The upcoming Sheriff’s race is heating up and it’s not clear who may or may not be running.  One thing is for certain; I am running as the Republican candidate for Union County Sheriff. 

My law enforcement experience and management skills have been proven over time.  I have the determination, ability and support to lead the sheriff’s office into the future.

I receive numerous requests for information on the changes I want to implement at the Union County Sheriff’s Office, if I am honored to be elected Sheriff.  Detailed plans require professional management skills and law enforcement experience.  I realize that everyone who reads this may or may not agree with some or all of the proposed changes.  My opponents may twist this information around and attempt to use it against me in the election and that’s okay. I believe that one of the biggest problems we are having at the sheriff’s office is a lack of leadership at the highest level.   If elected Sheriff, I fully intend to bring leadership and direction to the sheriff’s office. 

The following information is a draft of policy changes and improvements that may be put into place at the Union County Sheriff’s Office.  I am the only Sheriff’s candidate that has offered any details about how they would improve the sheriff’s office.  Saying you want to change things is not enough.  You must have a plan.  I have promised full disclosure; so here it is.

Realignment of command staff

· The current span and control structure at the sheriff’s office is out-of-date and has serious gaps in the chain of command.  Please see “Chain of command “chart.

County patrol zones

· The county is currently not divided into zones.  Well designed zones will provide better coverage, better response times to calls and eliminates the bunching up of officers.  This is a more proactive approach to patrolling.

· Dedicated patrols in the Suches area. This will include aggressive traffic enforcement.

Sheriff office certification

· During the 2004 Sheriff’s election, Scott Stephens stated in a local newspaper during a debate that one of his goals was certification of the sheriff’s office.  My question is; what happened?  In the seven years that Scott Stephens has been Sheriff, the sheriff’s office is no closer to be certified then it was in 2000.  Achieving federal and state certification will reduce the tax burden to the tax payers.  Recently, the Governor’s Office received $ 44,000,000.00 dollars in federal grant money from Homeland Security to be used to improve local law enforcement agencies.  Since a law enforcement agency must be federally and state certified in order to qualify to receive these types of grants, the sheriffs’ office was not able to qualify for the grant. 

As your Sheriff; federal and state certification of the sheriff’s office will be one of many of my priorities.

Training

· Currently, the training program at the sheriff’s office is underfunded and not much of a priority.  I believe that a lack of training and leadership at the sheriff’s office is one of the major reasons the Union County Sheriff’s Office has such a dismal conviction rate in our court system.  As Sheriff, I will work to establish progressive training programs with our local college and other law enforcement agencies.

Proactive drug enforcement

· On a county, state and federal level, we have the tools and dedicated officers ready to tackle all of our drug issues.  What we don’t have is the leadership at the sheriff’s office.  As Sheriff, the Union County Sheriff’s Office will aggressively pursue all leads, conduct undercover operations, conduct search warrants, use proven drug interdiction programs and work closely with other agencies to rid this county of our current drug problem.  As your Sheriff, I will work 24-7, year-round on our drug issues, not just during an election year. 

D.U.I.’s

· It’s simple.  If you are caught driving under the influence, you will be arrested no matter who you know or who you are.

Accurate crime reporting stats

· The Union County Sheriff’s Office under the direction of Scott Stephens has not reported their crime stats to the F.B.I. or G.B.I. since August 2004. The reporting of crime stats is the “report card” on how well a department is doing their job.  Good or bad, as Sheriff, the sheriff’s office will report our stats monthly.

Equipment that will be added to all sheriffs’ office patrol units

· On-board video cameras.

· Laser speed detection equipment.

· Laptop computers. Our 911 system is currently equipped to activate computer aided dispatch.  This system would make our communication more secure and eliminate unwanted monitoring of sheriff’s office communications.  Officers will also be able to use this system to run tags and warrants from the patrol cars themselves.

· Crime scene processing kits with cameras.

· D.U.I. and drug kits.

· G.P.S. units.  G.P.S. allows us to know where the officer is in case of an emergency.

· Emergency survival equipment.

· Emergency traffic equipment

Equipment that will be issued to each patrol officer

· Seven long and short sleeve shirt and seven trousers.

Note: We will be changing the uniform color to a more professional look.  For safety, the collar insignias and name tag will be stitched into the uniforms.

· Two sets of field training clothing.

· Sidearm and ammo

· Shotgun and ammo

· Service belt, holster and all necessary equipment and handcuffs

· One light weight and one heavy weight coat.

· Reflective vest

· One small and one large flashlight

· One patrol cover (hat)

· Scrambling radios

· Copy of all sheriff’s office policies and procedures

· One police package patrol car or truck

Patrol car usage

· Law enforcement use

· Officers will be able to take their cars home

· Officers may use the patrol car to travel to and from training

· Officers may use the patrol car to travel to and from school (college)

· Officers may use the patrol car to travel to and from the gym

· Officers may use the patrol car to travel to and from extra law enforcement work

· Lt. and above will have full personal use of the patrol car

· Emergency Response Team members will have full personal use of the patrol car

· Officers living outside the county will be allowed to take their patrol cars home

Allowances the sheriff’s office will provide to officers; corrections and patrol

· Uniform dry cleaning allowance

· Shoe allowance

· College courses. Once an officer has completed and passed a college course, the officer will be refunded 50% of the course cost.  This program will require a three year employment commitment from the officer.

· Meal allowance if required to work six or more hours overtime on a shift

Discounts and programs the sheriff’s office will work to obtain

· Medical discounts

· Gym membership discounts

· New vehicle purchase discounts

· Preferred mortgages

· Better health insurance

· Disability insurance

· Better death benefits

· Eye care discounts

· Prescription drug discounts

Special units

· Another K-9 unit

· ERT unit

· Agriculture patrol unit also responsible for trash violations

· Animal control unit

· Marine patrol unit

· Traffic. All patrol units will be equipped and responsible for traffic enforcement

Overtime

The sheriff’s office must have control and accountability over the money paid out in overtime.

· All overtime must be approved by the shift supervisor before working the overtime

· Overtime must have a justification and case number

Pay and salaries

· The amount that we are paying our Correctional Officers is shameful.  If elected Sheriff, I will instruct my Chief of Staff to immediately research solutions to this problem.

· A fair pay scale will be implemented based on performance, time on the job and job position.

· NO EMPLOYEES PAY WILL BE CUT.  YOU HAVE MY WORD.

· As Sheriff, I will always lead the charge for better pay for all sheriffs’ office employees.

Civil Service Program

I firmly believe in employees rights.  To prove this, in the first 100 days in office, I will do the following.

· Ask our State Representative to present a bill granting employment protection to sheriff’s office employees in cases when a county changes Sheriff’s.

· Enact a Civil Service Program.  This program will cover the following:

1.       Hiring and firing procedures. No more “who you know” promotion policy.

2.       Employees rights

3.       Set pay scales

4.       Fair and impartial promotion procedures

5.       Fair procedures to investigate citizen complaints

Inventory

· If elected Sheriff, a complete auditing of all equipment, monies and evidence will be conducted.  I will ask the county to oversee this process.

· All items purchased by the sheriff’s office will be accounted for.

Sheriff’s office employees

· If elected Sheriff, all sheriffs’ office employees current and new will have to submit an employment application. 

· A complete background check will be conducted on all sheriffs’ office employees.

Establish an employee Code of Ethics and Sheriff’s Office Goals

·See Code of Ethics and Sheriff’s Office Goals

Auxiliary Deputies

· We have a large force of retired Deputies from other sheriff’s offices that live in Union County.  The sheriff’s office will establish a volunteer program to utilize this free resource.

School Resource Officers and D.A.R.E. Program

· As Sheriff, I will place a School Resource Officer in each school in Union County and increase the D.A.R.E. program funding.

Sheriff’s Office Youth Explorer Program

· The Explorer Program is what gave me my first experience in law enforcement.  This is a great program which has a record of success.  The Explorer Program introduces youths into law enforcement.

Community Crime Watch Program

· This is another program which has a record of success and frankly, I am surprised that this program does not already exist.  The sheriff’s office will educate and assist communities and citizens in techniques necessary to prevent crimes in their areas.

Residential Patrol Request

· This is another great program which has been proven to work.  When a citizen will be leaving their residence for several days or having a particular ongoing problem in an area, the citizen can request a Patrol Request.  Once a Patrol Request has been issued along with a Patrol Request number, the officer assigned to that area will check this residence or area and log his or her findings.

Sheriff’s Office website

· This website will have up-to-date information about Your Sheriff’s Office:``

1.       Budget information

2.       Information about  jail inmates

3.       Crime prevention information

4.       Sexual predator look-up links

5.       Report minor crimes