Jimmy Edwards wants your vote in the run-off election-here’s why

Hello, I’m Jimmy Edwards, a candidate for re-election as your Union County Sheriff.

I want to thank those of you who supported me in the primary election, and ask you and those who voted for other candidates to cast your votes for me in the upcoming runoff election.

To tell you a little about myself for those of you who may not know me, I’m 57 years old and married to Larissa Edwards. We have 3 children, Edwin Edwards, Brittney Gregory, and Jacob Stewart.  We also have 4 grandchildren with one more on the way.  We are members of Macedonia Baptist Church.  I am a life-long resident of Union County.

I have 24 years of experience in law enforcement, all here at the Union County Sheriff’s Office. I have served as a deputy sheriff, deputy coroner, criminal investigator, narcotics investigator, chief deputy and as your sheriff for the past 12 years. I do not believe any other candidate has the experience that I have serving in as many positions that I have served you in.  It is that experience that I hope and trust you will look at closely when choosing who you want to serve as your sheriff in this upcoming election.

Another point I would like to make about my experience is our department’s strong working relationship with local, state, and federal agencies.  These relationships have been proven time and time again to be very instrumental. There is an established rapport that is already in place and is now being utilized with me as your sheriff.

We have made many improvements at the Sheriff’s Office over the past 12 years.

• We have recently added a new state-of-the-art camera system to the entire law enforcement center.
• We have the latest radio communication equipment on the MSWIN system, including mobile radios in every vehicle, as well as handheld radios for each deputy.
• We have added laptop computers in each patrol car, along with the eCite system.
• We are a National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) compliant department with monthly FBI crime reporting.
• We added in the past year a drone program with 2 state-of-the-art drones and we have 2 FAA certified pilots.
• We have a new booking system and have added kiosks in the pods so inmates can talk to their family through video visitation. This technology cuts down tremendously on the amount of contraband being introduced into the jail facility.

These are just a few examples of the many improvements we have made. Most of these projects were paid for with seized asset funds. This is money that was seized from drug dealers, not costing the taxpayers a penny.

Some of the established programs that will continue to operate under my administration are the DARE program that is taught in each county school, Project Lifesaver, the RUOK program, and the Inmate Litter Removal program.

It has been said that I have money in the budget to hire new deputies, but refuse to do so, or that I will not ask for more money to hire additional deputies.  That is simply not true. We have added 8 full time deputies to our staff since 2012.  Four of those are full time School Resource Officers, with one assigned to each of the 4 county schools to help protect our children. The remaining four are patrol deputies. We have prepared budget requests each and every year asking for more deputies, and we will continue to do so persistently.  We also have 4 full time investigators who are on call 24/7 to respond when necessary. We were also recently able to obtain funding and hire 2 more additional full time detention officers for the jail, as well.

I would like to take this opportunity to ask for your vote and support in the August 29^th run-off election. Help re-elect me, Jimmy Edwards, as your sheriff.

Let my experience continue to work for you.

Thank you!

–Jimmy Edwards