At tonight’s Pinson City Council meeting, the city council swore in Deputy Russell Roberson as its fourth Pinson contract deputy from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The city is currently under contract with the Sheriff’s Office to have four officers dedicated to serving the city of Pinson.
“Although we are very fortunate to have contract officers through the Sheriff, they are also sworn in by the mayors in the contract cities so they can uphold a city ordinance,” Mayor Hoyt Sanders said. “A mayor or police chief will generally swear in a new policeman on their force
. We essentially do the same thing, which also gives Russell the authority under the particular code that we utilize for city ordinances that we have over and above the state and county laws. So we’re very happy to have Russell as our fourth officer.”
Roberson replaced Deputy John Michael, who recently transferred after receiving a promotion within the Sheriff’s Office, Sanders said.
“The deputy that took a transfer within the Sheriff’s Department, Officer Michael, we hated to see him go but we welcome Officer Roberson to come in and fill those shoes,” he said. “He’s doing a great job for us here in Pinson.”
Prior to working for Jefferson County, Roberson worked at the police departments in Warrior and Tarrant, and retired from the Gardendale Police Department in 2007.
“This is kind of going back to what I’m used to,” Roberson said. “I like small towns. This is just kind of doing what I used to do.”
Pinson’s contract deputies are Jeff Hall, Jeff Hannah, John Leon and Russell Roberson.