New Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has announced the appointment of Montgomery County Sheriff Hank Partin to the state parole board.
Partin has over 40 years in law enforcement and military experience and has been outspoken in the way the Virginia Parole Board has conducted business under Youngkin’s predecessor.
“I think the appointment is very important not just for myself but for the entire parole board to try and repair some of the damage to the trust and reputation of the board,” Partin said. “I do think this parole board is going to step it up. Not just a notch, but a mountain.”
Partin served in the National Guard and the Army Reserves, and was on active duty from 1983 until retiring as a sergeant major in 2004. He is a Veteran with over 22½ years of service, and he has been deployed in support of Operation Desert Shield, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom. He is a 1991 Graduate of the Army’s Drill Sergeant’s School at Fort Jackson, S.C., and is a 2003 Graduate of the Sergeants Major Academy in El Paso. His awards include two Meritorious Service Medals, the Army Commendation Medal, and three Army Achievement Medals.
He began his law enforcement career in 1987 with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District Police Department.
From 1988-1993, he worked for the Christiansburg Police Department, attaining the rank of Patrol Shift Sergeant, and was one of the founding members of the Christiansburg Police Department’s Color Guard.
His career with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office began in December 1993. Rising through the ranks, he began as a patrol deputy and most recently served as captain over the criminal warrants, civil process and courthouse security divisions. He assumed the office of sheriff in 2016 and is a member of the Virginia Sheriff’s Institute’s first class of Virginia Certified Sheriffs.
