St. Joseph County Sheriff Bill Redman faces election challenge by Kevin McGowan

South Bend Tribune
·3 min read

The Tribune is partnering with the League of Women Voters of the South Bend Area and the American Democracy Project of Indiana University South Bend to publish candidates' answers to questions on the issues. The League and IUSB's ADP operates Vote411.org, a website with information about the candidates and their positions on key issues. The site also includes other tools to help navigate the voting process.

The Tribune has agreed to run candidate answers unedited, meaning any spelling, typographical or grammatical errors are the candidates' own. The Tribune is publishing only some of the questions from a selection of significant races. Additional questions and answers are available at Vote411.org.

Redman
Redman

Bill Redman

Democrat

Sheriff

wllm_redman@yahoo.com

574-292-2774

facebook.com/SheriffRedman

Kevin C. McGowan

Republican

Candidate did not respond.

When it comes to drug use and drug-related crimes, should the sheriff’s department focus on prevention, treatment, and/or law enforcement? Can you provide an example of one program you support that you would deem a success?

Redman: Our department is focused on working on prevention, treatment and enforcement daily.

We have partnered with several local organizations such as the 525 Foundation, Recover Michiana and the St. Joseph County Health Department. This work includes PSA’s, the distribution of Narcan to our officers and to the general public (Narcan vending machine), drug drop boxes and drug take back events.

In regards to treatment, we partner in our jail with Oaklawn for mental health and substance abuse concerns. We developed a full-time mental health officer position that assists Oaklawn with making sure once someone is released from our jail that they continue services with Oaklawn to prevent them from returning to jail. We also have added a full-time social worker to provide additional help, making this a huge success.

Lastly, our officers work tirelessly every day to enforce Indiana drug laws to stop drug-related crimes and distribution of drugs. We also partner with all federal agencies.

McGowan: Did not respond.

Is the country jail too crowded? What steps can we take to reduce the number of people housed in our county jail?

Redman: The total jail capacity 829 people, and we are currently averaging about 700 people daily. This includes many people that are suffering from substance abuse and mental health crisis.

We have been working on several solutions to reduce the number of people housed at our jail. This includes an addition of a mental health clinic here in our community, which I have been very vocal about. This would help eliminate arresting and housing those suffering from mental health crisis in our jail.

We are also working on implementing a Jail Chemical Addiction Program (JCAP) in our jail. This program will focus on those suffering from substance abuse issues with a goal of overcoming their addiction.

McGowan: Did not respond.

Can you point to any programs you support that reduce criminal activity and/or recidivism?

Redman: Our department works daily with all of our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to combat crime here in St. Joseph County.

Our officers attend weekly meetings hosted by the South Bend Police Department and are attended by all other local partners to share crime information and wanted persons.

Our department also hosts monthly meetings with all of our small town police chiefs to share crime information and services to assist one another.

McGowan: Did not respond.

Our warrants division partners with our area Crime Stoppers to follow-up on tips provided by citizens on wanted individuals.

Our detective bureau works with several neighborhood watch groups and businesses to provide crime prevention tips.

And lastly, to reduce recidivism, we have implemented a GED program and partnership with the South Bend Community School Corporation, a IN2WORK cooking certification course with Aramark, our mental health partnership with Oaklawn and the JCAP I mentioned earlier.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Sheriff Bill Redman faces election challenge by Kevin McGowan