News Highlights

MSU graduate named National Sheriff of Year

Patrick D. McGowan

MSU graduate and Hennepin County Sheriff Patrick D. McGowan has been named Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriffs’ Association.

2006-04-09
A news release from the Hennepin County government Center, 4/7/2005

MINNEAPOLIS --The National Sheriffs' Association has named Hennepin County Sheriff Patrick D. McGowan the 2005 winner of its Ferris E. Lucas Award for Sheriff of the Year. The national award, given each year to one of the nation's more than 3,000 sheriffs, will be presented to McGowan on June 26 at the NSA Annual Conference, held this year in Louisville, Ky.

"In the law enforcement profession, the highest compliment one can receive is to be respected by your colleagues," McGowan said. "I am honored to receive this award. It's gratifying personally, and it speaks volumes about the quality work the men and women of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office do everyday for the people we serve," McGowan said.

McGowan is the first Minnesota sheriff to win the award, which is given in memory and honor of former St. Clair County, Mich., Sheriff Ferris E. Lucas, a past NSA president and executive director.

McGowan, who was nominated for the award by Carver County Sheriff Bud Olson, past president of the Minnesota Sheriffs' Association, is being honored, according to the NSA, for "his outstanding contributions to law enforcement and the criminal justice profession, his demonstrated exceptional service to the communities he serves, and his contributions to the betterment of the NSA."

"Sheriff McGowan is a recognized law enforcement leader at the local, state, national and international levels," Olson said. "In Minnesota, law enforcement agencies from throughout the state look to his office for advice and assistance," Olson continued. "Through his leadership at the national and international levels, Sheriff McGowan has helped make Minnesota law enforcement a recognized partner in our law enforcement profession," Olson added. "I cannot think of a more deserving person for this prestigious award than Sheriff McGowan," Olson said.

First elected in 1994, McGowan is now serving in his third term as the 26th sheriff of Hennepin County, the most populous of Minnesota's 87 counties.

As Hennepin County sheriff, McGowan has brought the sheriff's office into the 21st Century by modernizing its infrastructure. McGowan has presided over the building of several state-of-the-art facilities — including a new jail, crime lab and water patrol headquarters — and he's spearheaded the implementation of an 800 MHz trunked radio system to improve emergency preparedness and interoperable communications among all Hennepin County first responders.

McGowan has opened the sheriff's office up to the public through the creation of a popular "Citizens Law Enforcement Academy," held twice a year, and he's established effective partnerships with local law enforcement agencies in Hennepin County, including four highly-successful drug task forces.

McGowan also has diversified the sheriff's office to better reflect the communities it serves, and his office has been very involved in local homeland security efforts. In January 2000 — 21 months prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 — McGowan dedicated a full-time sheriff's detective to the FBI Minneapolis Office Joint Terrorism Task Force. And, last year, McGowan established a homeland security unit within the sheriff's office, which, among other duties, supervises a multi-agency team trained to respond to weapons of mass destruction incidents should they occur in Hennepin County or anywhere else in Minnesota.

McGowan is very active in law enforcement issues at the national level, as well. He has served as president of the Major County Sheriffs' Association, chairman of the NSA Drug Enforcement Committee, and as a law enforcement advisor on homeland security issues to FBI Director Robert Mueller.

McGowan is the current chairman of the NSA Weapons of Mass Destruction Committee. In this position, McGowan has traveled to Israel and Northern Ireland, where he has established relationships with some of the word's leading authorities on combatting terrorism. Last October, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office was one of three U.S. law enforcement agencies chosen to host a symposium featuring Israeli counter-terrorism experts.

McGowan is a former Minneapolis police officer, achieving detective sergeant rank in the MPD Homicide/Robbery Division, and a former Minnesota state senator, serving as an assistant Republican leader in the Minnesota Senate from 1990 to 1994.

A veteran of the United States Air Force, McGowan holds a Bachelor of Science degree (cum laude) in Criminal Justice Studies from Minnesota State University at Mankato. He also is a graduate of the National Sheriffs' Institute and the FBI's National Executive Institute.

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