ANNOUNCEMENT TO RUN FOR RE-ELECTION AS SHERIFF OF UNION COUNTY

Union County Sheriff Ken Jones announced Wednesday his intention to seek re-election.

Jones said, “The encouragement of the people we serve, and the
encouragement of my staff has been the most important factors in me
seeking to continue to serve as Sheriff. I am very grateful to serve such a wonderful community.”

Jones stated, “I continue to be committed to the people of Union
County.” “My priorities remain the same as we continue with
advancements at the Sheriff’s Office.”

Jones said that one of his commitments is and always has been the
fight of illegal drugs in the county. He continued, “I am never
satisfied that we are doing enough, and I am continually looking
for new ways to bring this difficult problem within control.
We will continue to disrupt the drug networks in this county and my efforts
will remain strong.

It is my belief that illegal drugs are the root of a great many of our
criminal problems, and I pledge to continue the fight.

According to Jones, when taking office as Sheriff in 2003, he instituted
a program to place deputies inside public schools of Union
County. As a result, deputies can be seen walking the hallways of

schools on a daily basis. Within the last year, their presence has
increased even more as Jones entered into an agreement with
both Strong and Parkers Chapel School Districts to have a deputy
assigned to each of these schools. Jones stated that this program
has been a great deterrence against drugs and violence over the
past several years and has ensured that the children attending these schools
are able to do so in a safe environment.
Jones stated, “I am committed to keeping our schools safe and
will continue that commitment during my next term as Sheriff.”

Jones also spoke of his work to financially improve the operations of the County Jail. This past year Jones has drafted several county ordinances that were passed through the Quorum Court that place the expenses of incarceration on those individuals that are processed and detained in the County Jail. Within the last few months, he presented an ordinance to the Quorum Court to charge inmates a fee for medical serves provided by the county during their incarceration. In 2007 during the State Legislative Session, Jones was instrumental,
along with other Sheriffs, in getting a law passed that requires
persons being processed through the County Jails of Arkansas to
pay a $25 fee each time they enter a jail for a new charge.
Those fees are earmarked for the operations of the county jails in each county.
Jones asserts that he believes that if these persons have money,
they should not be allowed to ride the pocket books of the taxpayers.

One of the most successful programs Jones has implemented has
been the Union County Jail Pea Farm. Using inmates to farm a
seven acre tract of land near the jail to raise fresh produce that is
harvested and used in the Union County Jail to feed inmates
each year. Jones states that this program has been a big money saver
to the taxpayers. Through the hard work that this entails it has
taught inmates a level of responsibility that they otherwise may
not have had it in the past, Jones said.

Since Jones took office in 2003, 9,000 prisoners have been processed
through the Union County Jail.

According to Jones, “At the beginning of my first term, we were
looking for a way to make sure we patrolled every corner of this county
around the clock, and security checks gave us an avenue to do
that. As deputies patrol the county they are required to check
businesses and churches as part of their patrol procedure.
Each check is logged to give us a record for crime analysis purposes,
and it has been a proven deterrent to criminal activity.”
During this time over 120,000 security checks have been conducted
on businesses and churches throughout the county.

Over the years we have worked towards adding more deputies to
each patrol shift. When joining the Sheriff’s Office back in 1995 at
times there were only 2 patrol deputies for this entire county,
today we have as many as five at any given time on patrol throughout
Union County. We have utilized part-time deputies in an effort to
make our budget dollars stretch further giving us more man-hours
by the patrol division. Also we have built on our Sheriff’s Reserve
Deputy Division and this great group of volunteers are trained and
certified to act with the same authority as a regular deputy.
Reserve Deputies can be seen patrolling this county, providing
security at sporting events and generally adding to the law
enforcement force of this office.

When taking office in 2003 Jones formed a Search and Rescue
Division within the Sheriff’s Office to deal with major disasters in the
county such as missing hunters or children, tornado and storm
incidents and all major disasters. This was done to streamline
resources for responding to incidents and saving lives during
such times. The group is made up of over 50 members including
persons from the medical field, fire departments and law
enforcement agencies. Jones stated he is very proud of the group, as
it has become recognized throughout the state for its origination
and ability.

Jones continues, “We have a great Criminal Investigation Division and
rarely does a major crime go unsolved in this county.”
“When taking office as Sheriff, I hand picked people who I felt had
the greatest ability in investigating crime. They were sent to
specialized training, and I now feel we have one of the best teams in
the state.”

According to Jones over the past five years his office has made over
4,000 arrest, resulting in nearly 6,000 charges being brought
against individuals for crimes committed in Union County.

He contends that working as a strong team and with the assistance of
the community property crimes, such as burglaries,decreased.

Jones was also instrumental in placing a state of the art computer
networking system at the Sheriff’s Office. It helps track and share
information and enables the department to identify criminals and
better fight crime. Within the last two years, that system has been
expanded with laptop computers being placed in all deputy cars.
A link was also established between the Sheriff’s Office and both
the El Dorado Police Department and the Smackover Police
Department to share the information electronically. This system helps
save countless man-hours and further increases the efficiency of
law enforcement in this county.

Jones also stated, “We continue to intensify and increase our efforts in
collecting old fines, some of which dated twenty years.
Prior to my taking office as Sheriff, the office was collecting an average of
$60,000 to $80,000 a year in Circuit Fines.
Over the past five years our average collections have increased to approximately
$300,000 per year. Now, if an individual does not pay his/her fine, an
arrest warrant is obtained and the person is arrested on a cash
only bond in the amount of the old fine. If he or she does not have
the money, it must be worked off on the inmate work detail, and
we clear these old fines off the books. No longer are old fines
forgiven due to lack of payment.

In 2005, the biggest change made in business operations was that all
9-1-1 emergency calls for the county are received at the Sheriff’s
Office. All calls for fire services, ambulance and law enforcement
for the county are now handled through the Sheriff’s Office.
This has drastically improved communications and decreased the
response time of the Sheriff’s Office and other county emergency
services. All of this was established without the need to hire
additional personnel.

These are exciting times for our community and I am energized by our
efforts and excited that, as your Sheriff, we are continuing to
provide good services to all the people of this county.

“We have stood strong and we will continue to stand strong for this
community. I will continue to be a hands on Sheriff available to all
the people of this county around the clock,” Jones said.

Jones is working on his 26th year of law enforcement. He is presently
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Thirteenth Judicial Drug
Task Force.

In 2000 Governor Mike Huckabee awarded Jones a Governor’s
Commendation for outstanding work by the Drug Task Force.

In 2003 FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III awarded Jones the National
FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award in recognition of his
contribution to law enforcement in Arkansas.

In 2006 the Sheriffs’ of Arkansas elected Jones to serve as their
Legislative Chairperson on the Executive Board of the Arkansas
Sheriff’s Association. This is a position Jones continues to serve in
presently.

In March 2007 Governor Mike Beebe appointed Jones to the
Arkansas Board of Corrections. The Board of Corrections is
responsible for the supervision and control of the state’s entire prison
system, probation and parole services and community corrections
centers.

Jones was recently appointed to the Board of the Arkansas Sheriff’s
Boys and Girls Ranch, a non-profit organization that raises
orphans and abandoned children in Arkansas.

Jones also serves on the Board of Directors for the South Arkansas
Substance Abuse Center, South Arkansas Youth Services and
South Arkansas Regional Health Center.

He is a member of the El Dorado Rotary Club.

Jones and his wife, Evelyn, live in Urbana.

Jones stated, “It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve as Sheriff
for the last three terms. I would like to ask the people of Union
County for their continued support and their vote in the upcoming
election.”

For more information you can visit: www.kenjones4sheriff.org


Letters, comments, inquires, and Donations can be sent to:
Re-Elect Ken Jones-Sheriff Union County
Post Office Box 1975
El Dorado, Arkansas 71730







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