Indiana State Police Major Jerry Williams was leading Tuesday night in a six-candidate race for the Democratic nomination for Lake County Sheriff.
The Democratic candidates for sheriff were Williams, St. John Police Chief Steve Flores, former ATF agent Jason Gore, Lake County Sheriff Deputy Chief Edward Jenkins, Lake County Jail Correctional Officer John Gregory “Jack” Sanchez, and Lake County Sheriff’s Gary Civil Division officer Maria Garcia Trajkovich.
Williams received 10,020 votes, followed by Flores with 8,382 votes and Jenkins with 6,836 votes, according to Lake County election data. The Democratic primary winner will face Republican David K. Crane Jr., a retired Lake County Sheriff’s Department officer who ran unopposed, in November. Current Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. isn’t running due to term limits.
“There’s still a lot of counting left to be done, but we feel pretty confident with the direction going in our favor so far. I’m really pleased and proud with my team. I think we ran a great campaign that was both clean and informative. We gave a sense of our values, and we think the voters responded,” Williams said Tuesday night.
Williams has worked for the Indiana State Police for 33 years.
Late last year, a state audit found that Martinez improperly spent nearly $300,000 for meals, cigar bars, golf outings and travel, noting that Martinez often mischaracterized the expenses as “Prevent Juvenile Delinquency,” “(Juvenile) Crime Prevention,” and “Community Relations.” Under Indiana law, commissary funds can be spent on merchandise for the commissary, training, equipment or programs, among other things.
Williams said he would treat the commissary funds like taxpayer dollars and not as “a piggy bank.” Williams said he has experience managing a budget with $450 million in daily assets.
If elected, Williams said on day one he’d create a public portal of the spending of the commissary funding. Also on day one, Williams said he would bring in an auditor to evaluate and assess all parts of the sheriff’s budget.
“This is easy: just follow the rules and make sure that you stay in compliance,” Williams said.
The state legislature approved a massive immigration bill that, in part, allows local and state police to enforce federal immigration laws and for those officers to cooperate with ICE.
Williams said everyone wants safe and secure borders and for criminals to be put in jail. But, the tactics ICE has been deploying in recent months is similar to when police officers used dogs, fire hoses and batons on Bloody Sunday March 7, 1965, when 600 Black people marched from Selma to Montgomery to demand voting rights and were attacked by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Williams said.
Under the new law, Williams said he’s concerned that the ICE officers won’t be properly trained and then deployed throughout the state.
“I can’t stop ICE from doing what they do … but I certainly can make sure that our officers are not participating in anything that violates people’s constitutional rights in that respect. I’ll stand in front with our communities to say that this is unacceptable behavior,” Williams said.
The state legislature passed a bill that would allow for a constitutional amendment allowing judges to deny bail if someone commits a crime other than murder or treason.
Williams said he would bring all stakeholders, like judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys, together “to figure out how we holistically address overcrowding in the jail system.” Williams said his biggest concern is the impact the new law will have on Black and brown communities.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the jail population decreased and was successful, Williams said.
“We need to put that same level of attention into dealing with overcrowding in the jail on a daily fashion not just when we have an epidemic,” Williams said.
akukulka@post-trib.com
