By Chris Taylor
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-944238.mp3
Cadiz, KY – Several area counties have a new sheriff heading up their respective outfits. Among them are Graves, Hickman and Trigg Counties. Reporter Chris Taylor finds out what's trending in area law enforcement leadership and what the newly elected anticipate and hope to accomplish during their terms.
New Trigg County Sheriff Ray Burnam beat incumbent Sheriff Randy Clark by about a twenty percent margin in the November election. He's a combat decorated veteran with two decades of Air Force service. Burnam ended a 12-year career with the Kentucky State Police last January in order to file and run for Sheriff. He oversees a staff of three deputies who he expects to be independent.
Burnam- I'm definitely not a micromanager. I've had some of those in my day and I believe if there's a person you have to micromanage, that person probably shouldn't be working with you. I believe in giving people the chance to do it their way and get out of their way and let them do those things. I have found, especially in the military, that that generally works out pretty well.
Burnam's not alone in his choice of management style. Graves County Sheriff Dewayne Redmon and Hickman newcomer Mark Green also believe micromanagement is ineffective at smaller departments. Sheriff Redmon has over 20 years in law enforcement administrative experience.
Redmon- I believe in people taking on their own responsibilities and not having to watch over their shoulder. Being mature about their job and being professional and experienced enough to handle their job without me having to watch over them constantly.
Sheriff Green has a varied background serving as a Fulton fire fighter, an insurance salesman in Paducah, and a Mayfield patrolman. He recalls his experience of having a micromanaging boss.
Green- In the Police Department in the 9 years at Mayfield we had six Police Chiefs and two of them were micromanagers. They lost their credibility with the guys who had their back very quickly.
While the new sheriffs share that commonality, all three also say they're transitioning smoothly into their posts. Graves Sheriff Redmon probably has the easiest learning curve, since he's been a Deputy under retired Sheriff John Davis for the past twelve years. Redmon's using his insight to make a few changes. His department will forego new vehicles this year in exchange for manpower.
Redmon- My intentions are to increase the drug investigations and have more seizures. One of my goals when I ran was to be able to try to cut budgets in other ways and obtain funding so I can hire another full-time drug detective to handle drug investigations.
Drugs top the priorities for Green and Burnam as well. In Trigg, Burnam also wants to hire a full time detective and to double his 3-man deputy team so his department can rely less on the State Police and the Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force to take down local drug dealers.
Burnam- If I pull up in my police car and I go knock on the door, they're not going to say, Here's the drugs. Take me to jail.' But what I plan to do is when we get those calls; we're going to investigate it undercover. We're going to build a case and hopefully we'll have the drug dealers in jail that night. We'll start the investigation right now versus waiting days to get to it.
Sheriff Green says he also wants more hands at his disposal and, so far, most of his term has been spent inside the courtroom.
Green- I don't have but one deputy and that's all their going to allow me to have for at least a year. I would love to have at least two more eventually to where it can take the burden off of me having to be in court. It's been an eye-opener because I never was stuck in court this much and now I am. I need to get out and meet people and things of that nature.
Green also notes he is the first Sheriff the Hickman County Fiscal Court has purchased a vehicle for in its history. So he's putting it use. He promises to patrol outlying county communities himself two to three times a week. By his term's end, Green hopes to have established a Crimestoppers tip hotline to make it easier for the community to relay information to him. Sheriff Burnam also wants to improve how his department engages the public. He plans to make avid use of the department's Facebook page, where he says already he's received multiple crime tips. Burnam says being available online will help him stay in touch with the community, especially with young people.
Burnam- You build that rapport and people feel more comfortable to come talk to you. Talking to some of the kids, they may not want to come talk to me face to face, but they'll send me a little message on Facebook or email me or text me something and then I can meet them somewhere and we can talk about things. So I've been getting a whole lot of information using that.
Besides doubling his staff, Burnam hopes to accomplish a number of things during his term, including updating the county's aging fleet of police cruisers and working to close any of Trigg's four unsolved murder cases, including two that are over twenty years old.