Grundy County Sheriff’s Office Facing State Scrutiny

ALTAMONT, Tenn. (WDEF) – A state agency is taking a close look into issues at a local sheriff’s office. 

The Tennessee Peace Officers Standard and Training Board held a hearing on the state of the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office.

Board members learned from state inspectors that several sheriff’s deputies in Grundy County lack proper certification to be law enforcement in addition to several having criminal backgrounds.

Inspectors say these hirings came after Sheriff Heath Gunter was elected last fall and over 20 former deputies resigned.

They say that the new Sheriff’s administration has not maintained proper paperwork, has had incidents with other law enforcement agencies, and is not keeping proper staffing levels at schools.

One inspector, Kevin Krieb, said, “The most alarming part of that visit is that the elementary school’s front doors were wide open. We walked right into the school. We walked around for a little bit before we even were approached by anyone. It was very not safe to have a deputy in there and school resource officer who was not certified in there.”

One inspector said that the Sheriff remarked to him that these inspections felt like a quote, “personal attack.”

We reached out to the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office for comment but have not heard back.

The board has requested Sheriff Gunter to appear at their August hearing to answer their concerns.