Harrison County Sheriff says colon cancer diagnosis led to retirement decision

GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - After 30 years of dedicating his life to law enforcement, Sheriff Troy Peterson is hanging up his badge.

He was first sworn in January 1994 and continued his work in the business ever since but he says there is still much to do.

“There is still a lot that I want to do for the community,” says Sheriff Peterson. “There is still a lot I want to do for the department but it’s time for someone else to take over and do what they want to do. I’m just ready to go home and do something different.”

This afternoon, Sheriff Peterson’s friends, families and colleagues gathered at the Lyman Senior Center to celebrate his retirement. The sheriff says he made the decision to step down after being diagnosed the colon cancer March of last year.

“It put you into a perspective on life where you think about family, and you think about your career, and you think about everything all at one time,” he said. “Me and my wife set down It’s kind of somebody hitting you in the head with a skillet. You know you just don’t know how to take it at the time, but she said, and I said we’re going to get through this.”

Sheriff Peterson was fortunate to beat cancer. He was cleared November of last year.

“I spoke to people in the department and told them you know I’m just being honest,” he continued. “I said look I don’t want this publicized. I don’t want it out there, but I want everybody to know what’s going on. It ended up being stage three but it was treatable, but they ended up doing surgery back in November. I did about seven cancer treatments here on the coast.”

Sheriff Peterson will officially begin his retirement in January 2024.

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