AKRON, Ohio — There will be a new sheriff in town in Summit County, and this one is making history. When the votes were counted Tuesday night, Summit County voters elected Kandy Fatheree as their first female sheriff.
Fatheree has been in law enforcement for 28 years, with 25 of those years as a Summit County Sheriff's deputy. The last four she spent as a captain overseeing the civil division and the department's budget.
"I took the captain's test and became a captain four years ago yesterday, and exactly four years later, I would become Sheriff-Elect," said Fatheree.
This is not the first "first" in her career. When she started in law enforcement, she was the first female police officer for the Lakemore Police Department.
"It's not always friendly to females. There have been many bumpy roads along my career and to become the Sheriff-Elect, I don't think it's quite hit me yet," she said.
There are roughly 3,000 sheriffs across the country, and according to law enforcement statistics, less than 3% are women. Fatheree takes over at a turbulent time for law enforcement.
She said she has already started building relationships with community and faith-based leaders. "We want to work together to get to the very core of the problems," added Fatheree.
The current Summit County Sheriff, Steve Barry, is retiring at the end of the year. Fatheree takes over Monday, January 4, 2021.
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
