I have had several people ask recently if I was running for the Office of Pendleton County Sheriff, of course that answer is YES! When elected this will be my last term as your Pendleton County Sheriff as I will have served 12 years as Sheriff with and an additional 12 years as Chief Deputy. As the Fall election season comes around and we get closer to Election Day of November 4th, 2014, I would like for the voters of Pendleton County, both Democrat and Republican, to think about a few things as they go to the poles. In a local county election does it matter if the candidate is a Democrat or Republican, does it matter if you, the voter, are a Democrat or Republican? You the voters need to vote for who you believe can do the job and who has experience in the position they are seeking. The Office of Sheriff is not about pinning a tin badge on your shirt and riding around with blue lights on your car that says ‘Sheriff’ on the side. Over the last 18 years the duties of the Pendleton County Sheriffs Office have grown tremendously. This has lead to the increase of deputies on the road and the addition of court security and bailiff duties at the Justice Center. The property tax collections have increased from about $ 3 million to just over $ 7 million with the Sheriff solely responsible for this collection. The Sheriff’s Office is a fee office which means our revenues come from various places such as commissions on collections of taxes, service of process (criminal and civil summons), vehicle inspections, concealed carry applications just to name a few. When the jail was closed in 2004, the Pendleton County Fiscal Court provided the Sheriffs Office with salaries to hire to additional deputies to transport prisoners as well as be able to answer calls for service. These are the only funds that are provided to us by the Fiscal Court. Our annual budget is approximately $ 800 thousand a year, much less than other departments in the county. This job that I have come to love over the past 18 years has been tremendous, tiring, humbling, fun, and totally crazy at times. And, yes, even with the likes of the terrible things that we see and must do, it has even been rewarding and I would not have traded it for any other. This job can be a thankless one. People complain to us that criminals are released from jail too soon, which is not the job of the Sheriff to keep them there; that is the job of the court system. We get called to check on the elderly, remove snakes from houses, asked what are we going to do about the neighbor’s dog barking or their ducks and chickens trespassing onto their property. We answer calls of domestic violence, minor to serious car accidents with fatalities. We respond to calls for break ins, false alarms, and just about anything else imaginable. But not one of us does the job for the money or for the thanks, but to help people in need. We may not always make the right decision or the one that you think is right, but we try to make the right one as it best fits the law. So in Pendleton County when you go to the polls this November, look at the candidates running and not the party to which they are affiliated. Vote for the person that you believe is best suited for the office they are seeking. Thanks for Your Support, Craig Peoples, Sheriff Pendleton County Sheriffs Office
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 13:58:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015