Ed Hastings has no nonsense approach to supervising the sheriff's office

FREMONT — Sandusky County will soon have a chief deputy who promises, alongside the new sheriff, to reform the sheriff's department."I am excited. I am ready to go," said Perkins police Lt. Ed Hastings, officially named as Chris Hilton's chief deputy on election night when Hilton won the office of Sandusky County Sheriff by a large margin.Hasting and Hilton have known and worked with each other since 1997.Hastings grew up in Sandusky and the surrounding area. While he still lives in Erie County he spends most of his time in Sandusky County where his wife, a graduate of Fremont Ross, grew up and most of her family still live."I am in Sandusky County more than I am here (in Erie County)," Hastings said.Hastings began to work part time for Castalia in 1997 and in 1998 for Perkins police department. He settled into the Perkins Police department in March 2000 as a full-time officer.Hilton and Hastings understand what the Sandusky County Sheriff's office has been going through in the last year.Both worked at the Perkins Police Department during the time when Tim McClung was under investigation and then federally indicted in 2011 for using tax dollars to purchase firearms and selling them."We have been at the lowest lows to the highest highs," Hastings said. "You meet people and it's your boss is doing this and doing that. Whenever your leader is under scrutiny, it filters down."Both men saw the department turn around under Chief Ken Klamar and the new ideas he brought into the leadership position, Hastings said. They will be using some of the policies Klamar uses, including a strong focus on education."The department was spending a lot of money on training. If there was an agency you wanted to work for it was Perkins because you would get training," Hastings said."I think training is an issue. Manpower is always going to be an issue, but I have to succeed with what I have. Change of the status quo is one of the biggest issues and I will take a look to see how things are running."In his no-nonsense style, Hastings plans to implement structure and discipline, something the department has not had in a long time.Hastings attributes who he is today to his mother — a strong single woman who worked at New Departure Hyatt and kept her family together, even when she was laid off from the plant from 1980 to 1983. She did that by working whatever hours the Best store, K-Mart and a small grocery store would give her to keep up."She taught me determination. She was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. She came here after meeting an airman stationed there whom she married, with no family, no friends and she made it," Hastings said."I refuse to quit. I refuse to give up. That is why I know we are not going to fail. We will not give up. We are going to make Sandusky County residents proud of the agency. We are going to make the deputies proud."Ed Hastings experienceAssistant commander of EHOVE Career Center Police AcademyBachelors degree from University of PhoenixMaster's degree from Tiffin UniversityPerkins police Lt. Ed Hastings poses for a portrait in downtown Sandusky on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016. Hastings will leave the department on Feb. 3 to join Chris Hilton in Sandusky County as his chief deputy. Portrait of Ed Hastings