Ken Jones was born in El Dorado on March 23, 1965 to Kenneth and Linda Jones of
Hampton Arkansas, Calhoun County.
He was raised in Hampton and attended Hampton Public Schools.

As a young teenager Jones started working at the NAPA auto parts store across
from the Calhoun County Courthouse.
Each afternoon as Jones would stock the store with parts that had come in overnight
the local county sheriff would visit the parts store.
Jones became amazed at the stories the sheriff would tell each afternoon about what was going on around the county.
Very soon Jones and the Sheriff became friends and after work.
Jones would visit the Sheriff’s Office in the courthouse.

Very quickly Jones became overwhelmingly interested in the field of law enforcement and
began to learn all different aspects of law enforcement.

At the age of 16, the Sheriff asked Jones if he would like to work at the Sheriff’s Office
in the afternoon and at night as a radio dispatcher.
Jones accepted the offer and worked for the Sheriff on the night shift throughout
his senior year in High School.
Upon graduating from High School, Jones accepted an offer to work as a dispatcher and jailer with the Ouachita County Sheriff’s Office in Camden.
Soon after, Jones was promoted to Chief Dispatcher and Jailer, supervising other dispatchers
and jailers and managing the administrative aspects of the Sheriff’s Office.
After reaching the age of 21, the Ouachita County Sheriff promoted Jones to
full deputy sheriff assigning him to the patrol division.
Jones attended the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy and worked as a deputy
in Ouachita County for another year before returning to Calhoun County as a Patrol Deputy
and Criminal Investigator for the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office.
The next career step for Jones was being hired by the Arkansas Highway Police.
His first assignment with the Highway Police in 1987 was to a patrol unit in Union County.
Jones worked the next eight years with the Highway Police before Union County Sheriff
Huey Havard offered him a position at the Union County Sheriff’s Office
as a Criminal Investigator and Administrative Assistant to the Sheriff.
Jones began working for the Sheriff on January 5, 1995.
Soon after, Jones was promoted to the rank of Captain with the Sheriff’s Office.
Jones was given the complete operational supervision of the Sheriff’s Office soon after.
In 1998, the Board of Directors for the Thirteenth Judicial District Drug Task Force asked
Jones to be interim Director of the Drug Task Force until a permanent Director could be hired.
Jones remained the Director of the Task Force while managing his duties at the Sheriff’s Office until 2002.
In 2002, Sheriff Havard passed away after a long battle with cancer and his wife was
appointed to finish out his remaining time as Sheriff.
Jones remained at the Sheriff’s Office in charge of operations until being elected Sheriff that year and
taking office as one of the youngest Sheriffs Union County citizens had ever elected.
Jones took office as Union County Sheriff in January 2003.