An Open Letter From Frank Williamson Candidate For Colbert County Sheriff

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frankCOLBERT COUNTY-The Quad Cities Daily received this open letter to the citizens of Colbert County from Frank Williamson candidate for the office of Colbert County  Sheriff:

To The Citizens of Colbert County, Alabama

“We are in our final week of campaigning for the Office of Colbert County Sheriff. This has been a very rewarding experience as I have met a tremendous amount of people that I have been able to share my ideas and goals as to what I intend to achieve if elected as your next Colbert County Sheriff. I have talk with some that have become disillusioned by the negative campaigning they hear, see and read through the various media outlets. Others have simply unplugged themselves from the political process or feel their vote doesn’t matter. I want to say to those, your vote does matter in that it allows you to demonstrate the power you have, as to whom you want to fill a particular office. Our established voting process is one of the most valuable things we have been given by our founding fathers and by generations of men and women who have fought and died, so that we can still exercise that precious right. Please take advantage of it and don’t let that tremendous privilege escape you regardless of which candidate you vote for.
When I started my campaign I set out to tell you the voter what I wanted to achieve if elected. I made a promise to myself, my friends and family that I would stay the course of doing so and not get trapped in responding to any negativity that may be directed toward my family, my supporters or myself. The one thing I have found during this campaigning process is that if you get into the political arena,you have to start growing lizard skin as barbs will most certainly be thrown at you. I am proud to say I have stayed that course, and win or lose on Nov 4th, 2014, I would not change a thing in how I have gone about campaigning for your vote.I am going to list below some of the major goals I want to achieve if elected. If you agree these goals are what you would also do or you would like to see carried out by the next Colbert County Sheriff, then I ask that you vote for me this coming Tuesday, Nov 4th, 2014, as your vote for me is also a vote for the goals you see listed below.
The Office of Sheriff of Colbert County is an administrative one. It is the Sheriff’s job to put together a qualified administrative team that can build an infrastructure that is proficient in achieving all goals listed and to plan for the future. It is the Sheriff’s job to provide financial security for his staff and deputies, provide opportunities for his staff and deputies to improve themselves through educational opportunities, and structured advancement programs. It is the job of the sheriff to keep on top of the most advance crime fighting techniques, and equipment available so his deputies can achieve a high criminal conviction rate and protect the county’s citizens better. It is extremely important a sheriff to plan ahead for things that may happen. If the sheriff is “Proactive” this allows him to stay behind the 8 ball and do all he can to improve the efficiency of the Department. Any sheriff who is always in a constant “Reactive Mode” and being forced to react to many negative issues is not looking ahead far enough, nor is he being the sheriff the citizens of Colbert county deserve. An example of the difference between proactive and reactive is the following: You have patrol units with high mileage. Are you going to be reactive by waiting until they are no longer capable of being on the road before you put in a request for funding and place bids, or proactive by planning ahead to replace those units once they reach a certain mileage , thus the new units have already been funded, bids accepted, delivered, equipped and ready to activate into service when needed.
Here is a list of the Goals that are quite detail and some may say lengthy. However, I believe it is important that you, the voter, have the knowledge as to what I want to achieve and also what motivates me to achieve that goal.
The Sheriff Department desperately needs to be modernized and brought into the 21st Century. To do this, I intend to present to the County Commission why we need this modernization and how I intend to go about doing it. I will meet with our state representative to see if he or she can assist in any funding to achieve some of these goals. I have already set my team to doing research on what state and federal grants are available that we can utilize within the departments budget guidelines. Some of the modernization is going to be computers in every car. These computers will allow the deputies direct access to information that will allow them to check for wants, warrants, previous criminal history, immediate stolen vehicle or property information, file criminal incident reports directly into the record and investigative division without having to leave their patrol area as they do now. This System will be light years more efficient than what is presently being utilized by the department.

In an emergency, seconds can mean the difference between life and death. Presently, the sheriff department is not operating with a model that reduces the response time of the deputies to an emergency call. Upon taking office, I intend to immediately make some changes to improve the deputies response time to our citizens. Under the present system, if a deputy has to make an arrest he or she has to transport that person or persons to the jail. Once they arrive, they have to do their own booking of the prisoner which keeps the deputy sometimes for hours out of his or her territory. During those hours the citizens of Colbert county are placed in position of having the responding deputies to be further away from the call, thus increasing the response time to the call. I intend to reduce the response time by creating a booking division in the jail, as this will release the deputy to get back into his or her territory immediately upon placing the person or persons in a holding cell. In the long run, I intend to have the Jail division pickup the person or persons from the arresting deputy, so the deputy does not have to leave their area of their responsibility. Thus, reducing the response times even more. This is only one of things I intend to do to reduce the response time to our citizens.

In today’s environment of fighting crime, education and more education is the key to increasing the percentage of criminal convictions. Presently, our deputies have not been given the opportunity to attend criminal courses such as :Crime Scene Techniques, The Value of Forensic Evidence, Drug Investigative Techniques, Cyber Crime Courses, Search and Seizure Courses, Homicide Investigative Techniques, Interrogation Techniques, How to solidify DUI cases, How to research current case law rulings, Alabama Criminal Law Classes, Criminal Behavior Patterns and more. I intend to be very aggressive in making sure everyone of my deputies have the opportunity to be enrolled in these classes. This will give them the tools necessary for the sheriff department to be a more efficient crime fighting department for our citizens.

I intend to change the policy of having the deputies supply their own weapons and ammunition, shoes, and other equipment. This is a system that is archaic and will be dissolved immediately. It is extremely important that all deputies carry the same type pistol and ammunition. In an emergency they need to be able to swap ammunition between themselves and be familiar with the same weapon the other deputy is carrying in the event they need to use it. I will also make available to each deputy the weapons they need to carry in their units so they will not be at a disadvantage if the person or persons they come against have more powerful weapons. This is a time of when our deputies can be involved in any type of incident, and I intend to see they have the tools to respond accordingly.

I believe that any equipment that can protect our deputies from harm or false accusations is money well spent. Therefore, I have set my goal to place in each unit a video cam when the deputy comes into contact with a citizen. I also intend to carry this even further by equipping each deputy with the most up to date body cam. Statics show that a lot of interaction between the deputy and citizen takes place out of the viewing area of the patrol unit’s video cam. These cameras will protect both the deputy and citizen as it will record the complete interaction leaving no doubt as to what events occurred during that period. Statics also show that body cams have already reduced the legal cost of several departments when false accusations are dispelled by the body cam the officer had on his or her person. I am also going to make sure every deputy has an update body vest to protect them from gunfire and knife thrust.

The County is in desperate need of a Justice Center and I intend to discuss my thoughts about the Justice Center with members of the Colbert county commission. Other Alabama Counties and surrounding states have found that placing law enforcement, judicial, correctional and their connecting services under one roof has made tremendous improvements in the efficiency of the entire justice system. What is a Justice Center you ask ? A Justice Center is where all law enforcement agencies within the county, circuit, district and municipal courts, probation office , work release offices, district attorney’s office, victim assistance office, juvenile office, correctional facilities, 911 office, emergency management, homeland security , state of Alabama forensics, Alabama bureau of investigation are under one roof. An Inquiry has already been made with the Sheffield Police Chief, Tuscumbia Police Chief and to see if they would be open to discussing the possibility of consolidating their departments within a Justice Center. Their response was very positive as they are open to anything that will increase the efficiency of their department and help the citizens of their respective community. Under this format, each police department would have their officers and investigators in offices adjacent to each other, along with the sheriff department deputies and investigators, and other agencies they do join investigations with. There are many advantages to this:
This allows shift change briefings to be made to all department officers at the beginning of each shift. Since these departments already work cases that cross into each others jurisdiction, this would give the officers and investigators the benefit of being able to meet face to face and discuss any information they may need to exchange.
If you consolidate these agencies in one building it reduces the expense of each respective agency as they no longer have to pay separate utilities, insurance, maintenance, radio equipment, telecommunication equipment, monthly telecommunication expenses etc;
law enforcement classes could be given to all departments at the same time in classrooms equip with the most up to date video and projection equipment.
The class rooms would be of such where classes normally given at other locations in the State could take place in the Justice Center thus reducing travel, meal and lodging expenses for each respective department.
The court system would be furnished with the most advanced video and audio equipment that will be utilized in criminal and civil cases.
Since the correctional system (Jail) would be maintained within the Justice Center, all prisoners would always be within a secure environment, therefore removing the risk of escape when you have to take a prisoner to court as it is presently done.
The advantage list could go on forever, but I believe you can see from the above list it is a worthwhile goal to achieve. The next question, is how do you fund such a Center. This can be done many ways. However, the first thing that would have to happen is a committee formed that consist of individuals from the county commission, each respective city involved, members of the state agencies who want to participate, state representatives, Alabama house representatives, Alabama Senators,Engineers, representatives of a bonding company, grant personnel, etc; As your Sheriff, I am willing to take on that endeavor as the Jail we now have is no longer viable and is presently being maintained on a Band – Aid bases. I feel very strongly by creating this Justice Center it will increase the efficiency of all law enforcement agencies,stream line our court system and other connected agencies which in turn will serve our citizens better.

The Second Amendment is one of our most important rights. However, with that right comes a tremendous responsibility of getting the correct training with your specific weapon so that you will be at the top of your game when it comes to gun safety. I intend to take this gun safety class further and give you the opportunity to participate in the Colbert County Sheriff Gun Club.
This Gun Club will consist of classes pertaining to gun safety and shooting range time with certified instructors. I intend to set up areas to participate in the black powder weapons, skeet & trap shooting, an area and time where you can zero in your rife before hunting season, competition shooting, weapon repair classes, ammunition reloading classes, NRA certification classes, youth gun safety courses, hunting courses taught by the State of Alabama Department of Wildlife, skinning skills for different game animals and how to preserve the meat, cooking classes for certain game meat, family cookouts and other events involving all members. The Club’s Goal is gun safety , increase your shooting skills, educational classes pertaining to protecting our wildlife, how to maintain and repair your weapon and provide a place where the whole family can participate in something together all year long.

In the state of Alabama animal cruelty, neglect, abandonment, abuse, dog and rooster fighting are one of the most prevalent crimes committed. It is also one of the least laws prosecuted in the state. Presently Alabama stands as the 45th state in a ranking of 50 states to pursue individuals who commit these crimes. I strongly feel that if we do not stand up and protect these animals from abuse then who will. In order to protect the animals of this county, I intend to work hard to define the areas where our animal abuse and cruelty laws need strengthening and work with our local representatives and judicial to make these laws stronger in an effort to stop these acts from occurring. Presently, we have a Colbert County Animal Control Corporation that was formed years ago under a quasi-governmental structure. This Structure is presently funded by our surrounding cities and Colbert county. The Animal Control Officers do not have arrest powers and have to utilize the assistance of the police departments or deputies when the calls are criminal in nature. This ties up the cities officers and deputies unnecessarily and we need to change this way of going about working animal abuse cases. I have already put out inquires to some of the animal control board members and the Animal Control Director as to whether they would entertain the idea of placing animal control under the sheriff department. I have found all willing to listen to the possibility of placing this organization under my supervision. When ask if they know of any reason why this could not be done, they all responded to the best of their knowledge there is nothing in the bylaws that would prevent it. History shows that individuals who commit these type of crimes also abuse their spouse, children and some even become serial killers later on in life. If I can prevent even one life from being taken or a spouse or child from being abused by showing no quarter to these individuals then it is an endeavor worth the effort.

There are times when citizens obtained arrest warrants on individuals they feel who have done them wrong. The citizen who takes out the warrant expects the sheriff department to serve this warrant at the earliest time possible. Sadly, this is not always the case. Presently, there are a lot of dated arrest warrants still out standing and need to be served. It is my goal to establish a Warrant Division whose sole responsibility is to serve these dated warrants and to serve the newly issued warrants in a reasonable amount of time.
I could continue on with the goals I am set to implement if elected as your next county sheriff, but I believe this short list should allow you to see just some of the things I intend to achieve for you.
Thank you for your time and may God Bless America
Frank Williamson.”

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