DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — Dawson County will lose a wealth of crime fighting experience when highly respected Sheriff Billy Carlisle retires after 18 years as the county’s top cop at the end of the year. But residents can take comfort in the fact that four outstanding and highly experienced officers have stepped forward to campaign to become Carlisle’s replacement.

The four, Jeff Johnson, Jeff Perry, Frank Sosebee and Tony Wooten, presented their credentials and laid out their vision for the future during Thursday’s candidate forum sponsored by the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce.

Major Johnson, has 23 years of law enforcement experience with supervisory experience in internal affairs, detention, patrol and courts.

Perry is a graduate of Georgia Southern University and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Criminal Justice at the University of North Georgia. He retired January 1, 2015 with 30 years service.  The last 18 years of his career he was a Chief Parole Officer in charge of seven counties in northwest Georgia.

Frank Sosebee has worked in law enforcement for 32 years including stints at Hall County Sheriff’s Office, Dawson County Sheriff’s Office and the Hall County Correctional Institute where he is currently the chief of security. His responsibilities include training, hiring, background checks and internal affairs investigations.

Captain Tony Wooten has worked in the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office for 17 years. His experience includes managing the patrol division, investigations, public information, 911 communication, community policing, school resource officers, warrants and court services divisions.

All four were asked a series of questions, including what experience they had in managing a budget as large as the Sheriff’s Office $7.2 million budget.

Sosebee said he helped to manage a $4.9 million detention center budget in Hall County and that he would focus extensively on the budget if he is elected. But, he added, the county will need more officers and investigators. Crime, he said, is coming in from outside the county and we’ve got to reduce crime. “We need to have more community involvement. We need to involve our business owners and we all need to walk hand in hand.”

Wooten said he is a conservative. “I’m not going to ask you for your money until I spend all my money,” he said. “Until I’m sure I have utilized all our resources, I’m not going to ask for more. It may get to the point where I have to go to the commissioners but not until I’m sure I’ve done everything I can.”

Johnson said he has managed the detention center budget. “It’s the single largest budgetary component of the sheriff’s budget. Every day we’re finding ways to save the county money. When I took over in 2007, we were paid roughly $400,000 a year. Today it’s about $305,000. We’ve saved the county about $100,000 a year. If we get to the point we need to have an increase, I believe the people should have a say so.”

Perry said he would implement results based budgeting. “If we don’t get results from something we’re funding then we won’t fund it anymore,” he said. He added that he once managed three offices and had to make a tough decision to close the offices and let people work from home and take their cars home. “We were able to return $2 million to the general fuund,” he said.