Sheriff Jansen will be a great sheriff for Campbell County. He is a respectable guy and gives out respect. He is in a tough job and it calls for tough decisions. He will make the right calls and he will be sheriff in Campbell for a long time.

As with any elected official, that depends on who you ask.

Thanks for that additional.

 

Do you know which major counties have adopted the sheriff merit board?

 

Jefferson county and Boone county. I think there are couple more. It works and protectes the deputies and protectes the taxpayers investment. Like I said in previous post most sheriff's do not want to give up their power. No one person elected or oppointed should have all the say the deputy sheriff merit board gives the checkes and balance to the system in sheriff's office.

In some counties they have county police and sheriff's departments.

 

Based on my limited knowledge in those counties, the county police are the primary law enforcement for the county while the sheriff's office serves papers and does court security.

 

Kenton and Campbell have both still. Boone used to but they merged all into the sheriff's office.

There are only about about six county police departments in the state we have 120 counties in the state of Kentucky.

Constitutionally there has to be a Sheriffs Office, why wouldn't counties put those resources into the Sheriff's Office instead of creating their own police force?

 

I understand Lexington and Louisville with Metro Government having city police cover the entire county, that makes sense.

 

But I don't understand Fiscal Court making their own police force up.

Jefferson county and Boone county. I think there are couple more. It works and protectes the deputies and protectes the taxpayers investment. Like I said in previous post most sheriff's do not want to give up their power. No one person elected or oppointed should have all the say the deputy sheriff merit board gives the checkes and balance to the system in sheriff's office.

 

Probably the top two Sheriff's Departments in the state, thanks for great information.

 

Hopefully more Sheriffs follow the lead of Jefferson and Boone.

In some counties they have county police and sheriff's departments.

 

Based on my limited knowledge in those counties, the county police are the primary law enforcement for the county while the sheriff's office serves papers and does court security.

 

Kenton and Campbell have both still. Boone used to but they merged all into the sheriff's office.

 

If it works for Boone , Kenton and Campbell should follow their lead. Kenton has so many cities with their own police force it's very reptitive.

I think I mispoke and need to clarify something. Now that I recall, wasn't Kidwell appointed to the position to fill out the remainder of John Dunn's term after he retired? So he is a computer repair guy who happened to be the head of the CCRP and was appointed by Pendery - an R, with no qualifications whatsoever. Please don't tell me that being a constable made him qualified to be sheriff either. If appointments are going to go like that, I'd prefer the office stay an elected position.

 

Your recollection is incorrect on this matter. Kidwell was definitely NOT appointed by Pendery to fill out Dunn's term. I think it was Dave Fickensher who was appointed by Pendery in August of 2012 to serve as the interim sheriff until the election could be held the following November. In the election, Kidwell was the R candidate; Dave Otto was the D candidate. I can also assure you that Pendery did NOT select Kidwell to be the R candidate.

 

You may be thinking of Jim Daley. Pendery did appoint Daley to the open Jailer position. Daley had been a D for a long time. Pendery got a lot of flack for appointing a D to the position. But Daley was by a large margin, in my opinion, the most qualified person for the position.

Edited January 12, 201511 yr by leatherneck

Constitutionally there has to be a Sheriffs Office, why wouldn't counties put those resources into the Sheriff's Office instead of creating their own police force?

 

I understand Lexington and Louisville with Metro Government having city police cover the entire county, that makes sense.

 

But I don't understand Fiscal Court making their own police force up.

 

There is a line of thinking that believes that a police dept should be, to the extent possible, isolated as much as possible from politics. By not having the senior law enforcement officer determined at the ballot box, the hope and belief is that the person filling that spot will be more interested in the professional administration of his office than the politics involved of being reelected. Many supporters of that line of thinking hold up Kidwell as Exhibit A as to why they don't want the police duties merged into the Campbell County Sheriff's office.

 

Sometimes efficiency isn't measured in just dollars and cents on a balance sheet.

Your recollection is incorrect on this matter. Kidwell was definitely NOT appointed by Pendery to fill out Dunn's term. I think it was Dave Fickensher who was appointed by Pendery in August of 2012 to serve as the interim sheriff until the election could be held the following November. In the election, Kidwell was the R candidate; Dave Otto was the D candidate. I can also assure you that Pendery did NOT select Kidwell to be the R candidate.

 

You may be thinking of Jim Daley. Pendery did appoint Daley to the open Jailer position. Daley had been a D for a long time. Pendery got a lot of flack for appointing a D to the position. But Daley was by a large margin, in my opinion, the most qualified person for the position.

 

Thanks. I might have been thinking about Daley. I forgot that Kidwell did run against Otto.

There is a line of thinking that believes that a police dept should be, to the extent possible, isolated as much as possible from politics. By not having the senior law enforcement officer determined at the ballot box, the hope and belief is that the person filling that spot will be more interested in the professional administration of his office than the politics involved of being reelected. Many supporters of that line of thinking hold up Kidwell as Exhibit A as to why they don't want the police duties merged into the Campbell County Sheriff's office.

 

Sometimes efficiency isn't measured in just dollars and cents on a balance sheet.

 

I see what your saying, but taking the position away from the voters put's it even more in the pocket of politicians. If the County Judge can hire-fire the Sheriff then it becomes an even bigger political mess. Let the voters throw out bad sheriffs, not some other elected politician.

 

Of course if the Sheriff breaks the law you can always have the Coroner Arrest them.

Making it high stakes is a great check and balance.

Wouldn't it essentially make some people unable to be fired?

Can your boss take your retirement savings too?

Very few jobs have a pension now so this isn't very applicable. The new sheriff couldn't take their Roth IRA or a similar plan. Have a back-up if this scenario applies.

 

From my understanding, they will get part of that money back even if they don't do their full-term to get the entire pension.

Wouldn't it essentially make some people unable to be fired?

I think it would make it much harder to fire someone "Without Cause" as happens when a new Sheriff comes in and doesn't retain the current staff. If someone is fired "For Cause" they wouldn't get paid when they leave IMO.

New Sheriff and new Jailer in this county both refused to rehire/retain two employees each. One deputy and one deputy jailer were each within two years of retiring, they other deputy and jail employee were much further from retirement.

 

If the Jailer or Sheriff has a tangible reason not to rehire those employees they should state the reason. If they have a reason not to then fine, I'd agree with them. But to fire them without giving a reason I think is what everyone gets upset about.

I think it would make it much harder to fire someone "Without Cause" as happens when a new Sheriff comes in and doesn't retain the current staff. If someone is fired "For Cause" they wouldn't get paid when they leave IMO.

If someone manages to get 20 years in, they can pretty much do the bare minimum and skate by under the scenario "G" laid out. I doubt very few sheriff offices in the state have an extra $100K in their budget to get rid of dead weight.