There are four candidates who filed for the office of Buchanan County Sheriff in the upcoming election. Two are facing off in the GOP primary. A third, Ron Fisher, is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination. The fourth, Pat Grove, pulled out of the running for the Republican nomination, but is expected to file as an independent candidate in the November general election.
The GOP race for Sheriff is being contested between a longtime member of Sheriff’s office and a longtime St. Joseph Police Officer.
Puett has served with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office for nearly 30 years, working or supervising in every division. He currently serves as undersheriff. Puett earned his bachelors degree at Missouri Western and obtained a masters degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Central Missouri State University. He has also served as an adjunct facultymember at MWSU for over twenty years, and has been one of the senior instructors in the Law Enforcement Academy. He is active with the Missouri Sheriff’s Association and sits on the Major Case Squad and the Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In an appearance with Barry Birr on “The Hotline” on 680 KFEQ, Puett said we need to make sure we’re tough, agressive and vigilant on crime, looking into enhanced techniques and new technologies. He said we need to constantly improve, and challenge the crime that is confronting our community.
“There’s a lot of things that are sticking their ugly heads up, and we just don’t want that here, I don’t think any of the citizens want that here,” Puett said. “I would agree that everybody’s been doing a really good job and working hard at that, but we need to continue to move forward and do as much as we can to combat that.”
Puett says we’re seeing a variety of “bigger-city issues,” including including drug crimes, and drug-related homicides and assaults.
“I think we’ve been successful addressing some of those issues that have been coming into the community,” Puett said. But he says the sheriff’s office is low on manpower. He says part of the reason is financial, but there are other reasons.
He says they’re having some difficulties with hiring. “The simple answer is there’s not a log of people are not happy with the things as they are right now. They believe they can make more money and put up with less stress and ridicule and those type of things in other positions. These are good individuals. We’ve seen people leave for money. Some of our talented individuals we’re losing. This is not a Buchanan County issue, it’s a societal issue.”
“Of course with manpower, there’s a money side of it, and those are things we continue to work with the commission, and the commission has been very supportive.”
The other Republican candidate, Ed Sexton, agrees that deputies are not paid enough. In a separate interview on “The Hotline,” Sexton said there are ways to improve that.
“Once getting in there, there are ways you can trim the budget, trim money, not frivolously spend money on things that aren’t necessary,” Sexton said. “Eventually I think that the county commissioners would be apt to come up with a plan to increase salaries. Deputies do not make what they should make.”
Sexton has worked with the St. Joseph Police Department for about 30 years. He graduated from Benton High School and earned an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice from Missouri Western State University. He has served on the Bike Patrol and as a Crime Scene Technician. Sexton was a patrol officer for eight years, and worked as a School Resource Officer at Benton for five years.
“I really like the School Resource Officer job, ” he said. “It was fun.
“I was lucky enough to be the school resource officer at Benton and my children were going to school there at the same time so I got to spend a lot of time with them.”
He says the kids really like having a uniformed officer around. “I met a lot of great kids, and I consider a lot of them that I know good friends now. I haven’t been there for about nine years, but I see a lot of them now that were students when I was there.”
As to the office of sheriff, Sexton says he sees things going on that he believes he can change for the better, but he says you don’t want to change things just for the sake of changing them.
“I think somebody needs to get in there and see exactly how things are being done, and come up with innovative ways to improve that, to make it better for the public and the workers for the county.”
“Communications are key,” Sexton says. “You have to be able to effectively communicate with citizens and subordinates. You need to be able to de-escalate difficult situations. “I thing the sheriff is the face of the Buchanan county Sheriff’s department. That person should portray him or herself as a leader by example, come up with ideas to make it better for the citizens and the deputies as well.”
“There’s room for improvement in anything. Hopefully I can get elected and hopefully I can find ways to improve things that are being done now, but overall I think that the sheriff’s department and the police department are doing good jobs.”
He says he admired the way Police Chief Chris Connally met with each officer when he was hired as chief. “He listened to what each officer had to say about what their goals were on the department, what they would like to see happen and what they’d like to see changed,” Sexton said in an interview. “I think that I would like to meet with everybody and get to know each employee on a personal level, and see what changes they would like to make.”
“They’re the ones that go through their jobs every day, and they would be the ones that would know how to make it better and what would make it worse. In any line of work, you want to make people’s jobs as easy as can be, especially in this line of work. It’s a tough job. If there’s a way that something can get changed to make doing their job easier, that would be beneficial.”
“Communication, accountability, visibility, efficiency, transparency is the buzz word that they use. All of that if real big.”
A lot of residents in rural areas are concerned that they’re not seeing deputies on their roads, on their streets that are off the beaten path. “One thing I would probably push is getting more visibility of the deputies out on the county roads that are not normally main thoroughfares. They need to be patrolled as well. I think that’s a big deterrent.
“If there’s a criminal out there that’s not bright enough to not break into something when there’s a police officer or deputy driving by they need to get a new line of work.”
He says drugs are an issue in the community, along with mental health and violent crime, and says all of that needs to be addressed.
Pat Grove originally filed as a Republican candidate for Sheriff, but pulled out of the primary race a legal challenge surfaced based on whether his Peace Officer’s License was active at the time he filed as a candidate. He says he will file as an independent candidate so his name will appear on the ballot in the November general election.
Ron Fisher, is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the primary.
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