The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office can certainly boast of its excellence in serving and protecting the community. It is rich with a tradition of integrity, fairness and leadership. But what the community may not be aware of is that it can also be respected for the opportunities that exist for women in the agency.

Osceola Sheriff’s Office Chief Martha Gens

The current Chief at the Osceola Sheriff’s Office is Chief Martha Gens, the highest ranked female in history of the Sheriff’s Office.  Chief Gens moved to Osceola County in 1977 from New Hampshire and graduated from Osceola High School in 1983. She began to attend classes at Valencia Community College to pursue a career in nursing and in 1988 while attending college, Chief Gens was hired by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office as a Communications 911 Dispatcher. It was in that position where she found her true calling as a Law Enforcement Officer.

While Chief Gens was working full-time as a dispatcher she attended the Kissimmee Police Academy, graduating at the top of her class. She began working in a patrol car, later becoming a field training officer. She gained experience working in the Tourist Crime Unit, the Criminal Apprehension Unit,  the Criminal Investigation Division and was then promoted to Sergeant in 1997 where she supervised Patrol units and oversaw the training of new recruits. She went on to supervise the agency’s Forensic Unit, Person Crimes, and Sex Crimes Unit.  In 2017 Sheriff Russ Gibson promoted Chief Gens to her current position of Chief Deputy, second in command at the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, where she controls the daily operations of the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputy Michelle Sayers – S.W.A.T.

For the first time in the history of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, a female officer has graduated as a member of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team.

On April 20, 2018, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office S.W.A.T. team welcomed 4 new members. Proudly, for the first time in the history, a female officer was one of the graduates. Deputy Michelle Sayers is the first woman to make the specialized team after completing the rigorous testing procedures and was chosen as the team’s newest operator. Sayers has served as a patrol deputy with OCSO for the past 3 years and joined the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office in 2015.

These two amazing women are not just raising the bar for women, they are raising the bar for the entire agency, the community and beyond. They have set their minds and their hearts on a goal. A goal that surpasses perceptions of the past while gripping on what we value today, and where we are headed tomorrow.

They are ensuring that the tradition of integrity, fairness, openness and opportunity at the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office is every bit as true and available as it always has been, and because of leaders like Osceola County Sheriff Chief Martha Gens and S.W.A.T. Member Deputy Michelle Sayers, the future is an even more positive one at the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.