Glenn C. Drake II Announces Candidacy For Potter County Sheriff

Potter County Sheriff Ken Sauley on left, Chief Deputy Glenn C. Drake on right.

My name is Glenn C. Drake II and I hereby announce my candidacy for the position of Potter County Sheriff on the Republican ballot in the upcoming May Primary Election.

I am running with the support of the current Sheriff, Ken Sauley, and would like it known that had Ken had any intention to run for another term, I would not have entered this arena because I am very dedicated and loyal.

I would like to take a moment to tell you who I am and why I believe I make a good candidate for Potter County Sheriff.

I grew up in Shinglehouse, Pa and graduated from the Oswayo Valley High School in 1985. I enlisted in the US Air Force in September, 1985 and my first job in the Air Force was as Security Police. After basic training I went to Korea for 14 months. After returning to the states I was assigned to Dover Air Base in Dover, DE. In 1987 I married my wife of 27 years, Francie who also graduated from OVHS in 1984. I then had many temporary assignments including working 4 months in the military prison at Fort Meade army base near Washington, DC. I also worked in support of Operation Just Cause, the incursion into Panama. I re-enlisted for 4 more years and cross trained as a medic and worked my way into being a shift supervisor in the Dover AFB emergency room. We worked in direct support of Operation Desert Storm.

In my 8 years with the Air Force, my wife and I had two sons, Zeke and Jake. Zeke is a registered Nurse working at Charles Cole Memorial Hospital. Jacob is an electrical lineman living and working in the Hagerstown, MD area.

I was honorably discharged from the Air Force in September 1993. After entering the Pennsylvania State Police in January 1994, I was initially assigned to Troop G, Phillipsburg. While there my daughter Alisha was born. Once I was able to transfer, I did and moved home to Shinglehouse. My next assignment was to patrol at PSP, Coudersport. I then took interest in Criminal Investigations and worked my last, approximately 10 years as a criminal investigator at PSP Coudersport. I’ve worked with most county agencies and coordinated many multi jurisdictional and multi agency investigations including being federally subpoenaed to testify for NCIS at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, CA.

While with the PSP I had a lot of training. My training certificates include Basic and Advanced Homicide, Non-Traffic Death Investigation, Interview & Interrogation, both with PSP and Pat Kelly who is a retired FBI polygraph operator, Statement Analysis both with PSP and Pat Kelly, Cognitive Interviewing, Forensic Interviewing, Sexual Assault training, Sex Offender Containment workshop, and as Field Training Officer I coached approx. 12 new Troopers that were initially assigned to PSP Coudersport.

I retired from PSP on May 23, 2014 and started working for the Potter County Sheriff’s Dept. on June 23, 2014. I am currently the Chief Deputy and have just completed the training to be certified as a Pennsylvania Sheriff Deputy. To work as a Sheriff or Deputy in PA requires this certification. 

I believe I am a good candidate for Sheriff of Potter County because along with my background in law enforcement, I am trustworthy, a hard worker and I have a good rapport and working relationship already established with all the other entities the Sheriff’s office deals with. I need no further training to assume the job of Sheriff.

The Sheriff’s office serves civil papers, and criminal warrants. Transporting prisoners to other facilities and to doctor and dental appointments are our responsibility as well. We also are charged with providing courtroom security and assisting many other county agencies.

Due to our size, Potter County is one of a few counties in which the Sheriff is also the jail Warden. It is my intention to keep the position of Warden attached to the Sheriff position. This is a huge savings to Potter County tax payers. Should a new warden position be created, it would mean creating another county position with wages, medical and retirement costs.

When I transferred back to PSP Coudersport in 1996, Angela Milford was a jail guard. She has worked her way into the position of Deputy Warden and in that position she runs the day to day operation of the jail. She is very competent and capable and I have the utmost confidence in her abilities. As Warden and supervisor I will assist her in hiring, firing, discipline and continuing education, and as Warden I pledge to continue striving to make good financial decisions for cost containment at the jail.

Finally, as you are aware, operating the jail and the Sheriff’s Department involves many costs and expenditures, most of which are required by law. However, If it affects you, it affects me and my family as tax payers. I do not intend to make huge changes that would cost us all. I enjoy serving the people of this county and would be privileged to continue that service as your next sheriff.