Marshall Says He Offers A Different Style Of Leadership
October 14, 2022 at 11:13 p.m.
Marshall Says He Offers A Different Style Of Leadership
By David [email protected]
After Dukes lost to Jim Smith, Marshall announced on July 7 that he was running as an Independent for sheriff.
“So, over the years ... since I’ve gotten to the Sheriff’s Office, I have a bit different vision of leadership than a lot of people. There are people who have been in the Army that think that they understand what a certain type of leadership is. I come from the infantry,” Marshall said in an interview Friday at Three Crowns Coffee in Warsaw. “The infantry is a completely different army than what a lot of other people (know). If you weren’t infantry, or in the combat arms, the military you served in is a completely different animal than the infantry. And a certain type of discipline and leadership is instilled in infantry soldiers because we are the war fighters.”
He said that develops a different type of leadership, and he’s led soliders in combat.
“I understand the type of leadership that I feel a police department needs. And I’ve never really seen that fully to ... my standards ever since I’ve been here. And I certainly didn’t see that coming from the outcome of the primary. I was supportive of Sheriff Dukes because one of the keys of leadership that I’m a strong believer in is taking care of your people, and I felt that Sheriff Dukes was getting that piece right and so I was supportive of that,” Marshall explained.
He was comfortable with the direction Dukes was taking the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office.
“When he lost, I realized this is the time,” Marshall said. “My campaign slogan is ‘The Right Experience, The Right Time.’ I felt if any time, right now is the time to bring my leadership experience and jump into this race.”
He said he and his family did a lot of praying on it. He is married with three adult children.
“I fully, strongly believe that this is where God wants me to be right now in this moment. I’m a strong believer in God and I firmly believe that you don’t run from the plans that He has for you. My entire family feels this was a plan that has been laid out for me, even though I didn’t envision this, even six months ago. But we feel we are following God’s plan and where that leads, I don’t know, but right now it has us in the middle of this race for sheriff.”
For those who don’t know his background, Marshall graduated from Warsaw in 1994. A month and a half afterward, he left for the U.S. Army. He spent 13 years in a combination of the Army, Reserves and National Guard.
In 2002, he was hired on as a reserve officer at the Milford Police Department.
“I started looking into law enforcement right after 9/11. I was still in the Guard at the time and I thought maybe the Army was going to send me somewhere in response to the 9/11 attacks,” he said.
They didn’t send him anywhere on the timeline he expected, so he became a reserve police officer for Milford. In late 2002, he was called up to serve in Iraq for the invasion, arriving in Kuwait Jan. 2, 2003.
After returning, he continued as a reserve for Milford. In 2005, he was hired on full-time with Milford.
In May 2007, Marshall was hired by the Sheriff’s Office and has been there ever since. He is a detective sergeant with the primary role of working the child sex abuse cases. He’s also a senior firearms instructor; assistant commander and team leader of the SWAT team; and teaches civilians, businesses and churches active-shooter response.
Leadership isn’t something a person decides when they’re a child, Marshall said regarding if he ever wanted to be sheriff growing up.
“Sometimes you’re thrust into a leadership role, you’re dragged into leadership when you don’t even expect it. True leadership is doing things that you may not have normally expected to do, but you do it for the benefit, support and service of others. And I feel that’s why I’m where I am now. I didn’t envision this six months ago ... But I am a very firm believer that as a leader, sometimes we’re asked to do things we normally wouldn’t do, and we either choose to accept that responsibility and step up, or we run away from that responsibility because it can be scary. I chose not to be afraid of it and to step up and face that responsibility,” Marshall said.
If elected sheriff, he said he does certainly see some changes with the KCSO.
“I think Sheriff Dukes started some really good things, but they need finished. They need refined and completed,” Marshall said. “... As far as majorly, we aren’t reinventing law enforcement at the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office. Kosciusko County didn’t invent law enforcement and we certainly aren’t going to reinvent law enforcement, but there are some things I certainly see can be cleaned up and some of those details worked out.”
He gave the jail as an example. The pay has not been up to standard, there’s a lack of consistency between the shifts, but the jail isn’t the absolute mess some people have led others to believe. It is an area the sheriff needs to focus on and clean up and do better on, he said.
Marshall also talked about his plans to have a Community Outreach Committee and collect input from the public. He said it will help the community buy into what the KCSO is doing but also help the Sheriff’s Office buy into what the community feels.
“For too long in this job, I felt this almost an ‘Us verus Them’ mentality, and we have to get rid of that. And, really, the community buying into what we’re doing and us buying into what the community expects are both equally important and I think a lot of people miss that second piece of Us buying into the community,” Marshall said.
At the recent GOP fish fry, three of Marshall’s supporters wearing pro-Marshall T-shirts were asked to change shirts and were told they could be there but couldn’t wear those shirts. The supporters ended up leaving the fish fry.
Marshall agreed that while he is running as an Independent, he identifies more with the Republican Party.
“I will say that I’m a conservative individual. And I’ve explained this to a lot of people. And I think right here in Kosciusko County, we have a lot of people that get it wrong as far as where parties fall into your priorities,” he said. “And my priorities are God, family, country. And any party falls way further down the list than those top three. And we have folks here in this county that put the party I think sometimes above God. And if you’re doing that, first of all shame on you, and second of all, I really hope people would think about that and re-evaluate their lives and what their priorities are.”
He reiterated that he is a conservative individual, but in his life he has primarily voted Republican because most of the time those are the candidates that align with his beliefs.
“So I am not that person that is so wrapped around a party that I can’t think for myself,” he said. “I fought in wars to preserve freedom throughout this country and the world, and I don’t feel that giving away your freedom to choose should be something that you give away to a party.”
After Dukes lost to Jim Smith, Marshall announced on July 7 that he was running as an Independent for sheriff.
“So, over the years ... since I’ve gotten to the Sheriff’s Office, I have a bit different vision of leadership than a lot of people. There are people who have been in the Army that think that they understand what a certain type of leadership is. I come from the infantry,” Marshall said in an interview Friday at Three Crowns Coffee in Warsaw. “The infantry is a completely different army than what a lot of other people (know). If you weren’t infantry, or in the combat arms, the military you served in is a completely different animal than the infantry. And a certain type of discipline and leadership is instilled in infantry soldiers because we are the war fighters.”
He said that develops a different type of leadership, and he’s led soliders in combat.
“I understand the type of leadership that I feel a police department needs. And I’ve never really seen that fully to ... my standards ever since I’ve been here. And I certainly didn’t see that coming from the outcome of the primary. I was supportive of Sheriff Dukes because one of the keys of leadership that I’m a strong believer in is taking care of your people, and I felt that Sheriff Dukes was getting that piece right and so I was supportive of that,” Marshall explained.
He was comfortable with the direction Dukes was taking the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office.
“When he lost, I realized this is the time,” Marshall said. “My campaign slogan is ‘The Right Experience, The Right Time.’ I felt if any time, right now is the time to bring my leadership experience and jump into this race.”
He said he and his family did a lot of praying on it. He is married with three adult children.
“I fully, strongly believe that this is where God wants me to be right now in this moment. I’m a strong believer in God and I firmly believe that you don’t run from the plans that He has for you. My entire family feels this was a plan that has been laid out for me, even though I didn’t envision this, even six months ago. But we feel we are following God’s plan and where that leads, I don’t know, but right now it has us in the middle of this race for sheriff.”
For those who don’t know his background, Marshall graduated from Warsaw in 1994. A month and a half afterward, he left for the U.S. Army. He spent 13 years in a combination of the Army, Reserves and National Guard.
In 2002, he was hired on as a reserve officer at the Milford Police Department.
“I started looking into law enforcement right after 9/11. I was still in the Guard at the time and I thought maybe the Army was going to send me somewhere in response to the 9/11 attacks,” he said.
They didn’t send him anywhere on the timeline he expected, so he became a reserve police officer for Milford. In late 2002, he was called up to serve in Iraq for the invasion, arriving in Kuwait Jan. 2, 2003.
After returning, he continued as a reserve for Milford. In 2005, he was hired on full-time with Milford.
In May 2007, Marshall was hired by the Sheriff’s Office and has been there ever since. He is a detective sergeant with the primary role of working the child sex abuse cases. He’s also a senior firearms instructor; assistant commander and team leader of the SWAT team; and teaches civilians, businesses and churches active-shooter response.
Leadership isn’t something a person decides when they’re a child, Marshall said regarding if he ever wanted to be sheriff growing up.
“Sometimes you’re thrust into a leadership role, you’re dragged into leadership when you don’t even expect it. True leadership is doing things that you may not have normally expected to do, but you do it for the benefit, support and service of others. And I feel that’s why I’m where I am now. I didn’t envision this six months ago ... But I am a very firm believer that as a leader, sometimes we’re asked to do things we normally wouldn’t do, and we either choose to accept that responsibility and step up, or we run away from that responsibility because it can be scary. I chose not to be afraid of it and to step up and face that responsibility,” Marshall said.
If elected sheriff, he said he does certainly see some changes with the KCSO.
“I think Sheriff Dukes started some really good things, but they need finished. They need refined and completed,” Marshall said. “... As far as majorly, we aren’t reinventing law enforcement at the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office. Kosciusko County didn’t invent law enforcement and we certainly aren’t going to reinvent law enforcement, but there are some things I certainly see can be cleaned up and some of those details worked out.”
He gave the jail as an example. The pay has not been up to standard, there’s a lack of consistency between the shifts, but the jail isn’t the absolute mess some people have led others to believe. It is an area the sheriff needs to focus on and clean up and do better on, he said.
Marshall also talked about his plans to have a Community Outreach Committee and collect input from the public. He said it will help the community buy into what the KCSO is doing but also help the Sheriff’s Office buy into what the community feels.
“For too long in this job, I felt this almost an ‘Us verus Them’ mentality, and we have to get rid of that. And, really, the community buying into what we’re doing and us buying into what the community expects are both equally important and I think a lot of people miss that second piece of Us buying into the community,” Marshall said.
At the recent GOP fish fry, three of Marshall’s supporters wearing pro-Marshall T-shirts were asked to change shirts and were told they could be there but couldn’t wear those shirts. The supporters ended up leaving the fish fry.
Marshall agreed that while he is running as an Independent, he identifies more with the Republican Party.
“I will say that I’m a conservative individual. And I’ve explained this to a lot of people. And I think right here in Kosciusko County, we have a lot of people that get it wrong as far as where parties fall into your priorities,” he said. “And my priorities are God, family, country. And any party falls way further down the list than those top three. And we have folks here in this county that put the party I think sometimes above God. And if you’re doing that, first of all shame on you, and second of all, I really hope people would think about that and re-evaluate their lives and what their priorities are.”
He reiterated that he is a conservative individual, but in his life he has primarily voted Republican because most of the time those are the candidates that align with his beliefs.
“So I am not that person that is so wrapped around a party that I can’t think for myself,” he said. “I fought in wars to preserve freedom throughout this country and the world, and I don’t feel that giving away your freedom to choose should be something that you give away to a party.”
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