Why are you running for office?
Obviously to serve and protect the citizens of Hancock County, as I have done the past 26 plus years. The sheriff also should serve and protect all the employees of the sheriff’s department. This includes merit, jail and civilian (employees). The sheriff should ask the employees what he can do for them to make their jobs easier, not what they can do for him. Do small things that can improve morale and allow the employees to make decisions. I believe if you empower them, they will work hard for you. I see such great potential in the employees if there was only someone who would put them first.
What makes you a qualified candidate for the position?
Experience. On April 19, I will have 30 years of full-time law enforcement experience, more than any other candidate. Twenty-six years, including now, working road patrol — also more than any other candidate. I know what is currently going on out in the community and the challenges road deputies face every day. I know how to do the job of a road deputy, and that’s not something you can know sitting behind a desk or at home. I believe you need to know how to do the job before you can be an effective leader. From 2007 to 2010 I was also the operations division commander.
What are your top three goals for the position?
First, would be to improve morale. In my opinion the morale is not good. The merit deputies pay is an embarrassment. I began my 27th year as a merit deputy on Jan. 1; a third year patrolman (for) the City of Greenfield virtually makes as much as I do. Allow the merit deputies to pick the type of uniform they work in and what type of car they drive.
Secondly, decrease the jail population. The jail is a maximum security short term detention facility. It is not a mental health or drug treatment facility. It also is not a rehabilitation facility. The inmate worker program would be reinstituted, and I would work to have more Level 6 Felony offenders placed in work release or home detention. Lastly, I would increase the number of deputies on the road using current manpower more efficiently and effectively.
What are your top three goals for the position?
1. Improve morale, raise pay. I began my 27th year as a merit deputy Jan. 1; a 3rd year patrolman on the City of Greenfield virtually makes as much as I do a year. (Change) uniforms and choose what type of car they drive.
2. Decrease the jail population. The jail is a maximum security, short-term detention facility. It is not a mental health, drug treatment facility, or a rehabilitation facility. The inmate worker program would be reinstituted. Place more Level 6 Felony offenders in work release or home detention.
3. Increase the number of deputies on the road using current manpower more efficiently and effectively.
Do you support construction of a new criminal justice complex? Why or why not?
We will need a new jail at some point in the near future. A $55 million dollar jail that can house 440 or so inmates and raise everyone’s property taxes? Absolutely not. I believe jail should be a place you do not want to go to, if you do go all you want to do is get out, and once out you never want to go back, which is one way to reduce the number of individuals in the jail. I believe there are other options. Also the problem I see is when the new jail is full within a year and half, how is the county going to be able to safely staff it?
Identify a strength of the current administration and one area that needs improvement.
I am not very comfortable answering this question. The fact that the merit deputies’ pay raises over the last seven years are below the average yearly cost of living is a huge area that needs improvement. Additionally, the administration, in my opinion, has only made the job of road deputy more difficult. On the other hand, besides having special projects and traffic enforcement being pushed on us, for me individually, they have left me alone and allowed me to do my job.
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Name: Donnie “Smitty” Smith
Age: 54
Party: Republican
Office sought: Hancock County Sheriff
Occupation: Hancock County Sheriff’s deputy
Political experience: None
Family: Wife Diane, four children, two grandchildren
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