One of Us: Commander Brian Harrington

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Brian Harrington is the Northeast District commander of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.

Can you please tell us about your background?

My father retired from the New York State Police, and we came down here and traveled with my grandparents, who relocated down to Florida. I went to Sandalwood High School up in Jacksonville. I got hired here with the sheriff’s office in the 1990s, and I moved my family over to St. Johns County. It’s been home ever since.

I’ve worked most of my career in the Ponte Vedra area. I’ve worked in several different areas in the sheriff’s office, but this has basically been home. I’ve met a lot of people over the years, and it’s been very rewarding to work up here.

Being a commander is being appointed to the sheriff’s executive staff. When I was originally given the appointment, I was the commander down in the Southeast portion. I was also previously the commander over Central, which encompasses most of Central Investigations. Most of my career has been up here in Ponte Vedra as a deputy, a district sergeant, patrol sergeant and lieutenant.

What are your primary roles and responsibilities as Northeast District commander?

I basically oversee all operations for the Northeast District. I have two lieutenants who work for me, four patrol shifts, several youth resource deputies, three district detectives and a district sergeant.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I really enjoy the people in the area. It’s a pleasure to come to work and have the times and experiences that I do with the various community members.

What are your greatest challenges?

Right now, it’s probably the property crimes we deal with on a constant basis. Crime has definitely gone done as a whole. But we deal locally a lot with the property crimes in the area. It’s something we try to keep a constant eye on. The second most time-consuming thing that we work on quite a bit is the traffic issues that we try to give as much attention to as possible with the manpower we have allocated.

What do you like to do in your free time? 

I try to dedicate all my free time to my family because the job is so taxing and encompassing. I really try to plan most of my activities and everything that we do together with my family.

What do you enjoy most about working and living in this area?

I definitely like the environment here. I think we have a good, warm community base. There’s so much involvement that people don’t see behind the scenes. There are events with people really trying to benefit the community and help, from THE PLAYERS to the DONNA. That goes unnoticed a lot of times, but it’s very, very rewarding to be around that here. I’m pleased that I’ve played a small part in it.