John Shearon will be back with his badge for term two as Chilton County Sheriff.

It will not be easy.

“It’s a very stressful job, but in a crazy way, I love doing it,” Shearon said. “There’s not any money in it, but I love helping people, and I’m going to continue helping people.”

Shearon said he was relieved when the June 5 primary election concluded with the results overwhelmingly in his favor — 6,423 votes for Shearon and 2,635 votes for Robbie Autery.

Shearon said a weight has been lifted.

“We can get back to work doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” he said. “The campaign slows the job down a little bit, but we’ve kept going.”

The challenges ahead are much the same as the challenges he faced his first term.

“Everybody’s talking about drugs, drugs, drugs,” Shearon said. “I told everybody back in 2016 what we’re going to be up against with prison reform before it ever came into place — it was going to be bad, and we’re having to deal with it now. It’s just a nightmare.”

Combating the ramifications of the Alabama prison reform act has been a tiresome battle.

Shearon said that through the reform act, drug cases have to go through federal court before a prison sentence can be administered. As a result, deputies are frequently re-arresting released individuals for the same crimes.

A Chilton County drug task force might lighten the load, but several departments must be onboard to create one, Shearon said.

“We’ll have one — whether it’s a larger task force or maybe a smaller task force — but we will have one to combat things,” he said, explaining that the project remains a goal for his second term as sheriff.

Law enforcement is hard work and it comes with its hurdles, but the Chilton County Sheriff’s Office continues do its best to keep the community safe.

“I’m just a blessed person to have the support I’ve had behind me … I can’t thank everybody enough for the support they’ve given me and my family and for our office,” Shearon said. “We’re going to keep working just as hard or harder the next four years to give people the service they deserve.”