HANCOCK COUNTY — Donnie Smith, a Republican candidate for Hancock County Sheriff, says he’ll have two longtime sheriff’s deputies help him run the department, if he’s elected.
Smith said, if he secures his party’s nomination in May and is victorious in November, he’ll have veteran officer Joe Hunt be his chief deputy and Brian Jack, a 16-year member of the sheriff’s department, be commander of the road patrol division.
Smith, a road deputy for the sheriff’s department, is one of four men vying for the Republican nomination for sheriff in the May 8 primary. Candidates Wayne Addison, Brad Burkhart and Donnie Munden say they’ll wait to announce any picks for administrative positions until after the election.
No Democrats have filed for the race.
Smith said he believes voters and sheriff’s department employees “deserve to know who will fill these two positions” before ballots are cast.
Hunt, 53, is a married father of four and an Eastern Hancock High School graduate.
He was hired to the sheriff’s department in February 1988 as a jail officer and became a full-time road deputy in May 1991.
From 2007 to 2010, Hunt served as the road patrol division commander. He is also a certified firearms instructor, emergency vehicle operations instructor and was a K9 handler for eight years.
Jack, 44, is a lifelong Hancock County resident and graduate of Greenfield-Central High School. He was hired as a jail officer in 1998 and became a road deputy in 2002. He now carries the rank of sergeant.
He is an instructor in firearms, use-of-force and traffic stops, and from 2003 to 2012, he was a field training officer. He is a certified SWAT operator/team commander, a rescue diver, an evidence tech and a school resource officer.