PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Scioto County Sheriff David Thoroughman is pushing back against a flyer circulating in Clay Township that he says misrepresents how the township’s contract for sheriff’s deputies works and what residents would lose without it.
In a statement posted to the sheriff’s office Facebook page, Thoroughman said the flyer suggests money paid for township deputy services could instead go toward hiring a township worker or fixing roads, culverts and bridges. He said that claim is false because funds collected for a specific purpose, such as police protection, must legally be spent on that purpose and cannot be diverted to other township expenses.
“The flyer also contains other inaccurate or misleading statements,” Thoroughman said, adding that the contract does not pay for deputy uniforms and that the level of coverage a township receives is a choice made by its own trustees, not the sheriff’s office.
Clay Township currently has two deputies assigned specifically to patrol the area under its contract with the sheriff’s office. According to figures the sheriff’s office released, calls for service in the township have stayed steady in recent years: 1,463 in 2024, 1,565 in 2025 and 1,465 so far in 2026.
Thoroughman said that without dedicated township deputies, a 911 call from Clay Township would instead be handled by one of the sheriff’s office’s “road deputies,” who cover every part of the county that does not have its own assigned deputies. At times, he said, only one or two road deputies may be covering the entire county at once, and those deputies are also responsible for backing up township deputies elsewhere when they are tied up on other calls. Losing dedicated coverage, he said, could mean longer response times for residents.
The dispute over how Clay Township is policed is not new. In November 2024, Thoroughman publicly objected to a proposal from then-Portsmouth Police Chief Debby Brewer for the city department to take over patrols in the township, arguing the plan was not financially realistic and had been developed without coordinating with his office. The sheriff’s office has maintained deputy coverage in the township in the time since.
Thoroughman encouraged Clay Township residents to contact his office directly with questions about the deputy contract rather than rely on the flyer. The sheriff’s office can be reached at (740) 355-8261 or [email protected].
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office.
