ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- January 1 marks the first day on the job for newly-elected Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter.

At the stroke of midnight, he and his undersheriff Korey Brown, surprised deputies with a visit to the Monroe County Jail. After that, it was off to the firing range for Monroe County's top cops.

Baxter said he thought it was important to physically show the deputies that he was there to back up the troops. He adds he wanted to show the team that they appreciate the difficult work environment they deal with each day.  

The new sheriff said county residents will see a more visible leadership that's ready to tackle the big issues. 

"Opioids. You know we're going to be taking that opioid fronthead on. We're going to be putting as man resources as we possibly can without giving up patrol," he said. "But I think we've got the biggest epidemic that we've had in our lifetime. And we need to put all the resources of all the bureaus of the sheriff's office on  that fight."

"They were definitely surprised to see us there and they were thankful that we were there. and it was a pleasure for us to go there and start to meet the deputies. You know there's almost 1,200 deputies in the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, so the sheriff and I have a lot of people to meet and so we're really looking forward to getting out and meeting everyone," Brown said.

After qualifying at the shooting range, the department's top two men then headed out on New Year's Day road patrol with deputies.