As a career law enforcement officer and leader, it has been my experience that there are three (3) primary areas that are in constant review within a law enforcement agency. These areas are personnel, equipment, and training. These areas address everything from numbers and assignment of personnel, types of firearms and vehicles used by the agency, and the type and frequency of training for department personnel.

This model is simple, but effective in determining the needs of an agency, and provides a good, solid foundation for planning and determining personnel, equipment and training needs for an agency.

Based on these three (3) areas, I plan to implement the following changes if elected Baxter County Sheriff:

Personnel

I plan to increase the number of Patrol Deputies to include the addition of at least two (2) K9 units. The Patrol Deputies are the backbone of the department. They answer the calls, take the reports, and have the first contact with victims. They stabilize chaotic situations and are the face of the department. The Patrol Division must be staffed at a level that always allows a safe and timely response to calls for service.

The addition of K9 units is an immediate force multiplier for Deputies in the field and provides an immediate response for incidents involving building searches, fleeing suspects, and narcotics detection, without having to wait for a K9 from another agency.

Adding personnel and K9 teams to the Patrol Division go hand in hand since it is likely the handlers will come from the ranks of the Patrol Division. I also plan to enhance the Reserve Deputy program by increasing training and assignment opportunities.

Equipment

• One of the first equipment issues I plan to address is obtaining Body Worn Cameras for Patrol Deputies. These cameras improve both officer and public accountability, gather high quality evidence, decrease citizen complaints and use of force incidents, provide transparency in police-citizen interactions, enhance officer training, and build public trust by offering an objective record of events. Past issues, such as battery life and data storage, have, for the most part, been improved, making the acquisition of the cameras much easier and affordable for law enforcement agencies. I have worked with both dash cameras and body worn cameras and have found that dash cameras are an excellent tool for traffic enforcement scenarios, but offer limited coverage. Body Worn Cameras are much more suited for the work of sheriff’s deputies and improve transparency, accountability, and public trust.

• Service Weapons: In recent years, law enforcement agencies have gone back and forth on the caliber and manufacturer of service weapons carried by their personnel. I have gone through several of these transitions over the years and transitioned from different manufacturers, models and calibers. However, in a 2014 report, the FBI concluded that 9mm rounds could now outperform .40 S&W and .45 ACP rounds. The report led the FBI and many other agencies to transition to the 9mm round. Based not only on the 2014 FBI report, but also the more manageable recoil which improves accuracy and control, the high-capacity magazines, and more affordable and available ammunition, I plan to transition to a 9mm service pistol selected by the departments Firearms Instructors with input from the Deputies.

• Aviation Unit: The helicopter is and has been a valuable tool for the Sheriff’s Office for many years, and if properly maintained, can continue to be an asset for the citizens of Baxter County as well as area law enforcement agencies for years to come.

  To supplement and support the Aviation Unit, I plan to establish a drone unit within the Sheriff’s Office. This will allow the Sheriff’s Office to provide a timely, alternative response if the helicopter is unavailable. The development of a drone program is both a practical and effective option, and similar programs have proven to be successful by other area law enforcement agencies.

  The potential benefits for officer safety and efficiency are significant when used in accordance with appropriate policies. The reduced risk to our deputies, real-time information, decreased response times, and cost effectiveness are just a few of the potential benefits in establishing a drone program.

Training

• I plan to increase the training opportunities for all personnel at the Sheriff’s Office.  Commissioned personnel will receive training in the two (2) most liability-prone areas in law enforcement which are the use of force and emergency driving. Patrol Deputies will also receive training in narcotics detection, interdiction and search and seizure law. Commissioned personnel will also be required to complete quarterly firearms training, with one of the firearms training sessions to be a “night fire”. Detention Center personnel will be required to complete a block of approved training to include jail standards and use of force training. 

• Certificate Pay: With additional training requirements, Deputies will earn more training hours and can obtain additional certification levels through the Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training (CLEST).

  I plan to incentivize the additional training and ask the Quorum Court to initiate a program that awards an annual stipend for each of the five (5) certificates offered through CLEST.

• Wellness Program: In addition to the law enforcement training, I plan to institute a wellness program for Deputies that provides programs related to physical, mental, and financial wellness.

  These types of programs offer peer support, resilience training, and resources for stress reduction and burnout prevention to improve deputies’ physical and psychological health, as well as their professional performance, community relationships, and increase the number of long-term employees within the Sheriff’s Office.

Narcotics Investigations

Methamphetamine is the primary narcotics threat to our community and will continue to be the primary narcotics threat unless we adopt an aggressive, coordinated response involving local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. Working together, we can stop the flow of the drug and put the dealers in jail. I have been involved in narcotics enforcement as an Investigator and Commander and understand how to implement this type of enforcement program to disrupt the distribution of narcotics and arrest those responsible for narcotics trafficking.

I will implement an aggressive, coordinated response to all narcotics-related crimes in Baxter County and will work to bring the maximum amount of resources to bear on the traffickers to ensure a positive outcome in the investigation and prosecution of these types of cases.

The recent narcotics-related arrests in north central and northwest Arkansan are a prime example of an aggressive, coordinated effort by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies working together. We work better together, primarily because there are things the different agencies bring to the table to investigate these types of cases. A local agency may have great informants, a state agency may have personnel needed to conduct a surveillance, and a federal partner may be available to utilize electronic surveillance like a wiretap to bring a case to the point where an arrest can be made.

These task force and joint investigations often lead to federal indictments and arrests, with some of the lesser cases being charged at the state level. The benefits of task force operations are many, and include interagency cooperation, extensive surveillance, financial tracking, and the availability of complex wiretaps. The benefits of charging a defendant federally include harsher penalties, mandatory minimum sentences, limited opportunities for probation and no parole.

During my time as Commander of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Arkansas State Police, I saw firsthand how local, state and federal agencies came together to put bad people in jail. These joint efforts allowed sharing of personnel, equipment, and investigative assets with the local agencies and task forces.

While all cases can’t be charged federally, the cases that go to the federal system usually involve the most serious suppliers and offenders, leaving some of the less serious offenders to navigate the state court system. Conducting task force and joint investigations standardize investigative procedures and reporting, which improves the overall investigative process, and a good process provides good results. Simply put, we work better when we work together, and I plan to implement this investigative approach to not just narcotics related investigations, but to all major crimes we investigate.