Safety For Our Citizens

Having been married for nearly 27 years and having four children, I understand the constant thought of “is my family safe”? We think about safety when we look at where we want to live, we think about safety when we buy
our cars and we think about work place safety. As a police officer, it is our duty to “protect and serve”. A lot of officers talk this, but do they walk it? I am proud to say that in 2021, myself and one other deputy lead our department in criminal arrests and I led the department in DUI arrests. I will admit that I am not much of a ticket writer, but when it comes to crimes that deal with public safety, I am not flexible. For total transparency, in 2021, I had 79 criminal arrests. It may come as a surprise to some people that we have road officers that had a total of 0 criminal arrests in 2021, and quite a few with less than 10. You may ask why that is; I am not sure I can give you the precise answer for each person, but I can say this, these type of things come from the top down. We have not had a department meeting for nearly three years. What I mean by a department meeting is simply this: our Sheriff and/or Major has not called a meeting with our road patrol division for nearly three years to discuss anything, let alone what kind of goals we have in place to ensure that we are doing everything we can to keep our community safe. One thing I said from the outset of my campaign is this: “to fail to communicate is to fail to care". It is imperative as a leader to be in constant communication with your team. By nature, I am a person who likes communication, I am a “people person”. I can assure you that I would be in regular communication with our officers, setting goals of how we can best ensure the safety of our great citizens, while confirming that we are working efficiently to reach those goals.

 

 

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Care For Our New Jail

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It is a great honor, but also a great responsibility to be given a brand new jail and department headquarter facility. Upon completion of this project, our county taxpayers will have spent nearly 25 million dollars for this facility. It is imperative that the new Sheriff has the business acumen and the personal convictions to hold the highest standards in cleanliness and professionalism to ensure that this new facility does not quickly become in disrepair as our current jail is.  We have suffered many lawsuits concerning our jail, causing extreme financial losses that end up being absorbed by the tax payers. I do not believe any of these lawsuits had to do with the age of our current jail building, but more with the operations management which is directly overseen by the Sheriff and the Major. Believe it or not, our current jail is not that old. General building and property untidiness has nothing to do with the age of a facility; it has everything to do with the management of the employees. We must have a leader who exemplifies and demands professionalism in all aspects of operations of the Henry County Sheriff’s Department. I have been blessed to have been a business founder, owner and operator in the private sector and I feel certain that our community would attest to the fact that our family places the highest priority on exemplifying and providing professionalism in service.

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Forward Thinking

As you well know, we are living in rapidly changing times. We must stay current with the available advances in information sharing, training and equipment. I am an advocate of our officers wearing body cameras, and having in car cameras. Cameras that can not be turned off or manipulated by the officer. I do not view this a means to change the way our officers react in any given situation, but as way to have transparency in regard to all of our official conduct as employees of the county. I am also an advocate of all our road officers being trained and equipped with a “less than lethal” shotgun round that has the capability of neutralizing a situation from a safe distance. I am amazed that we still have not been issued this type of equipment, even though it has been requested by our officers. I have cringed when I have heard the desperate phrase from a loved one of “couldn’t your guys have done something different”? These type of issues are unacceptable, And it seems the best explanation is typically “that’s the way we have always done it”! These are just a few examples of many areas that we are simply stagnant in. It's time for a new era of thinking! It is time to elect a leader who plans to still be around working in the environment that he created while he was the Sheriff. We need a leader with energy and a clear vision for the future advancement of this department! Not a person who is just looking to double his salary and pension just in time to retire then pick up extra jobs and income that are created for him by the “good ole boy” system that is alive and well in this county. We need change, we need a new vision!! 

 

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Children Are Our Future

You have heard the phrase “children are our future”. The interesting thing about this phrase is, it IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE!! I have always had a passion for kids! For many years, I drove our church bus, picked up kids all over this community and brought them to church. I developed many lasting friendships with these children (who are now adults) and tried in every way to instill the correct mindset in them--that they are of great value and their life has purpose! I feel our Sheriff’s department should focus on positive interaction with our youth, through different local outreach programs and by simply…CARING! I can not count the amount of times that I have seen a family with small kids admiring my Sheriff car in a parking lot somewhere and I ask them if they want to get in and “turn the lights on”. I absolutely love it when the kids faces light up when I open up the door and they see all of the “cool stuff” inside. These things seem simple but I try to have a positive interaction with children and youth any time I can.

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