Jeff Perry, Candidate Dawson County Sheriff

DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — Jeff Perry believes his education, experience, training and leadership skills make him the best candidate for Dawson County Sheriff.

Perry has 30 years of law enforcement experience, most of which have been as a parole officer. He currently serves as a Chief Parole Officer where he manages a large district office covering seven counties.

“I am the only candidate with a college degree,” Perry said. “I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Georgia Southern University and I am working on my Master’s Degree at the University of North Georgia.”

Perry has served on many state and federal law enforcement task forces, including, the 1996 State Olympic Law Enforcement Team and as a supervisor with the Secret Service for the 2004 G-8 Summit of world leaders.

“As sheriff, my number one priority will be to keep our citizens safe,” he said. To accomplish that, Perry said he would partner with local, state and federal public safety agencies to augment staff and resources. He also would work closely with communities, citizens, businesses and families.

Manpower has been an issue for the sheriff’s office. A recent study by the Georgia Sheriff’s Association revealed that 39 new positions are needed to adequately protect Dawson County citizens.

Perry said he would work with county commissioners to request funding for additional positions. But, he added, that being able to retain good offiers is just as important.

“The sheriff’s office has lost 86 employees in the last five years,” he said. “It cost $8,000 to send an officer through basic law enforcement training. That is roughly $688,000 the county has lost and that does not take into account the experience we’ve lost and the length of time it takes to train an officer to be able to patrol alone.”

Perry says he will address the retention issue by creating a work-friendly environment that promotes from within and by partnering with UNG and Columbus State University to provide opportunities for employees to earn scholarships to pursue their Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and Master’s Degree.

Perry said he would exercise fiscal responsibility by implementing what he called results based budgeting. “If we’re funding a program and it’s not producing the desired results we’re going to eliminate that program and redirect funding to a service that is providing positive results. We’ill make sure we request what we need and not what we want.”

The next sheriff will have to deal with a population boom and a crime rate that often accompanies growth.

“We can do that by emracing the latest technology, community policing, implementing a sheriff’s auxiliary force, staffing additional precincts and adding additional positions over the first four years of my term,” Perry said.

Perry has been married to his wife Lisa, who is the Assistant Superintendent of Dawson County schools, for 27 years. They have two grown children and attend Liberty Baptist Church where he is Vice Chairmam of the Deacon’s Board.