Delta County Sheriff Ed Oswald

ESCANABA — Delta County Sheriff Ed Oswald is retiring just before the new year after serving in law enforcement for 34 years.

Since starting in law enforcement, Oswald has worked in just about every department, including road patrol, the marine division, rescue/recovery diver, ORV, and snowmobile.

Oswald graduated from Bark River-Harris School in 1985 and attended Northern Michigan University from 1986 to 1990, majoring in law enforcement.

After serving in multiple capacities throughout his career, he is hanging it up again.

Oswald previously retired in 2013 during his tenure as undersheriff, but when the former sheriff retired in 2014, Oswald came back to man the post. His career started in Crystal Falls in 1990 but he came to Delta County in the road patrol department in 1991.

He originally retired to work on a personal project but came back when the sheriff’s position opened up.

“I got that project done right around that time, and this is something I knew; I was undersheriff for 10 or 11 years. So, it’s something I knew what I was doing (and) I enjoyed it,” he said.

While he was undersheriff, he spent a lot of energy getting a new jail facility, as the old jail was only meant for very short-term stays for inmates. In June 2019, Oswald and the staff moved into the new building located on College Avenue. He said the building will allow the county to expand the jail should it need to down the line.

“Let’s say 50 years from now, 25 years, we need another pod. If something changes, we can drop another pod out there, which will be relatively inexpensive for the county,” he said.

He is also very proud of the department’s new airboat, another project he started working on during his time as undersheriff.

“Coast Guard depends on us for rescues in this area. So that was a priority for Delta County with the how many people we have using the bay and so forth,” he explained.

He added other accomplishments, such as the new security protocol at the Delta County Courthouse, body cams for all officers, a full-body scanner for the jail, and more.

While Oswald was instrumental in the abovementioned projects, he credits his staff for making him work hard over the years.

“It’s really the staff, I am who my staff are,” he said.

Oswald takes pride in the staff he works with, including everyone from cooks and maintenance to IT and the jail staff.

“Maintenance has been outstanding here; IT is – we have to have the best IT and maintenance. I mean, we just have a lot of good people in Delta County,” Oswald said.

He said that before IT and maintenance, the department hired contractors, but it was burdensome and expensive.

“Everything now, maintenance takes care of it, or IT… It’s just seamless; I just don’t have problems at all anymore. I don’t lose things. I don’t have computers go down,” he said.

He also stressed the importance of the staff enjoying their jobs and would check in with each department to determine their needs.

“If I walk through, I can’t find a staff member that does not like their job,” he said.

“They’re putting the word out there (that) we’re hiring, and it just when they come in, people coming in looking for a job, they hear good things about working in the jail or the sheriff’s office.”

He also talked about collaborating with not only other staff members but also other sheriffs, saying he attended national training for new sheriffs, where he learned more about himself.

“They really taught me who I am, what type of person I am, and I really had to backfill my deficiencies with our people, and that’s how (we) ended up with this facility and

the funding. I really had to offset my deficiencies; that was important to go to that school,” he explained.

He wants to pass that lesson along to the staff in his absence, encouraging them to work collaboratively.

“I think it’s good to bring people in on decisions. You might have an idea, but the more people you put together, more supervisors, the better that idea can become,” he said.

Oswald sees a safe community, saying the majority of the inmates are not bad people; they just made a mistake.

“95% are pretty decent people that made mistakes, and staff treat them like that,” he said.

When asked why it was time to retire, Oswald said, “You know when it’s time.” He said he got the department where he wanted it to be and is confident leaving it in the hands of the staff and sheriff-elect Todd Tardiff.

“We’re really where I want it to be; personnel, we really have outstanding personnel… It’s running very smoothly. The supervisors are really taking an interest; they’re taking care of it. It’s really running smoothly. This place should be able to run – let’s say I got hit by a car tomorrow – this place should not skip a beat, and that’s really where I wanted it to be, and it’s there,” he said.

Tardiff, the incoming sheriff, started at the department within days of Oswald, and they even worked together as partners for a few years.

“He worked in the jail, he and I were partners for quite a few years, very hard-working, very ethical; he has high morals. He’s a hard worker,” he said.

Tardiff will work with current Undersheriff Phil Griebel, who received high praise from Oswald.

“He’s been here a long time, and he does a great job, and he does a lot. You know, we work together on everything; Undersheriff Phil Griebel is just instrumental in this place,” he said.

He added that Tardiff and Griebel previously worked together, so they would be a great fit as sheriff and undersheriff.

While Oswald is ready to retire on Dec. 31, he said he will certainly miss the people he works with and collaborates with.

He plans to spend time with his wife and family and do things he hasn’t had the opportunity to do, such as travel.