The following article is a sponsored statement from Coffee County Sheriff Doyle Wooten, paid for by the candidate:
“This is Sheriff Doyle Wooten, and I am proud to be an American and I am proud to call Coffee County my home. I was born and raised in Coffee County and I raised my family here.
As you are aware, the various media outlets are used by people to make negative remarks about candidates during an election cycle. I would like to assure our citizens that I have and will always be honest and transparent with my actions and decisions. In that regard, if you ever have any questions or concerns, please call me direct.
Since I can’t see each of you, I would like to share with you what I believe to be some of my major accomplishments since taking office in January 2013.
First, proactive policing is a term that has been thrown around continuously during this election.
The Coffee County Sheriff’s Office has, does, and will always demonstrate police presence in areas throughout the county. We provide six school resource officers in our school system, send officers to highly populated events, and interact with civic organizations, especially those concerning our youth. Therefore, proactive policing is literally the everyday practice of our officers and my administration. Proactive policing is what we currently do and will continue to do at the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office.
I have worked hard to establish a sheriff’s office that is open to hearing the concerns of our citizens. During my term as your sheriff, I have had an open door policy. The sheriff’s office is funded by the taxpayers of our community, so I feel strongly that as your sheriff, it is my duty to listen to your concerns about the safety of our county.
Secondly, when I ran for office in 2012, the citizens wanted a sheriff’s office that responded to their needs with a servant’s attitude.
I have made it a priority to hire officers who have an attitude of service to the community, a desire to always do what is right, and the ability to do the job.
The Coffee County Sheriff’s Office employs about 45 deputies at any given time. Since I took office, approximately 20 deputies have left our employment. A handful left for better paying jobs or career changes. A few left because of criminal activity, and others left because they did not feel they should be held accountable to me nor the citizens of Coffee County.
During my next term, I will continue to seek out qualified peace officers with a servant’s attitude to serve and protect our county. I constantly remind our officers that an officer who has an attitude of service to others is treated like royalty. I also stress to officers that all of our citizens are to be treated with respect and dignity. The bottom line is all our officers will have an attitude of serving and protecting the public.
Third, when I came to the office in January 2013, road patrol officers had only one side arm. During my administration, we were able to purchase backup weapons for all the officers, provide the road patrol officers with laptops for their vehicles, provide body cameras for officers, and upgraded our car fleet. All these upgrades were made for the safety of our officers and our citizens, while remaining under budget. The backup weapons and laptops were actually purchased with drug seizure funds.
In addition, training and reorganization have been a priority. The drug unit was completely revamped and now includes two Agents trained by the GBI. We also added a crime scene tech, which is a two-year program for certification, and added a gang officer to our criminal investigation division. During my administration, we have had two HEAT units, one city and one county. The Heat Units primary function is to work traffic to keep our roads safe as possible. Again, all of this was accomplished while continuing to be under budget.
We at the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office have joined forces with Douglas Police Chief Castelos to construct a firearm range for our officers training. The sheriff’s office portion of the expenses will be paid for with $50,000 taken from our drug seizure account. So, those that violate our drug laws will pay for the construction, not the taxpayer.
Another accomplishment is that our office has been under budget for the past three years and appears our fourth year will also be under budget. Our annual expenditures have been reduced by an average of $238,000 per year.
During my first term, I addressed the issues of chicken fighting and dog fighting, both of which are now federal crimes and, as a result, cannot be dismissed at a local level.
These past four years have been rewarding, even though some times were hard and the hours long. I have tried to make myself available to our community and to make all decisions with compassion but within the confines of the law. I have also treated every citizen equally and with the respect they deserve.
I would like to thank the citizens of our county for allowing me to serve them as their sheriff for the past four years, and I ask for your vote on November 8 to allow me to serve you another four years to continue my work as your sheriff. I will bring experience, education, integrity and credibility to the office of Sheriff of Coffee County. \
Thank you and God bless you, your families, and our county.”