During his nearly 32 years of service in the Webster County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Jim Stubbs has worked in just about every capacity.

He started as a deputy sheriff on Oct. 17, 1988. He subsequently worked as a detective, sergeant, lieutenant and chief deputy before being elected sheriff in 2012. Stubbs, a Democrat, was re-elected in 2016.

”I’ve done a lot of things I’ve set out to do,” he said Tuesday. ”I’m just ready to retire.”

Stubbs announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election and will retire when his current term ends on Jan. 4, 2021.

”It was a privilege to serve the citizens of Webster County,” he said. ”It was an honor to be elected twice.”

At this time he is not endorsing anyone to replace him, although he is not ruling out an endorsement in the future.

During his career, Stubbs responded to thousands of crimes, vehicle accidents and other incidents.

”You see a lot of people in their worst moments,” he said.

Perhaps the most high profile incident he handled as sheriff was the May 20, 2013, abduction of Kathlynn Shepard, 15, and a 12-year-old girl after they got off a school bus in Dayton. Investigators said they were lured into a vehicle by Michael Klunder, 42, who took them to a hog confinement where he worked. The 12-year-old escaped, and Klunder committed suicide the same day. Shepard’s body was found June 7, 2013, in the Des Moines River near the Kate Shelley Bridge in Boone County.

Investigations and emergencies are just part of the sheriff’s job. The sheriff leads a department responsible for law enforcement, operating the county jail and handling civil court papers.

Stubbs instituted a room and board policy in the Webster County Jail in which inmates sentenced to serve time must pay to do so. The Sheriff’s Office gets 60 percent of the revenue from room and board while the County Board of Supervisors gets 40 percent. The money must be used for purchases and projects, not daily operations.

Stubbs used room and board revenue to buy a new software program for managing the jail.

”In essence, inmates paid for it,” he said. ”Taxpayers didn’t have to pay for it.”

In 2017, deputy sheriffs started wearing body cameras.

”In my opinion, we have one of the best body camera policies around,” Stubbs said.

He said law enforcement agencies from as far away as Cody, Wyoming, have contacted him for information on the body camera policy.

Like law enforcement officers throughout the nation, Stubbs has dealt with and even had to arrest people who are suffering from mental illnesses. As sheriff, he said he ”had a lot of opportunity to be on mental health boards, which is a passion of mine.”

Stubbs said that throughout his career, he has been motivated by ”just a desire to try to do the right thing for people.”

”That’s a good feeling when you do some of that,” he said. ”You just know you accomplished something.”