Sheriff candidates participate in forum

Ken Davis and Jon Strowig, Republican candidates for the office of Cloud County Sheriff, participated in a forum hosted by the Cloud County Democrats Wednesday night at the Broadway Plaza.
Current Sheriff Brian Marks did not file for re-election, and there are no Democrats seeking the office.
The candidate advancing out of the August 4 primary election will be unopposed in the November 3 general election.
Davis, who has been in law enforcement for 18 years, is currently a corporal with the Concordia Police Department. He also worked as a sergeant with the Cloud County Sheriff’s Office.
Strowig is the assistant chief of police in Belleville. He previously worked for the Cloud County Sheriff’s Office and was the Minneapolis chief of police.
The first question asked of the candidates by forum moderator Toby Nosker was about their qualifications to be sheriff and the temperament needed to do the job.
On his qualifications, Strowig said that he had 20 years in law enforcement and a degree in criminal justice.
“Education, that is one thing, that is fine. You need more than education to have the experience. Education plus practice equals proficiency, and that is what I feel like I bring to the table,” Strowig said.
Davis said that a sheriff should always be in control, neutral, passionate.
When it comes to his qualifications, Davis said that having worked in Cloud County for 18 years he knows the people and he has been involved in many different aspects of law enforcement.
“Eighteen years in law enforcement. I have been a mid-level leader. I have written policies. I have rewritten policies. I have written policies from scratch,” Davis said.
The second question presented to the candidates was about the recent investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at the Cloud County Law Enforcement Center, the lack of arrests in the case and the lack of information the public has received.
Davis and Strowig were asked how they would address that lack of public trust?
“That type of investigation takes a really long time. There is a lot of data they have to go through. It is not done with. You may be looking at this some time next year before something happens with that,” Davis said.
Davis said that if law enforcement comes up with a good case arrests will be made.
“Until then, we have just got to be patient. It is not a dead issue,” Davis said.
Strowig said that he agreed with Davis on the fact that the type of investigation that is ongoing can take months and even years to get done, but that message should have been communicated to the public.
“I think public trust would have stayed up high had there just been some communication about what is happening. And people would understand that it takes months,” Strowig said.
The candidates were asked if the Sheriff’s Office would be better served by having officers patrolling the smaller communities in the county, rather than parking along the highway attempting to catch speeders?
Strowig said that the smaller communities in the county rely on the Sheriff’s Office to be the police force.
“They can’t afford to have their own police force. They pay their taxes, we are obligated to patrol those areas,” Strowig said.
Strowig said there were contracts in which the towns were paying extra money for the Sheriff’s Office to patrol.
“The contracts weren’t being done right, and the towns felt that they weren’t being served properly and they dropped the contracts,” Strowig said, “I was there when this happened and, when the atmosphere at the Sheriff’s Office changed and suddenly, ‘well, if you are not going to pay, why bother?’ We don’t need extra money to do our jobs. We already get paid to do that.”
Davis said that the smaller communities are where they need the most help.
“My plan is to assign an officer as the liaison to the (town) council. Whoever is leading the council in each small town will have my phone number where they can call me on my personal cell and not have to go through a secretary, any time they need to,” Davis said, “We have got to have a sheriff who just answers the phone.”
Davis also said that the Sheriff’s Office needs to get back to being involved in the events in the small towns.
“We have got to be there, not just with an aggressive look on our face and giving citations, we have got to be there to have conversations with people,” Davis said.
An audience member asked the candidates what their initial goals would be if elected as sheriff.
Davis said he would work to rebuild the public trust in the Sheriff's Office.
“I would say public trust is at the bottom of the elevator right now. We have got to work on that,” Davis said. “Again that goes back to getting out to the events and talking to people. Allowing people to come in and look over our policies and procedures and things that we are changing.”
Davis said there also needs to be training in the right areas for the deputies.
Strowig said that he would sit down with all of the employees and get to know them and allow them to get to know him.
“I think it is unfair for them not to know if they are doing the right thing or the wrong thing if they have never been told as to what is expected,” Strowig said.