A native of Chester County and graduate of Chester High School, Max Dorsey began his term as the elected Sheriff of Chester County on January 5, 2021. Prior to that, he served as the Interim Sheriff after being appointed by Governor Henry D. McMaster on May 7, 2019.
Prior to his appointment, Sheriff Dorsey was employed with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and served as the Captain and Special Agent in Charge of the Narcotics Department. While in that capacity, he also served as the Agency’s Clandestine Laboratory Coordinator, which included the management of South Carolina’s Drug Lab Clean-Up Program.
Sheriff Dorsey has more than twenty-five years of law enforcement service, which includes more than eight years assigned as a SLED Special Agent to the Narcotics Section of the State Grand Jury, and twelve years as a SLED Lieutenant, directly supervising the investigation of numerous narcotics trafficking organizations operating throughout South Carolina.
In 2010, Sheriff Dorsey assisted in the formation and passage of the Omnibus Crime Reduction and Sentencing Reform Act in the South Carolina General Assembly which, among other reforms, limited a person’s daily amount of pseudoephedrine purchases. In 2012, Sheriff Dorsey testified before a House Subcommittee of the United States Congress regarding the impact of methamphetamine on South Carolina.
Sheriff Dorsey is currently the Chair of the Drug Sub-committee of South Carolina’s US Attorney’s Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee (LECC), and has been an instructor at the LECC’s Narcotics Commanders School at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center since 2003.
For his diligent work and contributions to the State of South Carolina, Sheriff Dorsey received the 2007 Strom Thurmond Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement, the highest law enforcement honor in the State. He is also the 2013/2014 recipient of the Enrique S. Camarena Award presented by the South Carolina Elks.
Sheriff Dorsey holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Carolina, with a major in Political Science.