Every leader has his own style. Jared Froggatte recognizes this and makes no bones about his desire to reshape the Allen County Sheriff force to an image that is more user-friendly.
Froggatte’s background in law enforcement helps qualify him as sheriff, he said, as does his experience as a farmer in rural Allen County.
“I hear a lot of complaints,” Froggatte said. “People stealing things off farms and breaking in and doing what they have to, to feed a drug habit. It’s an increasing problem.”
Froggatte commended local efforts by citizens.
“People like Michael Swift, the 16-year-old kid in Moran who started that DARE-type program is an example.”
Froggatte said his having to manage a tight budget on a small farm brings fiscal responsibility to the race. The department budget is a large part of what he hopes to reform if elected.
“We don’t need every officer with a car to take home,” Froggatte said.
According to Froggatte a smaller fleet of vehicles would translate into more savings in fuel, maintenance costs and other budget items associated with transportation. One of the ways he proposed reducing the size of the department fleet would be through stronger communication and partnership with the various law enforcement agencies around the region — something he believes the department could be doing better even if there wasn’t a budget issue attached to it.
“I know people who have had situations where someone who is fueling a drug habit living in Woodson County comes over to Allen County to steal things and then takes them back to Woodson County to sell for drugs,” Froggatte said. “We’ve got to be more willing to take on the work of making sure that just because someone isn’t in our jurisdiction that we don’t sit back and let someone get away with things like that.”
Froggatte however, agreed with his opponent Bryan Murphy that what the county could not afford to cut were the officers that worked the overnight shifts to provide the county with 24/7 coverage. According to Froggatte, who served with the Allen County Sheriff Department until the fall of 2011, there is flexibility in the way officers are scheduled to keep that kind of coverage for the county.
“People stealing things or other people needing help during bad weather happens all times of the day,” Froggatte said. “We need a force that can respond to those situations anytime it’s needed.”
An area where there is some contrast between the two candidates is housing out of the area inmates in the county jail. Murphy is opposed to bringing in inmates who have been convicted of violent and heinous crimes but is open to the idea of bringing in inmates with six month to a year sentence. Froggatte is in favor of using the issue as a budget boost for the county.
“We have this jail we built with qualified people in the department of corrections side of things,” Froggatte said. “We should be using it to help take the burden off of local taxpayers.”
One issue where he feels that Allen County hasn’t been keeping up well enough is handling crimes of theft, violent crime and drug-related crime. Froggatte, if elected, would propose bringing on a full-time detective who would dedicate himself toward these types of crimes. Using the Iola Police Department as an example, Froggatte thought the idea had serious merit.
“Iola has a detective that is always busy with these kind of things,” Froggatte said. “The county doesn’t do that kind of thing well right now so when something like that happens outside of Iola then criminals don’t feel as much pressure on them.”
Another area he wants to improve on is community interfacing. According to him, getting the community on board with assisting in the process of solving crimes is something that comes with making connections. Putting the community at ease, especially younger people is something that Froggatte hopes to focus on.
“I see the kinds of things that people like Iola Police Officer Mike Ford do in the community,” Froggatte said. “When I worked for the sheriff’s department there were a couple of instances where people felt more comfortable talking to him than me because he and that department made a stronger effort to make those connections.”
Frogatte will appear on the primary ballot Aug. 7. For more information on the candidate, go to facebook.com/JaredFroggatteForSheriff or email to jfroggatte@hotmail.com
Froggatte for transparency
