Rovenstine To Seek 2nd Term As Sheriff
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
C. Aaron Rovenstine, 42, is seeking re-election to the office of Kosciusko County Sheriff.
Elected to his first term in 1998, the 42-year-old Republican looked back on accomplishments of the last three years and forward to the future, which will include operating a new 325-bed county jail.
"We've established a record of what I feel are very positive accomplishments and we're prepared to continue in that tradition," Rovenstine said.
The word "we" appears often in his speech, and his list of triumphs are also those of the 70 full-time employees who serve the sheriff's department and jail system.
He initiated the first disability policy for injured officers and worked with the Kosciusko County council to increase deputies' salaries by 17 percent.
Through grant applications, computers will be installed in patrol cars.
The addition of school resource officers at Wawasee and Tippecanoe Valley high schools he also sees as a positive improvement.
Rovenstine heads a department of 32 merit officers and 21 reserves. There are 18 jail officers and two security officers for the Justice Building.
"The state jail inspectors want to see 11 more jailers added when the new jail opens," he said.
The 1982 Ball State University graduate began his career in law enforcement in Milford in 1984, where he served until 1990, the time of his hiring by the sheriff's department.
Although he followed in his father's footsteps to his current position (C. Alan Rovenstine was sheriff from 1979 to 1986 and from 1990 to 1998), it's a whole different ball game for the second-generation police officer.
"I never thought I'd go to Grissom Air Force Base to be updated on terrorism. I'd never heard of methamphetamine when I first came on the force and we've found 20 'labs' in the county," he said.
He takes the ever-changing world in stride, however, saying he wakes up looking forward to his job.
"I didn't need Sept. 11 to tell me who the heroes are. I work with them every day. I've been around them all my life."
If the sheriff had his druthers, if he could have the staff of his dreams, he'd add more investigators and have an officer specifically hired to serve civil papers and another for the warrant division.
Hiring more jailers will be the first order of business, though. Rovenstine said the first female jailer was recently hired along with a Hispanic Spanish-speaking officer.
"The jail's been understaffed forever," he said. "We've got to keep it immune from liability."
Most of the jail's population arrives there through alcohol abuse or dependency, followed by drug users. The number of inmates arriving for non-support and domestic battery is on the increase, he said.
Of course, the general public wants increased traffic control, he acknowledged.
And they want faster response times, Rovenstine said, especially when the county's population doubles "or triples, depending on who you're talking to," during the summer months.
"We can't be everywhere all the time," he said.
During the last three years the sheriff's department has facilitated development of a central dispatch, a combined county and city effort; brought the Sheriff's Camp to Kosciusko County for the first time; began countywide detective meetings; improved Lake Wawasee patrols; and worked with the county council to keep the DARE program viable.
Personally, the 1978 Warsaw Community High School graduate serves on the board for the Committee to Commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King board, the Kosciusko County Foundation Vision Team, was inducted into the Kosciusko County Republican Hall of Fame in 2000, and is listed in the 2002 "Who's Who of Public Service International" and is a member of the Indiana Sheriff's Association legislative board.
He is married to Robin, who works part-time at the jail. The couple have two children, C. Austin, 14, and Caleb, 10.
The sheriff's salary of $76,000 is state mandated, based on a formula dictated by the county's population. The county council has approved a 3 percent addition to Rovenstine's pay, bringing it to a little more than $78,000. [[In-content Ad]]
C. Aaron Rovenstine, 42, is seeking re-election to the office of Kosciusko County Sheriff.
Elected to his first term in 1998, the 42-year-old Republican looked back on accomplishments of the last three years and forward to the future, which will include operating a new 325-bed county jail.
"We've established a record of what I feel are very positive accomplishments and we're prepared to continue in that tradition," Rovenstine said.
The word "we" appears often in his speech, and his list of triumphs are also those of the 70 full-time employees who serve the sheriff's department and jail system.
He initiated the first disability policy for injured officers and worked with the Kosciusko County council to increase deputies' salaries by 17 percent.
Through grant applications, computers will be installed in patrol cars.
The addition of school resource officers at Wawasee and Tippecanoe Valley high schools he also sees as a positive improvement.
Rovenstine heads a department of 32 merit officers and 21 reserves. There are 18 jail officers and two security officers for the Justice Building.
"The state jail inspectors want to see 11 more jailers added when the new jail opens," he said.
The 1982 Ball State University graduate began his career in law enforcement in Milford in 1984, where he served until 1990, the time of his hiring by the sheriff's department.
Although he followed in his father's footsteps to his current position (C. Alan Rovenstine was sheriff from 1979 to 1986 and from 1990 to 1998), it's a whole different ball game for the second-generation police officer.
"I never thought I'd go to Grissom Air Force Base to be updated on terrorism. I'd never heard of methamphetamine when I first came on the force and we've found 20 'labs' in the county," he said.
He takes the ever-changing world in stride, however, saying he wakes up looking forward to his job.
"I didn't need Sept. 11 to tell me who the heroes are. I work with them every day. I've been around them all my life."
If the sheriff had his druthers, if he could have the staff of his dreams, he'd add more investigators and have an officer specifically hired to serve civil papers and another for the warrant division.
Hiring more jailers will be the first order of business, though. Rovenstine said the first female jailer was recently hired along with a Hispanic Spanish-speaking officer.
"The jail's been understaffed forever," he said. "We've got to keep it immune from liability."
Most of the jail's population arrives there through alcohol abuse or dependency, followed by drug users. The number of inmates arriving for non-support and domestic battery is on the increase, he said.
Of course, the general public wants increased traffic control, he acknowledged.
And they want faster response times, Rovenstine said, especially when the county's population doubles "or triples, depending on who you're talking to," during the summer months.
"We can't be everywhere all the time," he said.
During the last three years the sheriff's department has facilitated development of a central dispatch, a combined county and city effort; brought the Sheriff's Camp to Kosciusko County for the first time; began countywide detective meetings; improved Lake Wawasee patrols; and worked with the county council to keep the DARE program viable.
Personally, the 1978 Warsaw Community High School graduate serves on the board for the Committee to Commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King board, the Kosciusko County Foundation Vision Team, was inducted into the Kosciusko County Republican Hall of Fame in 2000, and is listed in the 2002 "Who's Who of Public Service International" and is a member of the Indiana Sheriff's Association legislative board.
He is married to Robin, who works part-time at the jail. The couple have two children, C. Austin, 14, and Caleb, 10.
The sheriff's salary of $76,000 is state mandated, based on a formula dictated by the county's population. The county council has approved a 3 percent addition to Rovenstine's pay, bringing it to a little more than $78,000. [[In-content Ad]]