Certain experiences in life lead us to our purpose.

That series of experiences in my life started with my employment as a deputy at the Jackson County Sheriff's Office in 1971. It later took me to a career with the City of Independence Police Department, and then to the building of a successful security business in Jackson County. Now I hope to come full circle and return to the Sheriff's office this time as Jackson County Sheriff.

I have been preparing my whole life to be Sheriff. I will use my experience to keep all families safe and ensure taxpayers are getting the best service for their investment. As Sheriff, I will track down sexual predators and keep them away from our families. I will shut down illegal meth labs and stop drug traffickers in our county. And I will make the sheriff's office responsive and accountable to Jackson Countians.

I believe to lead the department requires a mixture of law enforcement, business experience, and political sense. I hope you'll agree that I have the right mixture of these attributes, and that you'll join my campaign as a supporter today.

Thank you for visiting my website, and I would appreciate your vote on August 5.

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office is charged with providing for the public safety of county residents and visitors. This duty is spread between five divisions in the office: Patrol, Investigations, Staff Services, Warrants and Courthouse Security. Within these divisions the office patrols our roads, investigates crimes, maintains the county's sexual offender registry, dispatches 9-1-1 calls, serves warrants and guards our courthouses. For more information please visit the Jackson County Sheriff's Office website: www.jacksoncomosheriff.org.

I am running for sheriff to keep our families safe and ensure taxpayers are getting the best service for their investment. The following are a few of my ideas for improving the office:

Track Down Sexual Predators

The Sheriff's Sex Offender Registration Enforcement Unit (SORE) is tasked with registering sex offenders in Jackson County. SORE maintains an online database of offenders for the public and is responsible for keeping track of offenders and keeping them away from children, and finding non-compliant offenders. As law enforcement increases its efforts to protect our families from predators, more offenders are added to the list. An increasing number of sex offenders also are going underground or claiming homelessness instead of keeping the sheriff notified of their residence. This is increasing the workload for the unit. SORE currently only has three full-time deputies to do this work.

Keeping our families safe is my number one priority. As sheriff, I will increase the resources for SORE, so no sex offenders slip through our hands and do anymore harm to our families.

To look for sex offenders in Jackson County, visit http://www.jacksongov.org/JCSOR/.

Improve Costomer Service

As your sheriff, I want to improve the office's relationship with citizens by speeding up the response time and follow up to citizen reports and calls. Citizens shouldn't have to visit or call the sheriff's office for most issues. They should be able to report crime tips and find accident reports online. I will improve communication with the public by putting more services and information online. This will provide faster service for citizens and free deputies to focus their time on crime prevention. Many sheriff offices provide these online services, and Jackson County should do the same.

• Online accident reports - Citizens would be able to download accident reports for free for insurance or other purposes without calling or visiting the office.
• Online crime tips - Citizen assistance is a vital tool for crime fighting. But too often citizens report possible crimes and they are left to guess if anything was done. I will create an online crime tips hotline and follow up with citizens about the investigation.
• Online warrants - I will create a database of warrants issued by the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Missouri. This will allow citizens to assist the sheriff's office in tracking down offenders.
• Arrest Log - This will provide an online database of the arrests made each day by the sheriff's office.
• Other Services - There are many more service we can put online like road conditions, safety tips, and paying fines. As sheriff, I will work diligently to be responsive to citizens' needs.

Crackdown on Illegal Methamphetamines

The production and sale of illegal methamphetamines has been an epidemic in Missouri. Methamphetamines are a serious health risk for users and our communities. Meth is highly addictive and promotes erratic and violent behavior. The illegal manufacture of meth is an environmental hazard and has been responsible for injuries to fire and law enforcement and innocent bystanders.Missouri is beginning to win the war against meth producers. Meth lab busts decreased from a record high of 2,860 in 2003 to 1,284 busts in 2006. This happened because of tough new laws and increased revenue for meth enforcement made it harder to manufacture meth in our state. But law enforcement needs to remain vigilant to end meth production in Missouri.

As sheriff, I will work with local law enforcement and pharmacies to develop an online database to track illegal purchases of pseudoephedrine. This will end the time consuming practice by law enforcement of visiting each pharmacy to review log books to see who is going from pharmacy to pharmacy to purchase needed ingredients. New programs are enabling pharmacies to post pseudoephedrine purchases online where law enforcement can track purchases in one place and in real time.

Unfortunately, the crack down on meth labs is not reducing the number of meth users. As Missouri and other states increased enforcement, meth producers moved over the border to other states and Mexico. More and more meth is now being trafficked into Missouri over our roads. As sheriff, I will work with the state and local law enforcement to increase investigations of meth trafficking to keep our communities safe.