Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Ed Hertling, a former investigator for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office, will seek the Democratic nomination to run for the sheriff’s office in a special election this November. The post came vacant when Sheriff Hank Partin said he would retire at the end of April.
“I love Montgomery County. I think it’s a great place to live, work, and raise a family,” Hertling said. “The people here are generous and genuinely want good things for their community. I’ve been a part of the Sheriff’s Office for a very long time and have deep respect for the people who serve there. I’ve spent the vast majority of my adult life helping build the Sheriff’s Office into the outstanding organization it is today. As a leader with steady vision, I think I can steer the sheriff’s office to serve this community in amazing ways.”
The November election will be to finish Partin’s term, which will run out in 2027. Thus, anyone elected this year would have to run again in 2028.
Although he did not grow up in Montgomery County, he has been here since 1992 while going to college.
“I loved the area so much that I decided to make Montgomery County my home,” he said.
Hertling has been in law enforcement since 1999, now serving his 27th year. He retired from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office at the rank of captain and now serves as a Western Region Lieutenant with Carilion Clinic Police Department.
Early in his career, he found a home in criminal investigations and led the sheriff’s department investigations division.
“I had the privilege of leading this outstanding team through the years, handling some very serious calls. While serving as Captain of Investigations and the Tactical Team Commander I led the Sheriff’s Office as incident commander on critical incidents. During that time if there was a critical incident going on in the county areas there was a very good chance I was involved and often responsible for managing the operation,” he said.
He pointed to his tactical team leadership experience during the Virginia Tech shooting, and the fugitive hunt for William Morva, who had murdered security guard Derrick McFarland and fellow deputy Eric Sutphin.
“I led the criminal investigations division on numerous murder investigations, and supervised complex multijurisdictional narcotics distribution cases. I was also heavily involved in project management,” he said.
Hertling frequently teaches classes at Cardinal Criminal Justice Academy in Salem.
“With many senior managers leaving the department, I feel my experience and training are especially valuable to the sheriff’s office. That experience and my familiarity with the sheriff’s office culture and current processes makes me a very strong candidate for the office of sheriff,” he said.
Hertling also believes enforcing the laws is just the foundation, and points to three principles he thinks separates good departments from great departments.
“I will fight to protect victims and put them first in everything we do. This can range from ensuring transparency with victims of all crimes to more specialized topics like ensuring sexual assault victims are interviewed in comfortable spaces,” he said.
The second principle is protecting the most vulnerable and includes protecting children in the schools with highly trained School Resource Officers, providing information and education to senior’s citizens about fraud cases, or helping families dealing with dementia.
“The third principle revolves around building relationships within the community. I want deputies to get out of their cars and interact with the public, get to know people in the community in a non-enforcement capacity,” Hertling said this past week.
So far, no one else has entered the race as a Democrat, which would force a Firehouse Primary for the nomination.
