Laclede County Sheriff David Millsap, announced Tuesday he will not seek a third term as Sheriff. Candidates interested in the Sheriff’s position will begin filing in February of 2024Millsap was elected Sheriff in 2017 beating the incumbent, Wayne Merrit. Millsap then ran unopposed in 2020. “I said from the very beginning I would not do more than two terms,” Millsap said. “I feel good about what we have accomplished during the last seven years. Our goal was to change the culture of the Sheriff’s Office, by developing the skills of the people working in the office. We wanted to provide quality service to the community and I am very proud of the staff, and how they bought into our vision of protecting what we value. ”
Millsap graduated from Lebanon High School in 1979 and received a degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Central Missouri in 1984. He earned a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Tiffin University. He is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Staff and Command College and the Senior Management Institute at Boston University. Millsap began his career in the criminal justice field in 1983, when he was hired as a Deputy Juvenile Officer in Laclede County. He served as a reserve deputy sheriff for the county from 1985 to 1988. In January of 1994 Millsap began a long career with the Springfield Police Department, retiring in 2016 as the Division Commander of Criminal Investigation. “I have been blessed with a lot of career opportunities, having worked in patrol, investigations, gangs/narcotics, and then to end my career in law enforcement as the sheriff, in the community that I grew up in, I couldn’t have asked for a better career. ”
The Sheriff said he has no plans on being a “lame duck” sheriff in his final year. “I have always stressed to the staff that our goal is continuous improvement and we will continue to live by that philosophy until the final day. In fact we just completed our Goals and Objectives for 2024, and it is a rather aggressive endeavor for a final year in office.”
Millsap said he has no definite plans, but he is not ruling out running for political office in the future. “I enjoy public service and enjoy the challenges of providing quality service to the community. I am currently teaching a course on strategic planning and I am scheduled to teach a course on ethics, in the Public Service master’s program at Drury and I teach executive leadership at Missouri State University’s Public Safety Center, so if anything I will stay involved in training the next generation of leaders in public service.” Millsap is the chairman of the Republican Central Committee and serves on several community boards. “Everybody is telling me that I will get bored with retirement, however, with three grandchildren, all active in sports, I am not sure being bored is on the radar.”
As for the future of the Sheriff’s Office, Millsap said, “I have worked hard on succession planning. I think we have a good foundation for the future. There is a member of the agency that has expressed an interest in the position and if that person chooses to run I would be fully supportive, “ Millsap said.
