Dukes Announces He Will Seek Re-election As Sheriff
July 5, 2021 at 11:49 p.m.
Dukes Announces He Will Seek Re-election As Sheriff
By David [email protected]
His campaign theme four years ago was “A Fresh Start”; this time around, it’s “Community First.”
Dukes, a former Indiana State Police trooper, ran for sheriff in 2018 against three other candidates, including then-Sheriff Rocky Goshert, and won his first four-year term. The Republican primary is in May, and he will face at least one other contender this time around, Deputy James M. Smith, who announced he was running in early June.
In a news release from Dukes, he said, “I am excited to announce that I will be seeking a second term as sheriff of Kosciusko County. I am extremely proud of the direction we have taken the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office over the last three years. It would be my privilege to continue this important work of putting community first and emphasizing the transparency, accountability and professionalism as I serve Kosciusko County.”
He continued, “As sheriff, this community first mindset has shaped every decision I have made, ensuring that our focus is on what is best for Kosciusko County as a whole. Building stronger, safer communities is what the sheriff’s office is all about. With our community’s involvement, we currently have the number one Jail Chemical Addiction Program (JCAP) in the state of Indiana. Our 54% success rating among graduates of the program is evidence that the cycle of addiction can be broken.”
One of Dukes’ top priorities when he took office was to bring all law enforcement back together in a working relationship, according to the news release. “Today, the sheriff’s office has a great relationship with all police agencies in Kosciusko County. We have continued our routine police chief meetings that I implemented during my campaign. These meetings are instrumental in keeping all agencies on the same page and focused on one common goal for bettering our county,” he stated in the release.
The multi-agency drug task force known as Narcotics Enforcement Team 43 (NET 43) is another campaign promise that Dukes said has been fulfilled. It consists of officers from the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office; Warsaw, Winona Lake, Pierceton and Mentone police departments; and the Indiana State Police.
“This team has taken numerous drug dealers off the streets in Kosciusko County and has confiscated pounds of heroin and meth,” Dukes’ release states.
On the COVID-19 pandemic, Dukes said, “Working very closely with the prosecutor and the other police chiefs, my team of dedicated and professional employees and I successfully led the sheriff’s office through a pandemic that challenged us all.”
He said the KCSO has worked “extremely hard” to be a positive force in the community.
“I am proud of the accomplishments we have achieved over the last several years and am eager to continue the programs I have implemented as sheriff as we remain focused on putting community first,” Dukes concludes in his release.
In a question-and-answer session with reporters Tuesday afternoon, Dukes said if he is re-elected, his goals for the next four years would include to continue to build JCAP.
“I would love to see JCAP 2,” he said. “I would love to see another version. There’s going to be big things happen at work release that you’re going to see. Maybe some partnerships with the community, and so really working on the addiction part of it and hitting home with that.”
Police departments across the country are dealing with a shortage of officers and a smaller pool of applicants to fill open positions.
“It is definitely a trend across the United States. Looking at the Sheriff’s Office, my first year coming on, we averaged 65 applications for deputy sheriff. Now, we’re averaging 20 to 23. There’s definitely a decline in our numbers, but you stay positive, you do what’s right for the community and you’re going to get the good applicants that actually want to be police officers and that’s what we’re doing,” Dukes said.
Asked if the KCSO would be increasing wages or anything to draw applicants, Dukes said he just requested a 13% pay raise for his office and is going through the steps for that.
“Looking at our wages, we are lower than the surrounding agencies, and it’s time to catch up and, I believe, go a little beyond,” he said.
Every day there’s at least one more person in the county jail bookings arrested on meth-related charges. Dukes feel he “absolutely” has made a dent in the problem.
“Absolutely we have because when you talk to members of NET 43, they’ve talked about secret conversations, investigations where people are talking about, ‘Hey, maybe we go outside Kosciusko County to do this. Maybe we move.’ And you know what? Let them move. Let them get out of here. We’re being proactive. So we’ll continue to be proactive, we’ll continue to have the Warsaw Police Department, Indiana State Police, the Winona Lake, Pierceton, Mentone working together, and, again, we’re going to keep the same game plane for NET 43,” Dukes said.
His campaign theme four years ago was “A Fresh Start”; this time around, it’s “Community First.”
Dukes, a former Indiana State Police trooper, ran for sheriff in 2018 against three other candidates, including then-Sheriff Rocky Goshert, and won his first four-year term. The Republican primary is in May, and he will face at least one other contender this time around, Deputy James M. Smith, who announced he was running in early June.
In a news release from Dukes, he said, “I am excited to announce that I will be seeking a second term as sheriff of Kosciusko County. I am extremely proud of the direction we have taken the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office over the last three years. It would be my privilege to continue this important work of putting community first and emphasizing the transparency, accountability and professionalism as I serve Kosciusko County.”
He continued, “As sheriff, this community first mindset has shaped every decision I have made, ensuring that our focus is on what is best for Kosciusko County as a whole. Building stronger, safer communities is what the sheriff’s office is all about. With our community’s involvement, we currently have the number one Jail Chemical Addiction Program (JCAP) in the state of Indiana. Our 54% success rating among graduates of the program is evidence that the cycle of addiction can be broken.”
One of Dukes’ top priorities when he took office was to bring all law enforcement back together in a working relationship, according to the news release. “Today, the sheriff’s office has a great relationship with all police agencies in Kosciusko County. We have continued our routine police chief meetings that I implemented during my campaign. These meetings are instrumental in keeping all agencies on the same page and focused on one common goal for bettering our county,” he stated in the release.
The multi-agency drug task force known as Narcotics Enforcement Team 43 (NET 43) is another campaign promise that Dukes said has been fulfilled. It consists of officers from the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office; Warsaw, Winona Lake, Pierceton and Mentone police departments; and the Indiana State Police.
“This team has taken numerous drug dealers off the streets in Kosciusko County and has confiscated pounds of heroin and meth,” Dukes’ release states.
On the COVID-19 pandemic, Dukes said, “Working very closely with the prosecutor and the other police chiefs, my team of dedicated and professional employees and I successfully led the sheriff’s office through a pandemic that challenged us all.”
He said the KCSO has worked “extremely hard” to be a positive force in the community.
“I am proud of the accomplishments we have achieved over the last several years and am eager to continue the programs I have implemented as sheriff as we remain focused on putting community first,” Dukes concludes in his release.
In a question-and-answer session with reporters Tuesday afternoon, Dukes said if he is re-elected, his goals for the next four years would include to continue to build JCAP.
“I would love to see JCAP 2,” he said. “I would love to see another version. There’s going to be big things happen at work release that you’re going to see. Maybe some partnerships with the community, and so really working on the addiction part of it and hitting home with that.”
Police departments across the country are dealing with a shortage of officers and a smaller pool of applicants to fill open positions.
“It is definitely a trend across the United States. Looking at the Sheriff’s Office, my first year coming on, we averaged 65 applications for deputy sheriff. Now, we’re averaging 20 to 23. There’s definitely a decline in our numbers, but you stay positive, you do what’s right for the community and you’re going to get the good applicants that actually want to be police officers and that’s what we’re doing,” Dukes said.
Asked if the KCSO would be increasing wages or anything to draw applicants, Dukes said he just requested a 13% pay raise for his office and is going through the steps for that.
“Looking at our wages, we are lower than the surrounding agencies, and it’s time to catch up and, I believe, go a little beyond,” he said.
Every day there’s at least one more person in the county jail bookings arrested on meth-related charges. Dukes feel he “absolutely” has made a dent in the problem.
“Absolutely we have because when you talk to members of NET 43, they’ve talked about secret conversations, investigations where people are talking about, ‘Hey, maybe we go outside Kosciusko County to do this. Maybe we move.’ And you know what? Let them move. Let them get out of here. We’re being proactive. So we’ll continue to be proactive, we’ll continue to have the Warsaw Police Department, Indiana State Police, the Winona Lake, Pierceton, Mentone working together, and, again, we’re going to keep the same game plane for NET 43,” Dukes said.
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