(Council Bluffs) Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker has announced that he will not be seeking an 8th term as Pottawattamie County Sheriff.
On May 16th of this year, Sheriff Danker will have been employed by the Sheriff’s Office for 43-years. He was elected in 1992 and took office in January 1993. At the end of this term, Sheriff Danker will have been sheriff for 28-years.
“It’s just time for me to retire,” said Sheriff Danker. “It’s been an honor to be in this position, to serve the citizens of Pottawattamie County. I have been very blessed to have the staff that I’ve had through the years because that’s what really makes the job enjoyable is that you have staff that you can count on that are professional and do a good job and we have been very blessed to have an outstanding staff of people here in all areas.”
Sheriff Danker said the Sheriff’s Office has grown a huge amount since he was first elected.
“I think we had around 60 employees and now we’re over 200; we got a new jail, a bigger jail, which is not new now, it’s 20-years old; the Sheriff now has responsibility for the Communications Center; things have changed a lot through the years,” said Sheriff Danker.
Sheriff Danker said he has a lot of memories from over the years, but there is one that caused the biggest heartbreak for everybody on the Sheriff’s Office and in the County, “The loss of Mark Burbridge and Pat Morgan getting shot, that was very rough. But, it’s something that you go through a process and you grieve and you try to heal from this and move on. We never want to forget, but it’s something that you always hope never happens to any law enforcement agency.”
Sheriff Danker’s term is up at the end of December and then whoever is elected will take office the first part of January, 2021. Danker said he has no immediate plans following his retirement.
