Greene named new Martin County sheriff

Mike Grant, Washington Times-Herald, Ind.
·2 min read

Aug. 1—SHOALS — There is a new sheriff in Martin County. Republican precinct committee members selected Josh Greene as the new top law enforcement officer in the county during a caucus at the courthouse.

"It's a good feeling," said Greene. "It is an honor to be chosen to be the sheriff of Martin County."

Greene had been serving as chief deputy in the department and was already headed toward the office when previous sheriff Travis Roush announced he was stepping down early to attend law school in Montana.

"I won the Republican primary in May and did not have competition for the election in the fall. I was looking forward to taking the office Jan. 1," said Greene. "This moved the time frame up about five months."

The new sheriff says that for now, he wants to keep things pretty much the way they have been operating.

"Starting out I don't plan to make any major changes," said Greene. "There are a few programs we will modify slightly, but we have done a pretty good job the last several years. We will continue doing a lot of the same things with some minor tweaks as we go."

During his time as sheriff, Roush implemented a number of new programs and projects. Among those were the formation of the Martin County Posse, annual township meetings, gun safety programs for women and a Jeep and motorcycle ride through the county.

"Those are some of the programs we will be making some minor changes to," said Greene. "Travis and I had a great working relationship and we worked together on developing many of these things. I was involved in developing these programs and events."

Martin County has one of the smallest sheriff's departments in the state, but Greene says he had no plans to expand it.

"We are not looking to expand right now," said Greene. "There are plenty of financial needs in Martin County. I know the county commissioners right now are trying to sort out some ambulance concerns. The apparent ambulance shortage in the near future is a threat to the people of Martin County right now."

Greene is a graduate of Loogootee High School. He spent 21 years in army, retiring this past spring from the Indiana Army National Guard as a first sergeant. That time included two tours in the Middle East.

Now, he settling in with the idea of spending the next four years and five months as the sheriff of Martin County.

"I look forward to leading the team that we have and supporting Martin County," he said. "I want to make it a better and safer place to live and help improve the quality of life for the citizens and visitors."