Personal Fitness
Great Officers. High Standards. Accountability.
Leadership Through Service
Leadership and service are the resounding themes of who I am and what I bring to Pickens County as Sheriff. My focus will be a culture of service that begins with the leadership at the office creating an environment of success for those we are tasked with supervising. This will promote an atmosphere of improved customer service to the citizens of Pickens County. I will accomplish this by an agency-wide understanding of true authority as well as a focus on the ABCs of Accountability, Building Relationships, and Community Outreach.
Accountability begins with an understanding that everything falls at the feet of the one in charge: the Sheriff. As Sheriff I will completely accept this responsibility and have proven through my career that I first practice self-accountability by having the humility to admit my mistakes to take ownership of them. I will hold my Deputies accountable to high professional standards, both on and off duty, which I adhere to myself. PCSO will be a meritocracy. Promotions will be based on skill, performance, work ethic, attitude, and peer evaluations. Training will be the pinnacle of providing well equipped deputies to serve our citizens. With so much at stake, our people should be spending 20% of their paid hours training in some fashion to prepare them to be the deputies the taxpayers deserve. If we cannot budget for more Deputies, I will provide better Deputies! Accountability will also extend to those entities that work alongside PCSO in serving the citizens. As Sheriff, I will be unafraid to address failures on the part of our colleagues in upholding oaths as well as job performance. When any of these fail the citizens, we all fail the citizens.
I look forward to maintaining the relationships that PCSO currently possesses with so many other departments. PCSO, under my leadership as Sheriff, will always be willing to do everything in our power to support our municipalities and neighboring jurisdictions. I also look to build stronger bonds with other leaders like our Pickens County Council and Administration. I will push for a transparent step-pay schedule for officers that prevents undeserved higher grades of pay, and rewards things like education, certifications, additional responsibilities, and time in service. As an agency, we must also grow relative to our ever increasing population. I know first-hand what it is like to perform duties that other agencies have two or more positions covering that responsibility, and I am not alone in that. I believe with building a healthier understanding of each other, we can better serve the citizens. Our goals must be synonymous and egos discarded. Though we may have alternative methods of how to complete objectives, which will lead to disagreements, in the end our mission will be the same, and all our actions will point in the same direction… a better and safer Pickens County.
Last, and certainly not least, I am excited to be active in community outreach. I will be a present Sheriff for Pickens County. You will hear from me when there is a message from the office. You will see me at community events. You will see me engaged at and supporting our Pickens County Schools’ sports teams. You will see me delivering for Meals on Wheels and having deputies do the same. You will see me speaking at our FCA events. You will know that I am a follower of Christ and I am unashamed of the Gospel. I know that to truly affect our county, the Sheriff must be MORE than a cop. He must be a man who loves the people of his county and hates the sin ruining lives, and that is what you can expect from me as Sheriff of Pickens County.
Please do not hesitate to contact me by cell at 864-303-2256 or by email at tommyblankenship4sheriff@gmail.com. You can also mail me at PO Box 875 Pickens, SC 29671. God Bless, and I look forward to serving you as Sheriff of Pickens County.