Dear Editor,

I’m a friend of James Marshall but a supporter of Jim Smith.

Recently, I’ve heard an employee of the sheriff’s department say that they support Marshall due to the “fact” that in four years, they have seen Marshall in the jail but not Smith and that a drug detection canine for the jail would be frivolous.

I want it to be known that in my 11 years as a jail officer, I can not count high enough when it comes to the number of times I saw Jim Smith in the jail. What’s more important about Jim being present in the jail is that he is one of the only deputies I have ever heard ask what can be done differently to improve the jail.

So maybe Jim was absent the day a so-called jail employee took attendance to see who they were going to support politically, but Jim was present when it truly mattered and took time to ask real frontline jail workers how things can be improved.

To speak to having a “frivolous” drug detection canine, I wish I could give you an accurate number of times the jail had to call in a canine from either the road division of the sheriff’s department, Indiana State Police, Warsaw Police Department or Winona Lake Police to search for drugs after an incident occurred or rumors of drugs being in the jail reached the staff. Jailers have one of the hardest and most scrutinized jobs, but it made things much harder when we had to call in for a detection canine’s help instead of having one assigned and trained strictly for the corrections setting.

I strongly believe a detection canine intended for the jail would be extremely valuable.

The current last-ditch rhetoric of non-Smith supporters says a detection canine can’t be used on people, so it’s not worth it. As someone that has seen detection canines work in the jail several times, they are not used to search people directly. These canines do an open air search, meaning they can search several different areas of the jail. They can search the jail’s 12 cell blocks, the hundred-some jail cells, the laundry room, the kitchen, the booking room, work release and anywhere an inmate or jail worker has access to.

To say a canine is a bad idea because you won’t use it on people is ridiculous.

Implementing a canine is a step in the right direction in trying to combat an endless drug problem that jails face. Throughout the last year, non-Smith supporters have talked like all jails have drug problems so we are just supposed to accept it and deal with the fact that the jail will always have drugs in it. Now, Smith’s current opposition is trying a new way of tearing down an idea that says people don’t have to accept the jail will have drugs in it. A canine is an added deterrent and tool to combat drugs being within the jail.

You go ahead and tell me a canine in the jail is frivolous the next time there is an overdose.

Choose Jim Smith on Nov. 8.

James Zimmerman
Burket