Duties and Description of a KY County Sheriff – Clarified

Several people have asked why I feel I would be well qualified for the office of Hancock County Sheriff without having much experience or training within Law Enforcement…Or they’ve asked “why should I vote for you rather than a trained Law Enforcement officer”? (since there are a few who are also candidates in this race)…

And I’ve noticed that whenever I take the time to point that individual to the actual duties of the County Sheriff in our State’s Constitution and describes the ‘real‘ job description, the light bulb goes off in their head and they’re usually quick to say “dang…that really fits you pretty well“.

So I thought it would be wise to take some time and address a misconception many folks have when it comes to the office of County Sheriff. 

In reality, thanks to television dramas and things alike, a lot of folks are mis-led as to the role of a County Sheriff in Kentucky – not knowing that only a portion of that role has to do with Law Enforcement activities. The rest of (and the majority of) the job description and responsibilities is not as exciting, but HIGHLY necessary.  

Where do I find the actual Job Description? 

If you look at the Legislative Research Commission’s ‘Informational Bulletin no. 114’ (click for link), the first thing you’ll notice is that this document’s main purpose is to outline the “Duties of Elected County Officials” per the Kentucky Constitution. And when you get to the section on ‘County Sheriff’ (starting on page 89), the very first paragraph reads as follows:

The sheriff’s duties fall into four categories: tax collection, election duties, services to courts, and law enforcement. A sheriff spends the most time on civil duties, as opposed to criminal or law enforcement duties.

To help you further understand the misconception, I want to point you to an article written in 2013 on Fox19 News (click for link). 

In this article, Phillip Sparks – then Director of Northern Kentucky University’s Local Government Law Center – stated the following when talking about Sheriff Certification:

The civil functions are the larger portion of what their office entails. So having someone who is a good administrator might be a better qualification for those offices than someone who has a law enforcement background.

 

In that same article, the Executive Director of the Kentucky Sheriffs’ Association – Jerry Wagner – stated the following:

There will be 35 of those 40 that will come to me and say that you know, ‘I had no idea there was this much involvement and this much to this job. If I had it I’m not sure I would have ran for it’.

Finally…we hear from former Kenton County Sheriff Charles Korzenborn in that article – who was a businessman before becoming sheriff – and said:

A lot of good police men run for sheriff in Kentucky and they fall down because they don’t understand the bookkeeping and business practice.

The truth is, if you take the time to read through the LRC’s document linked above, you’ll be quite surprised at all of the items the Sheriff is responsible for that have little to do with arresting, patrolling, and investigating crime. Just a few of those duties are as follows (from the LRC document): 

• Collect property taxes for the state, county, school districts, and sometimes cities if the sheriff has contracted with them for this service (In addition, almost every sheriff collects taxes for some other special taxing district or special function, such as a fire protection district, a library, or a county health unit.)

• The sheriff is a member of the county board of elections, which appoints election officers and certifies elections, among other duties also set out in KRS 117.045.

• The county sheriff publishes and advertises special elections to fill vacancies in the General Assembly (KRS 118.730 to 118.750) and in the US House of Representatives (KRS 118.720).

• The sheriff is an officer of the courts and renders administrative services to them. (Including transportation duties)

  • If there is no personal representative, public administrator, or guardian, the sheriff must administer the estate of a decedent (KRS 395.390)
  • The sheriff must endorse every summons to indicate when it was received (KRS 70.076)
• In most counties, the sheriff serves as the custodian of property. This includes all property taken from the person of a prisoner; lost and abandoned property taken into the custody of any member of the sheriff’s office, the county police, or the courts; property taken from persons supposed to be insane, intoxicated, or otherwise incapable of taking care of themselves; confiscated or forfeited property, except for property subject to forfeiture under the Kentucky Controlled Substances Act; or property obtained through or used in criminal activity.
• There are other Miscellaneous Duties as well that don’t involve Law Enforcement duties (see page 97), including ‘acting as Fire Marshal when needed.

So What are you saying? 

My point in this article is that when you look at the actual responsibilities of the office of Sheriff in a Kentucky county, it ends up being more Administrative and Civil than anything else, and THAT is what makes me believe I’m well-qualified for this role. 

In fact, let me pose these two questions to you:

1. 1. Would you rather take a highly-trained and certified Law Enforcement Officer or Deputy off of the street – who has little Business and Administrative experience  – and place them into a position that is 75% Administrative and Organizational in nature?
   2. Or would you rather hire/elect someone who has YEARS of Business, Organizational and Administrative experience, and can catch up with the Law Enforcement aspects pretty quickly?

I would argue that it would take much longer to train someone on the Civil and Administrative aspects of the Sheriff’s role than it would to train someone on the Law Enforcement side. And I truly believe I have what it takes Administratively to serve this county WELL…and for whatever is lacking, most folks who know me will vouch that I’m a very fast learner. 

And Speaking of Training…

That’ll be the next topic I cover, wherein I will provide what training for the newly-appointed Sheriff will look like after the election. It’s not what you think it is…and I’ll provide a link in this article as well.