Meet the Sheriff

Sheriff Richard W. Stanek is the 27th Sheriff of Hennepin County Minnesota’s largest county, with 1.3 million residents (roughly ¼ of the State’s population).  He was first sworn in on January 1, 2007, and was re-elected in 2010.

A 28-year veteran of law enforcement, Stanek began his career in the Minneapolis Police Department; he rose through the ranks from Patrol Officer, Detective, Precinct Commander, to Commander of Criminal Investigations.

While a police officer, Stanek was elected five times to the Minnesota House of Representatives; he chaired the House Crime Policy & Finance Committee, and authored Minnesota’s Felony DWI law, Minnesota’s standards for DNA collection for predatory offenders, and Minnesota’s Homeland Security Act of 2002. In 2003, he was appointed by the Governor as Commissioner of Public Safety & Director of Homeland Security. 

Sheriff Stanek serves on several national boards: Homeland Security’s Interagency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group (ITACG) (created by Executive Order, allowing the sharing of terrorism-related information), and the Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council (CICC), advising the U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  In January, 2012, Stanek began a two-year term as President of the Major County Sheriffs’ Association (MCSA). He serves on the Board of Directors for the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) and co-chairs the NSA Homeland Security Committee, as well as being active in the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). 

Sheriff Stanek has been a featured speaker at national public safety conferences on topics including: intelligence-led policing, countering violent extremism, crime policy, and managing disaster recovery; he recently served on faculty at the National Critical Incident Management Conference, and the National Emergency Managers Association.  He is author of Inside the Minds: Immigration Insights, published by Aspatore Books, 2011.

Sheriff Stanek earned a Criminal Justice Degree from the University of Minnesota, and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Hamline University. He completed training at the National Sheriffs’ Institute, the FBI’s National Executive Institute (NEI) and Leadership in Counter-Terrorism (LinCT), and the U.S. Army War College, National Security Seminar, 57th Session.

Dedicated to working with at-risk youth, Stanek serves on boards for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities, and TreeHouse; in 2007 he founded the Hennepin County Sheriff Foundation, which sponsors at-risk youth, and Hennepin County Special Deputies (Volunteers). 

Born and raised in northeast Minneapolis, Sheriff Stanek is a lifelong resident of Hennepin County. He lives in Maple Grove with his wife and their two children.