Sheriff candidate stands in support of MPD and DCEMS!
As a candidate for Sheriff of Delaware County, I would like to express my support for the Muncie Police Department in their contract dispute with the City of Muncie and Mayor Dennis Tyler.
In my 22 years with the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office I have seen great collaboration between our county, city and other law enforcement agencies within the county. We also have a strong working relationship with the Indiana State Police and Ball State University Police Department and we all stand united to keep our citizens safe.
The Muncie Police Department needs more officers on the street! The current contract MPD works under is for 104 officers, and they are currently staffed at 96. This poses a safety issue to the public as well as to their officers. Police Chief Joe Winkle has done an outstanding job managing his personnel and is doing his best with what he has to work with. But, it is nearly impossible to do proactive and community policing when you are not staffed with enough officers to cover the daily call volume. It is not uncommon for our deputies to be dispatched to calls within the City of Muncie when MPD officers are all busy on other calls. This happens frequently, proving MPDs personnel numbers are too low. Likewise, it is also not uncommon for Sheriff’s Deputies to be so busy that outlying town officers are dispatched to assist with our calls, also showing that we do not have enough deputies assigned to the uniform division.
I would also like to express my continued support for our Delaware County Emergency Medical Services (DCEMS). A proposed city-operated EMS service is a blatant political move by Mayor Tyler and his supporters that is meant to divide our city and county while, at the same time, expanding the Mayor’s sphere of political influence. Although the Muncie Fire Department is fully capable of running an effective EMS program, it is simply unneeded and is fiscally irresponsible. Our DCEMS does an outstanding job and a majority of citizens in Muncie and Delaware County support their efforts, let’s keep it that way.
Thank you. Please consider supporting change by voting for me on November 6th.
God bless,
Tony Skinner, Sergeant
Muncie, IN
