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GOLDEN TOWNSHIP — Deputy Brendan Nienhuis has been selected as Oceana County Sheriff’s Office Golden Township deputy, which is a new position, the sheriff’s office announced Thursday, May 28.
After graduating from Hart High School, Deputy Nienhuis worked as a summer marine officer in 2022. He graduated from West Shore Community College’s police academy in May of 2023 when he was hired full-time by the sheriff’s office.
“Deputy Nienhuis has already worked a season in Golden Township where he learned what the needs of the community were,” said Undersheriff Ryan Schiller. “Deputy Nienhuis is currently working in the patrol division, but has also worked in court services and is a member of our dive and drone teams. Deputy Nienhuis grew up in Silver Lake and knows many of the business owners and residents already.”
“Deputy Nienhuis applied for this position, as this is new to us at the sheriff’s office. This is the first full-time contracted deputy position that we have. We fulfill some areas of the county with contracted hours per month, but none of these are full-time. This is new ground for us and for Golden Township. We have always had a very good working relationship with Golden Township, and this is a great step in providing the next level of service to a very busy tourism community.”
“The Golden Township deputy’s scheduled hours will be less predictable than in the past, which we all feel will be helpful. We will continue to staff the busy holiday weekends with extra staffing to accommodate our population influx. We know that Oceana County has a significant number of visitors annually. That number is proportionately huge when you start to consider how many deputies are normally working at any given time,” said Undersheriff Schiller.
Golden Township is home to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes — a summer destination that attracts about 1.5 million visitors annually. It is the only place of its kind in the US east of the Mississippi River.
“We know that Deputy Nienhuis will serve this community well, and we look forward to seeing the connections to this community develop. For the homeowners who winter somewhere else, we recommend completing a ‘property check’ request when it’s closer to that time of year. This can be easily accomplished using the new sheriff app that was recently released. Among many other duties, Deputy Nienhuis will be checking up on our winter homes when the snow is on the ground.”
The OCSO app is available in your phone’s app store. Search for “Oceana County Sheriff, MI.”
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