There’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s bringing some new ideas with him – from uniforms and personnel to policies and name changes.
Kyle Dukes won the Republican primary for sheriff in May against three others, including incumbent Rocky Goshert. His campaign slogan was “Fresh Start.” With no Democrat or third-party challenger in the November general election, the county position was his. He officially took office New Year’s Day.
After winning the sheriff’s race, it didn’t take long for him to realize he had to start planning and learning for his first four-year term after serving 18 years as a trooper with the Indiana State Police.
Learning The Job
“It hit me right away, and I want to personally say thank you to Sheriff Doug Harp of the Noble County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Brad Rogers of the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Tim Troyer of Steuben County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Randy Prior, Cass County Sheriff’s Office. That group of sheriffs took me under their wing and taught me the county sheriff job. So, I spent a lot of time at those sheriff offices and having those guys mentor me and learning. And the nice thing about it was I also learned about jails, too. I toured all these jails, I talked to the jail commanders so for several months got to see the problems, the issues, the concerns, but on both the jail side of things and also the county sheriff’s job,” he said Wednesday.
He said the actual sheriff job has some differences from county to county, but otherwise it’s the same job in every county.
“The nice thing is to have experienced, seasoned sheriffs. They’ve been in that seat for eight years. That was the thing that I actually cherished – hearing the issues, their solutions, what worked for them, what didn’t work for them, lawsuits – I got to hear those. That was an added bonus that I had that many county sheriffs take me under their wing and really help me through this,” Dukes said.
He’s also a second-generation ISP trooper and sheriff. His father served 20 years with the ISP and as a two-term sheriff for Noble County.
Also to help Dukes prepare for the job, he attended a week of sheriff school in December in Muncie. He said the “awesome” thing about going there was that the new Elkhart County sheriff, Jeff Siegel, went with him and they got to know each other better, as well as sheriffs from other surrounding counties.
“Out of those friendships, we are now starting regional sheriff meetings. And also we talked about, and we’re going to start, regional detective meetings,” Dukes said, adding that they were going to be monthly. “Again, working with the other county sheriffs, we feel like this is important to get on the same page and talk about their crimes and our crimes and see if we have anything in connection.”
The monthly police chief meetings, which Dukes started about a year ago with the police chiefs from around the county, are continuing and Dukes said those have been “phenomenal.”
“It’s nice to work together as a group. Something that has occurred is, with the Nappanee Police Department, almost half of their town is in Kosciusko County, so we’ve now included Nappanee police and Chief Steve Rulli on these meetings and conversations. So it’s been fun,” Dukes said.
Personnel Changes
Dukes’ first day in the office was Tuesday, but being a holiday even the sheriff’s office wasn’t too busy. He had a game plan for Wednesday, when all of the staff would be back, but had to make adjustments when a series of events popped up.
“I learned on my Day 1 that game plans can be thrown out the window in a matter of seconds,” he said.
His game plan, which included telling officers their new positions, started at 7:30 a.m. and included a series of meetings. While he was having the meetings, the ISP sent troopers over to take all the Kosciusko County calls, which Dukes said he appreciated.
“I guess the nice thing today was, my employees here at the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office, they now know the game plan for 2019. They know their positions, and how we move forward. I think that they’re relieved now to know what how we move forward together,” Dukes said.
He said his first order of business was to hire a new jail commander, who began his job Tuesday. Shane Coney, who came from the Noble County Sheriff’s Office, replaces Mike Mulligan in that position. Coney has close to three years of previous jail commander experience and 20 years as a law enforcement officer.
“He solved a lot of Noble County’s jail issues and problems, and came highly, highly recommended from Sheriff Harp and I feel very fortunate to have landed Mr. Coney as our jail commander,” Dukes said.
The matron’s position has been filled by Kris Woodard. She was an administrator at North Webster Elementary School for many years. “I feel very fortunate to have Kris on board with her administrative experience,” he said.
Under Goshert, deputy Chris McKeand was the captain and public information officer (PIO). Following state statute, Dukes said they’re calling the captain position “chief deputy” and Det. Sgt. Shane Bucher will take over the role of chief deputy. Bucher, who is Dukes’ brother-in-law, has been a deputy with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office for many years.
“When it came time for a chief deputy, I wanted somebody first and foremost that I could trust. I wanted somebody currently employed at the (KCSO) and who knew the inner workings. And I wanted somebody who was working,” he said.
Dukes said he sat down with Kosciusko County Prosecutor Dan Hampton and talked with him about who was working. He also talked with prosecutor investigators, deputy prosecutors and defense attorneys.
“Every time I sat down with these people individually, they all said one name and that was Det. Sgt. Shane Bucher. And probably the deciding factor was when I saw the actual numbers of criminal cases that were turned in in 2018. Det. Sgt. Bucher turned in 157 criminal cases to the Kosciusko County Prosecutor’s Office,” Dukes said.
Asked if there was any concern about nepotism by putting his brother-in-law in that position, Dukes responded, “State law requires that I can put anybody in there. And, I did my homework. The trust factor, working with the prosecutor’s office, I am pleased with my choice, and he is on board with my game plan as far as working with all agencies sharing information. So, at the end of the day, I’m happy with my decision.”
A position Dukes has yet to fill is that of a PIO.
“We will be hiring a full-time public information officer and look forward to doing that sometime in January or early February,” Dukes said.
By the end of 2018, eight long-time deputies retired from the force, with five of those positions filled by the time Dukes walked into the building Tuesday. Those deputies either are in the field training program or have completed it.
He said they are looking at filling two more detective positions.
The KCSO has 38 merit officers, Dukes said.
Drug Task Force
During Dukes’ campaign, one of his plans was to have only one drug task force in the county instead of the county having one and other municipalities, like Warsaw, having their own. That’s still part of his game plan.
For the last four or five months, he said he, Winona Lake Town Marshal Joe Hawn, Warsaw Police Dept. Chief Scott Whitaker, ISP Lt. Chad Larsh and Nappanee Chief Rulli have been working “very hard” together to make the single drug task force happen.
“We’ve conducted interviews and we are just waiting. The sheriff’s office is going to shoot an email out to the deputies to find out who is interested in this position, but, yes, there is going to be a unified drug task force that will be up and running very soon,” Dukes said.
He said it’s going to happen and everyone is excited that it’s going to happen.
“To have the Winona Lake Police Department, the Warsaw Police Department, the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office, the Indiana State Police, the Nappanee Police Department together on one team, it’s going to be a great team,” he said.
He said it will be an elite team that will be proactive.
“With the current methamphetamine problem and heroin problem that Kosciusko County is experiencing, we need to get going on this team,” he later said.
Other Changes
It’s been the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department for years, but since Tuesday it’s officially the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office.
“We are not a department, we’re an office and proud of that and everything that comes along with that,” Dukes said.
He said the office will continue driving the brown squad cars which people have become accustomed to seeing. Officers also will continue to wear brown uniforms, but they will be “standard Class A” uniforms. Dukes said some officers currently aren’t wearing the Class A uniforms, but all need to be wearing the standard one.
One thing Dukes is excited about is a program at Enchanted Hills in Cromwell.
“I’ve been working for several months with the Enchanted Hills Association on an overtime detail to have more of an officer presence and take a proactive stance, so I’m excited for that,” he said.
The Jail Chemical Addiction Program (JCAP), which started in August with a $87,000 grant from the Indiana Drug Enforcement Association, will continue, Dukes said. The award was made possible through seed funding from the Office of the Indiana Attorney General. The program provides inmates with cognitive, behavioral therapy, group and individual counseling, and the inmates are separated from other inmates and must spend at least 90 days in therapy. The inmates volunteer to participate and are moderate, high-risk offenders who are chemically dependant.
“I would like to see this program also extend to the male side of our jail, because currently it’s just offered to the females. So, extend that over to the males and also utilize work release as a stepping stone toward civilian life for the JCAP. I’m not sure how all of that will look, but I’d like to do something there,” Dukes said.
He said the School Resource Officer program at Tippecanoe Valley High School will continue. Syracuse Police Department has an SRO at Wawasee, while Warsaw Police provides SROs for Warsaw Community Schools.
Community policing – getting the deputy sheriffs out in the community and back in the schools – will be a priority, Dukes said.
He’s also working with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources on continuing the lake patrol division of the KCSO.
No matter what changes or doesn’t, Dukes knows the community will have high expectations for his office and will expect transparency given all that’s happened in the sheriff’s office over the last few years.
“I told my merit officers this morning, whatever’s happened here is done. And the nice thing about a new sheriff, on the first day, is the slate is wiped clean. I don’t care who said what, who did what, it’s over and done, and we forget and we move forward and we work with all departments, and that’s including Warsaw Police Department and the Indiana State Police. We’re going to share information, and it’s time. And I told the men this morning that the community is expecting us to do this. They’re expecting us to do this,” Dukes said.
