The Liberty County Sheriff ’s Office became one of just a few to earn state certification. The sheriff ’s office has certification from the Georgia Association of Police Chiefs, which it attained in May, and has added a certification from the Georgia Sheriff ’s Association, becoming the only county sheriff ’s office in the state to have both at the same time, Sheriff Will Bowman boasted. Staffing remains a critical issue — the sheriff ’s office has 171 allotted positions between its departments, such as patrol, jail, investigations, etc. The sheriff ’s office has three bureaus, jail operations, professional standards and police operations, with a major in charge of each. As of late last year, the sheriff ’s office had 10 unfilled spots among the 63 it had allotted for the jail.