A sheriff reflects on three decades in law enforcement
For three decades, Sean Deringer has worn a law enforcement badge in Wright County, advancing through the ranks from patrol deputy and investigator to sergeant, lieutenant, captain and, ultimately, sheriff.
Now, after 30 years of service, Deringer is preparing to conclude his law enforcement career. Last January, he announced he would not seek another term as sheriff, citing retirement eligibility and a long-standing personal goal.
“The math worked out perfectly. I turned 55 in July. In Minnesota, you can retire at 55 with no penalty. I always believed, even early on, that I would be a two-term sheriff. It just made sense for me and my family,” Deringer said.
He will remain in office through the end of 2026, serving until the newly elected sheriff is sworn in on Jan. 5. His departure will mark the end of a career that began in the 1990s and culminated in leading the Wright County Sheriff’s Office.
“Serving as sheriff has been one of the greatest honors of my life. I’ve been unbelievably blessed throughout my law enforcement career.”
From the Dakotas to Wright County
Deringer grew up in Harvey, North Dakota, a small community located in the central part of the state.
After graduating from Northland Community College in 1990, Deringer completed a criminal justice degree at the University of North Dakota.
It was Sean’s wife, Tammy, who led the couple to Wright County after she was transferred from a job in Grand Forks to one in Buffalo.
“Tammy and I are high school sweethearts. We met between our junior and senior year of high school and got married between our junior and senior year of college. This job has been daunting at times, but I’ve been blessed with my wife, and life partner, Tammy.
“When we moved here 32 years ago, we didn’t know anybody within 300 miles of Wright County. This has become our home, and the people have become our family. We’ve built our lives here and have felt very blessed to do it. I could not have written the script any better.”
A profound life experience
Deringer was not born into a law enforcement family, but through a trying experience that shaped him as a teen, and a few unique encounters along the way, his path to law enforcement began to unfold.
“My freshman year of high school, I was 15, it was Easter Sunday, we were at my grandmother’s place, and my father collapsed from a heart attack. He was 41 years old. He ended up in the Bismarck hospital. I spent a lot of nights sleeping in the waiting room. Through that experience, there was a male nurse, I don’t know his name, and I’ve never seen him since, he has no idea that he is one of the top ten most influential people in my life.
“He took me under his wing. In the evenings he would check on us during his shift. He became very friendly with me. He took me to the cafeteria a couple times. We had lunch. He was an amazing guy. I kept thinking throughout that experience that this is the kind of impact I want to have in people’s lives.”
Thoughts of a medical career crossed Deringer’s mind in those early years, but it was a meeting with a football recruiter from Northland Community College that opened Deringer to the possibility of a career in law enforcement.
“At that point in my life I didn’t have a strong direction. The recruiter slid a brochure across the table, and the first thing on there was law enforcement. I was a waiter in a supper club in my home town. The cops would come in, and I was always very friendly with them. My parents were good friends with the police chief and his wife. I would chitchat with them, and all of the sudden, it was as if a neon sign went off in my head, ‘you can go to school for that, they have a program.’ After that, I never looked back, I was all in. I got to college and became more excited with every single class I took.”
That first job in law enforcement would eventually come. Deringer was working a security job at Target when he got the call that he was hired by the Buffalo Police Department.
“When Bob Fix, who was the police chief in Buffalo at that time, called me after I was hired, I would have done that job for free. I took a three dollar an hour pay cut from my job at Target to start my first cop job.”
Deringer was hired by the Buffalo Police Department in March 1996. The following January, he began working part time for the Wright County Sheriff’s Office before becoming a full-time deputy in July 1997.
Learning the job from the ground up
Deringer’s career with the Wright County Sheriff’s Office has included a variety of roles and responsibilities.
“I spent my first three years in the patrol division, then I had the opportunity to be a firearms instructor, and then a taser instructor. In 2000, I was selected to go into narcotics and worked as a narcotics investigator for two-and-a-half years. I then moved under CID (Criminal Investigation Department) as a detective for a year-and-a-half and then was promoted to sergeant.
“I moved back to the patrol division and spent the next seven-and-a-half years as the overnight supervisor patrol sergeant in the division. In 2011, I was promoted to lieutenant and moved back into the CID division and was the CID lieutenant.
“In 2016, I became the administrative lieutenant under operations and oversaw professional standards and internal affairs investigations.
“In 2017, Sheriff Haggerty promoted me to captain. I then oversaw the patrol division as the patrol captain.”
When the opportunity to run for sheriff arrived, Deringer was all in.
“On January 31 of 2018, Sheriff Haggerty announced that he would not be seeking re-election. I never went into this field believing I was going to be a chief or a sheriff, it was never on my radar, but I’ve had immense opportunities, and I knew that no other member of the command staff was going to run.
By February 17, I had my kick-off party at The V (restaurant in Maple Lake) where I made the announcement that I was running for sheriff. I ran because I saw the importance of the position.”
Challenges of the office
During his time as Wright County Sheriff, Deringer has faced and met many challenges.
“I don’t think you can ever be fully prepared to take on this role. There were a lot of surprises. The ability to manage people is a key factor. I’d been in a supervisor role since 2004, and had a very good understanding of the overall operations of the sheriff’s office. The surprises came from many other places. Until you sit in this seat, you really don’t know what you’re going to face. They don’t write a playbook for this job.
“In my eight-year tenure, we had the Allina Clinic incident, we’d never had an active shooter in this county up until that time. On the heels of that, we faced COVID and lockdowns. I had to ask myself ‘what is my role in all of this,’ but at the end of the day, my number one job was to protect the constitutional rights of the people in my community. I spent a lot of time in prayer, and in prayer over my team. I leaned on my command staff, we had meetings, but ultimately, the final decisions rested on my shoulders. Trying to come out strong on the other side while maintaining our community were some very difficult things.”
Focusing on the future
The number of young men and women seeking a career in law enforcement has been on a decline in recent years. Sheriff Deringer sees the importance and value of building relationships with law enforcement programs such as the Police Training & Education program at Alexandria Technical & Community College.
“Alexandria Technical College is one of the biggest schools for new recruits in the state. We have a wonderful relationship with them. For the last four years, we’ve helped them with mock interviews, which gives us a bird’s eye view of top recruits in the class. We set them up with a ride-along, we help answer their questions. We are inviting them into our doors. Our training center is a huge recruitment tool. We are an agency that can provide a variety of lateral movements which helps young deputies figure out which division they want to serve in.
“There used to be 300 applicants for every law enforcement job in the state. Now there’s 300 jobs for every applicant. Our focus had to turn inward. I have to make sure I’m doing everything that I can to recruit and retain qualified people. We don’t want to be a training ground, we want to be a destination agency, that’s something we work very hard at. Those same opportunities that I’ve had in my career, we want to make sure those opportunities exist and are available for the people in this agency in a fair and balanced way.”
Creating a culture of support
Wright County has the third largest sheriff’s office in the state. Caring for the men and women who serve in the office is of the highest priority for Deringer.
“We are placed in some of the most stressful situations society has to offer, and we have to make split second decisions based on the information we have available to us at the time. There are real life consequences to that. That’s been very hard to overcome.
“There’s lots of good and lots to celebrate in our community, but we also see the bad. Whether it’s family problems or disputes, mental health, fatal crashes, we have to try and figure out what we can do to help today. We’ve employed a lot of services and put a lot of energy into that.
“One of the things that I wanted to establish is a wellness initiative. We started a chaplaincy program, which we’ve never had before. That was important for me.
“As sheriff, I have to be mindful of the mental health of my own people who deal with all of it. I have to ensure that our space within the sheriff’s office will help sustain and build a healthy environment for our people, physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. This job can bring a lot of opportunities to become broken ourselves, we have to be mindful of that. If we’re broken, we’re not going to be able to go into a situation and provide any help. As the sheriff, I spend a lot of time trying to control those things for the environment and culture within the sheriff’s office. That has been my flagship message. We can all be on the same team and fighting for the same good. We can all be active participants in building a culture that we’re all proud of, which creates a healthy environment that provides the best service to our community.”
Building positive relationships with the community
Many positive initiatives have come during Sean Deringer’s service as the sheriff of Wright County, but one in particular sticks out as number one in his mind, which was started by a member of his staff.
“Six years ago, I had a sergeant come to me with an idea for Wright County Frontline Outreach, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It’s a way for our staff, whether financially, or through time, or talent, to give back to our community under the umbrella of a legitimate nonprofit started by members of the sheriff’s office.
“We see first hand a family in crisis or a family in need. It might be a winter coat for a kid, it might be a backpack, we sponsor families at Christmas time. We try to really help out where we can. We see somebody at a gas station with no ability to pay for gas, we see somebody at a car wash in January, and it’s 21 below zero, and we can put them up in a hotel.
“If somebody were to ask me today what I am most proud of I would say Wright County Frontline Outreach. It was never my idea, but it was born through the culture we have here and have worked to establish. I’m so incredibly proud of my team, and blessed to be surrounded by such amazing men and women, who take on all of the things that society has, and then they say to themselves ‘yet, we can do more.’ It’s an incredible organization that’s doing incredible things. It continues to foster our relationships with the community and done in the spirit of goodwill.
“These people would lay down their life for anyone in the community. That’s the hearts and the minds of the people I know.”
The twilight of a career
A new sheriff will officially take over on January 5, following the Tuesday morning Wright County Board meeting. By state statue, Sheriff Deringer’s term will conclude after the new sheriff is sworn in.
“I’m looking forward to these last few months to invest in my team, meet with people one-on-one, and connect with people I haven’t connected with in a while. I’m going to do everything I can to ensure a smooth transition. Succession planning is a top priority now to ensure the next generation is prepared to take on the responsibility of this office.”
Sean Deringer has a son, Devin, and a daughter, Brianna, and three grandchildren. He, and his wife, Tammy, look forward to traveling and spending time with family after his service as Wright County Sheriff officially concludes.
