Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry announced Friday he will retire at the end of his term.

Gentry’s announcement came on the 25th anniversary of his law enforcement career.

Gentry, 46, joined the sheriff’s office just weeks after he turned 21 in 1999. He is in his third term as sheriff, which will end in January 2027.

“You always hear about people in politics talking about term limits,’’ Gentry said. “But at the end of the day, you see elected officials who say, ‘I believe in term limits,’ but they’ve been in Washington, D.C. for 30 years.”

“The question becomes where is the self-accountability?’’ he said.

Gentry said that when he began his first campaign for sheriff in 2014, his father gave him words of advice that he has never forgotten.

“He told me, ‘Son, I’m going to help you get elected but it’s your job to stay elected.’’ Gentry said.

“He said the founding fathers created government for a purpose of leaders to do their jobs and then go do something else,’’ he said. “What we see across the nation is not what our founding fathers set forth for government. They didn’t set forth for us to go there and say something and stay there forever.”

Gentry was unopposed in his last two elections.

“It would be easy for me to say I want to run again,’’ the sheriff said. “That wouldn’t be fair to the people.”

Gentry said he’s proud of the accomplishments of the sheriff’s office and said he plans continue working for community for the next 2 ½ years.

“I will work every day as hard as I can, just like the day that I started,’’ he said.

“What you can count on is this: Whether I’m the sheriff or something else, if something bad happens, I will always be there standing with you shoulder to shoulder,’’ Gentry said. “I can guarantee you this – I will not give anyone who would do harm to our community once inch. I will never give them one inch because that’s my love for this community.”