NORTH WEBSTER - "This is the most sincere form of democracy we have - the home meeting," Charles Waggoner said Tuesday night as he met with voters at the home of Murray and Joan Rhodes in North Webster.

Waggoner described to at least 20 people at the meeting his history of experience in life and law enforcement as an Indiana state trooper.

"We were a team, all of us," Waggoner said of his work as a state trooper with prosecutors and law enforcement. "It's surprising what you can get done if you don't care who gets the credit."

Waggoner said he focused his law career on becoming a prosecutor after he worked with several "excellent prosecutors" and "thoroughly enjoyed it."

Waggoner said he is campaigning with the belief that "pure politics and pure prosecuting just cannot go together." He said mixing politics with the prosecutor's office can "gut the effectiveness of the prosecutor."

Fighting crime was the focus of most of Waggoner's adult life, he said. And he wants to be prosecutor to continue fighting crime in Kosciusko County.

"I thoroughly enjoy putting a case together ... and standing up for the citizens of Indiana," Waggoner said.

He said there is a sense of "satisfaction" when he wins a conviction, but "you can't make the victim's life good again and you are sending someone to prison."

"What will control Charles Waggoner if he's prosecutor?" he asked the group. "Pride? Personal arrogance? Someone who's helped the campaign?"

Instead, Waggoner said, there were two things that will control him - the law and his conscience.

"That's what you're voting for, to apply the law in light of (my) conscience," Waggoner said. "I won't be controlled by those who have a personal relationship with me ... I don't just represent (one person), I represent all of you."

Waggoner said he is not influenced by monetary contributors to his campaign, and has no future political ambitions further than the prosecutor's office.

"I have no intention of doing anything beyond the prosecutor's office," Waggoner said. "It's what I want to do."

During a question-and-answer session, Waggoner said he would continue to be tough on dealing with juvenile crime.

He also talked about the deferral and diversion programs in Kosciusko County, saying he would continue the programs but only in the rare cases he feels the system was made for.

The deferral program takes a case and "essentially turns it into a warning ticket," Waggoner said. Deferrals take civil offenses, like traffic tickets, and dismiss the charges if the suspect admits guilt and pays a fee.

Waggoner said the infractions that are deferred are seen as crimes by the officer at the time of the ticket or arrest. If the ticket is then reduced by a clerk or prosecutor who was not at the scene, "I have trouble with that," Waggoner said. He said in his office, the deferrals would be "few and far between."

Diversions involve misdemeanor crimes. The prosecutor basically says that if the suspect keeps his nose clean for six months or a year, Waggoner said, the charges will be dismissed with no conviction shown on the suspect's record.

Waggoner said if a case qualifies for diversion, the prosecutor should warn the offender that if he goes for a year without another problem, the issue could be dismissed.

When asked directly about how he would change the program from the current use, Waggoner said, "They (the current prosecutor) do it more than I would do it."

"For a true deferral program, it should be a true one-time (occurrence)," Waggoner said. "I think it's a valid program with limited use." [[In-content Ad]]