Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Jim Bumbaugh announced his candidacy for Kosciusko County Sheriff.
Bumbaugh, a member of the Pierceton Police Department, is running unopposed on the Democrat Party ticket during the primary election May 2.
Born in Warsaw, Bumbaugh left this area in 1982, spending the next 12 years in the U.S. Navy. He served two tours aboard the 7th Fleet Flagship Blue Ridge, home ported in Yokosuka, Japan. He was aboard the Blue Ridge in the Persian Gulf during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990-1991. He also served on the USS Cochrane destroyer, also home ported in Yokosuka. Shore duty assignments included the U.S. Naval Communications Station Philippines, the U.S. Naval Communications Area Master Station Western Pacific Guam and the U.S. Naval Communications Station Puget Sound, Bangor, Wash.
After his return home, Bumbaugh purchased the Citgo station in Larwill, which he owned and operated until 2004. The business had annual gross sales of more than $2.5 million. He has been a Whitko Community Schools bus driver since 1997.
He started his law enforcement career in 1998, serving as a Whitley County reserve deputy. He moved to the Pierceton Police Department in 2002.
He sees his supervisory and leadership positions in the Navy and his ability to successfully operate a business definite advantages to becoming a good sheriff. He wants to provide Kosciusko County residents with a rejuvenated sheriff's department ready to move forward with challenges that face its community in the 21st century.
"The department has a great group of men and women who are very capable of doing great things. Providing them with the necessary training and equipment will help keep morale high and ultimately make a positive impression on people they contact," he said.
He understands there are problems within the community and feels early intervention is critical. "We have to reach out to the youth in this community to let them know there are people who care. We can't sit around and rely on federal grants before we send a police officer into our local schools. If we have the resources available, we need to make sure we are utilizing them. We shouldn't necessarily be thinking about where we are going to house offenders but how we are going to prevent them from becoming offenders in the first place."
Bumbaugh wants residents to feel better about their sheriff's department. He said everyone in the county should be able to see a police car in their neighborhood more frequently than the annual parade.
"Community policing is an excellent resource for providing additional eyes, but the bottom line is the sheriff's department is responsible for providing services to its community," he said.
Bumbaugh lives in Pierceton with his daughter, Sara, a freshman at Whitko High School and son, Andrew, a Whitko Middle School seventh-grader.
