Shannon D. Dicus was elected as the 36th Sheriff-Coroner for San Bernardino County on June 7, 2022. San Bernardino County has over 2 million residents and is the nation’s largest county geographically spanning more than 20,056 miles. The Department oversees the unincorporated county areas, operates the county jail systems, provides marshal services in the county courts and contracts law enforcement services to 14 of the 24 incorporated cities within the county. The Department consists of 2007 sworn personnel, 2073 professional employees and 1552 volunteers, with an annual budget of over $800 million dollars.
Shannon was raised in a law-enforcement family and has lived in San Bernardino County for over 40 years. Shannon always knew he wanted to go into law enforcement and became a Sheriff’s Explorer Scout while still in high school. After graduating, he enlisted in the United States Army and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division where he served as a Military Police Officer at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and in Sinai, Egypt. After his military service, Shannon worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs Police Department in Loma Linda, California until he was hired by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in 1991. Shannon graduated the 106th Basic Academy session and has since held positions at every rank within the Department. His past assignments include Corrections as well as Patrol in Barstow, Apple Valley, Victorville City, and the Victor Valley Station. He has also worked specialized details to include Narcotics, SWAT, and Criminal Intelligence. More recently, Shannon served as the Department’s Undersheriff, where he oversaw day-to-day operations, as well as the Internal Affairs, Civil Liabilities and Bureau of Administration Divisions.
Shannon has a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from California State University San Bernardino and a master’s degree in Communications from California Baptist University.
As a longtime resident of San Bernardino County, Shannon is devoted to the citizens of the county and is always looking for new and innovative ways to better serve them. Shannon believes in developing progressive programs that not only assist the public, but also those reentering society. Shannon has led the way in instituting programs focusing on inmate rehabilitation and reentry, department crisis/mental health response and county homelessness; to name a few. Shannon also takes great pride in being part of developing the Department’s NextGen Info Exchange. This program focuses on communicating with our younger community members (ages 16-35) where they can voice their concerns and ask questions about important issues that are vital to their generation. Through all this, Shannon maintains his priorities of improving community relationships, public confidence and affecting positive change from within the Department.