Southeast Iowa sheriffs announce bids for reelection

As the filing period approaches for county offices, sheriffs in southeast Iowa are announcing their bids for reelection. Incumbents Rich McNamee and Jared Schneider are both looking to continue serving their constituents and improving their offices.

Rich McNamee

McNamee, who is seeking his third term as Henry County's sheriff, began his law enforcement career in 1993 with the Mt. Pleasant Police Department before joining the sheriff's office in 1997.

'I enjoy doing what I do and I enjoy taking care of the county as best as possible with my people, and I want to keep on doing it,” he said of why he wants to run again.

McNamee presented a four-point platform during his first run for the office in 2012. He said he feels the platform still encapsulates what he hopes to do with his agency, and looks to continue moving forward with the four concepts in his third term. The Henry County Sheriff said he is focused on 'proactive law enforcement, increased patrols to rural Henry County and small towns, improved relations with other local law enforcement and prosecutors and conservative fiscal budgeting.”

McNamee said the four points he identified work hand-in-hand with one another and are focused on addressing crime in the area.

'For years our agency was reactive to an issue. But the last seven years, we've been proactive. We're out patrolling the streets, trying to stop crime before it happens and I think that's a very good approach,” he said.

'We spend a lot of time out in the county, we're up and down the roads, we're in the small towns and people notice that, they appreciate that, they feel safer because of that. We're pretty proud of that,” McNamee added.

As far as the effectiveness of this approach, McNamee said the evidence is all in the results. Though there has been a recent uptick in crime in the last six months, McNamee said as a whole, crime has dropped since he assumed office.

'The first year [I was in office], the results were the same, but after, our crimes against people deteriorated. It got better for us, worse for the criminals. We had thefts and burglaries on a downtrend. However, these last six to eight months have been a little higher but we've been solving some of those cases because of the work of my people,” McNamee explained.

In addition to lowered crime rates, McNamee said he felt one of his biggest accomplishments so far has been the completion of the new county jail. The new structure was a $9.1 million dollar project that spanned several years. However with the new facility also comes some challenges.

'As far as conservative budgeting, we've seen a drastic change because of the change in commitments. Mental commitments are higher, arrests numbers are higher, jailed inmates are higher, which resulted in us building this building and with the building comes more budget concerns. County tax dollars are tight. We have to be cautious and conservative,” McNamee said.

He added that with the new building and expansion from an 8-bed jail to a 100-bed jail, there will be new hires as well. Currently, McNamee is working on increasing the jail staff from an 8-person team to 17.

While crime statistics and new facilities are exciting accomplishments, McNamee said the crux of his position is ultimately in understanding and responding to the needs of the citizens.

'I'm responsible to the people. I'm elected by the people. You have to listen to the people and care about the people. I care about the public, I listen to the public and I do respond to the public and in a nutshell, I think that's what makes someone a good sheriff. Someone who cares and listens. You have to have honesty and integrity,” he said.

McNamee added that he hopes people see the sheriff's office as 'firm, fair and consistent,” and hopes to continue to earn the support of voters.

'We're here to help regardless of whether it's criminal activity or a broken down car or information. We're here to help our citizens,” he said.

Jared Schneider

Closing out on his first term as Washington County's sheriff, Schneider said his office has been kept busy with major projects that have included updating the agency's radio system and building a new communications center for the county's 911 dispatch.

Schneider said going into his first term he was focused on 'moving forward and getting the sheriff's office moving along and running efficiently.”

'You look at the projects we're doing right now and those were things we were talking about ten years ago. So to be able to get those done and behind us is a major task that needed to be done for quite a long time,” he said.

Schneider said getting those major projects out of the way has been one of the biggest accomplishments of his first term.

'We've got a good group of people working on it. It's probably taken us a little longer than we had hoped to but I think the flow of things has worked out but seeing where we are now and the progress we've made is rewarding,” he said.

Other projects the sheriff highlighted included updates to security cameras at the county courthouse and the jail as well as card access for both facilities as well. As those projects come to a close, the sheriff expects to use the rest of this year to evaluate how he can continue to propel the office forward and which projects should be tackled next.

Schneider, who began working with the office in the mid-1990s, said he kind of fell into 'the administrative side of law enforcement,” which is why he decided to run for the position in 2016 when the previous sheriff announced his retirement. Schneider said for an agency the size of his office coupled with the projects they currently have going on, a lot of time is dedicated to more administrative duties.

'It was one of those things that I knew I could do the job. I'd helped [Sheriff Jerry Dunbar] with a lot of that stuff up to that point anyway. A job is a job, but I enjoy what I'm doing and hope to continue on serving the public and giving the service our citizens deserve,” Schneider said.

Moving forward, the sheriff said he hopes to continue working with communities across the county to identify and meet their needs. Schneider explained his office operates under a contract law enforcement system with the smaller towns in the area.

'Another thing that I've started in my first term is working with my contract law enforcement communities and just evaluating their law enforcement and their towns. I'd like to continue on with conversations with those communities, just making sure that their law enforcement needs are being met and making sure that their goals and our goals are all working together to make that service what they want,” he said.

Schneider added that he hasn't seen any 'drastic changes” in crime since he started his position and the county continues to tackle similar factors, like drugs, that lead to crime.

' We go to work everyday and try to stop some of that the best we can. We put as much effort to stop some of it, being out in our communities and being visible,” he added.

In addition to the contract law enforcement, Schneider said another focus and goal for his second term includes furthering the county jail's contract inmate revenue, something Schneider brought back with his first term in office.

'Since I've taken office, [contract inmate revenue] has really turned around and it's brought in a lot of revenue for our county and that takes a lot of work. It's another goal of mine to keep the contract inmate revenue coming into our county. Moving forward, just keep working with those counties that have the need for inmate space and keep those relationships where they need to be,” he said.

As he looks toward a second term in office, Schneider said the experience he's gained and the projects he's accomplished in his first four years in office show that he 'isn't afraid to put in the work.”

'I know what it takes to run an office from physical standpoint and financial and I put a lot of time and thought into what we do and what we need to do, making sure we're getting the best possible product we can. I will go the extra mile to make sure that any project we take on, we do it in the most fiscally responsible way that we can. I think that's important to people,” he said.