin to train the leadership of tomorrow," Canaday said, "and that's always very rewarding."
During a ceremony Wednesday in the upstairs courtroom of the Raleigh County Courthouse, Deputies S. McClure, J. Shrewsbury, J. Redden and B. Garrett were promoted to the rank of corporal and Lt. M. Webb was promoted to the rank of captain.
Having been with the Raleigh County sheriff's office for just over two decades, Canaday said he has been with some of these officers since the start of their careers.
"You have a hand in hiring these guys, straight on, and then watching them kind of go through the ranks," he said.
Canaday said he and Webb started out together as deputies for the Raleigh County sheriff's office.
"He had a couple of years on me, but we've worked together my entire career and his entire career through the (Raleigh County) sheriff's department," Canaday said. "And I told (Webb), you know, that was very rewarding as well, to see him make the captain rank, which is something that not everybody makes."
As one of three captains in the department, Canaday said Webb will oversee the courts, home confinement, writs and evidence.
Canaday said the promotions were because of needed adjustments to the department's rank structure that was in some part due to Canaday's own promotion to sheriff.
As part of that restructuring, Capt. L. Lilly took on Canaday's former role as chief deputy.
Raleigh County commissioners voted to name Canaday the new sheriff at the end of last year after the sheriff at the time, Scott Van Meter, was elected to the position of Raleigh County clerk in the state's 2022 general election.
Canaday will serve as sheriff for the next two years until county voters will be given the chance to vote for sheriff in the 2024 election.
Although Canaday is no stranger to the department, he said there were a few things he had to get used to when stepping into his new role as sheriff.
"Some of the more administrative tasks to the sheriff, I knew what they were, but, you know, getting in and actually doing them, there's been a little bit of learning process," he said.
"Previously I've only been exposed to the law enforcement side, but there's really a lot to it as sheriff," Canaday said."The sheriff's sometimes the conservator for protected people and the treasurer obviously, so taxes are a part of that and also county funds and things like that."
In addition to promotions, Canaday said the sheriff's department also plans to welcome new deputies to the force in the near future.
"We are slotted to have 58 (officers) and we have some openings," he said. "And we're going to be, hopefully in the next couple of months, we're going to be testing."
Applications to join the Raleigh County sheriff's office as a deputy are available in the Raleigh County Clerk's Office at the courthouse and at the Raleigh County Sheriff's Office at 201 S. Eisenhower Drive in Beckley.
More information about the job description and requirements can be found on the Raleigh County sheriff's office's Facebook page.
At some point, Canaday said new and existing officers with the department will be able to move into their new headquarters located in Pinecrest Industrial Park.
However, supply chain issues have continued to delay the construction process.
"We're still waiting on some things, glass (for windows) being one of them," Canaday said. "I think we're probably 85 to 90 percent done, but the other 10 to 15 percent that's out there, we just don't know — it might show up tomorrow or it could be next month."
Email: jmoore@register-herald.com
