ROCKLAND — “I’ve had guys here that have watched people burn to death in their car,” said Dwight Burtis. “I’ve personally held people on their last breath right here in Knox County. That’s not something we experience on a regular basis. But that’s something in a career in law enforcement that you are going to see.”

Burtis has been stabbed twice while working as a road cop prior to joining the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. Other co-workers have been assaulted on the job. Those are the things you remember, he said.

But Burtis carries on.

“Ninety-seven percent of people around us are good folk trying to live,” he said. “Trying to have lives, loves, build homes, build families. And those are the people that I serve.”

On Monday, Aug. 8, 2022, Burtis moved up in rank from investigator to Chief Deputy of the KCSO. His role as Chief Deputy means he is involved in everything, according to Burtis. He assists the sheriff in leading the patrol unit as well as the corrections division.

“There are a lot of things I’d like to see changed,” he said. “I think we have the ability to serve the public better than we have been…. Sometimes a fresh set of eyes, a fresh approach can benefit everybody.”

Burtis can list a plethora of issues facing law enforcement that he’d love to change, including providing better living wages to deputies. Yet, as a domestic violence investigator, he returns often to that concern. In fact, both times he was stabbed were during domestic calls.

Sometimes the problem is legislative, such as protection orders. They are one way and often don’t work. The accused abuser is told not to have contact with the victim and is prosecuted if he [often times a male] breaches that space.

However, the victim is not legally bound to stay away from the abuser. She (often times female) is not penalized for sending him a flood of texts or deliberately driving past his house. Both parties should be held accountable in a protection order, said Burtis.

Sometimes the problem is prosecutorial, such as when an overwhelmed District Attorney’s Office dismisses or delays cases, or when too much leniency is granted at the court level.

Despite the frustrations, Burtis fights on for the county that has been his home since the age of 13 after his family moved from his birth place of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to New York, to Camden.

Four years in the Air Force honed his abilities as a K9 handler and trainer while he served in the narcotic- and explosive-rampant Phillipines.

But there was a gap between military and law enforcement. He tried some college, floated a bit, and performed with a Camden Shakespeare production. That theater led him to a national Shakespeare company, where he honed his skills interacting with all walks of life.

After awhile, it was time to come home. So, in 1986 he got a job with Portland Police Department, took over the K9 division and walked the beat.

Inching closer to home, he started with the KCSO 15 years ago, investigating all sorts of concerns for the county as well as the state. On the side, he plays the flute, clarinet, and saxophone with local jazz bands.

“This is a difficult job because you are really not quite part of the public that you protect,” he said. “Once you get used to that position in our society, and recognize it for what it is, you can get past it and go on to do a really good job.”