Four veteran law enforcement officers are hoping to secure primary wins and get a step closer to being the next Clark County sheriff.
They include the current sheriff, two former Jeffersonville Police chiefs and a retired federal agent.
LPM News talked with them about their priorities and how they'd run the office, getting past the mark former Sheriff Jamey Noel made on the county and whether the jail should continue to be a detention facility for people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
The sheriff's office is a law enforcement agency, and its responsibilities include overseeing the jail and providing courthouse security.
Who's running
Democrats
Ed Byers is a retired federal agent whose three-decade career as a federal law enforcement officer included 10 years as a national park ranger and 11 years as a special agent with US customs. He retired as a federal air marshal.
Tim Deeringer was with the Jeffersonville Police Department close to 30 years, serving as its chief from 2008 to 2012 and retiring as a lieutenant in 2019.
Republicans
Kenny Kavanaugh is a captain with the Jeffersonville Police Department, where he's worked more than three decades. He previously served a decade as chief. He's also served on the Southern Indiana Drug Task Force, spent 13 years on the Jeffersonville Police Department's SWAT team, including three years as commander, and is a board member with LifeSpring Health Systems.
Incumbent Scottie Maples is seeking a second term. He started at the sheriff's office more than two decades ago as a corrections officer, then became a police officer in the sheriff's office in 2007 before moving to the detective division, where he focused on cases including burglaries, sex crimes and crimes against children. He rose to the rank of colonel and served more than two years as chief deputy under Jamey Noel.
Why they're running
Maples said he's running for a second term because he has more work to do. In this term he's added jail programming and increased commissary reserves. He is using that to pay for body-worn cameras, which the office got last year, and to upgrade jail cameras for the first time in almost 20 years.
He's reduced the number of unmarked cars, added patrols and says crime is down in the county.
"I want to continue to lead this department as I am now, because we're in good shape," he said.
Maples also played a key role in changing the sheriff's office pension system, increasing the threshold for drawing a pension from eight years of work to 10.
He said he tried unsuccessfully to block Noel's pension and noted that a two-term sheriff could get a percentage pension based on their highest three years of earnings.
"So they're walking around with [$20,000] or $30,000 pensions for eight years of service," Maples said. "You get four or five of those on your books, it starts dragging your pension system down."
His opponent Kavanaugh said he's pursuing the spot because there's a lot of work to be done. He said he'd be a strong decision maker, looking forward to where the office can be.
He wants to build off of three pillars: leadership, professionalism and integrity. He said he'd add the phrase "To protect and serve" to official vehicles.
"It's all about a culture," he said. "It's all about a mindset."
Deeringer said he's running because he isn't done serving the community. The longtime officer said even though he's been retired more than six years, he still notices when there's an officer on the side of the road.
"That's always in the back of your mind that you're still a police officer," he said. "I know when I'm out shopping or out to eat or something like that, my wife … catches me watching people. It's just in the blood."
He wants to focus on interacting with and caring for people with mental health issues and being "as transparent as possible."
Deeringer said he wants to communicate openly and regularly about what the sheriff's office is doing.
Byers said the only reason he's running for the office is to fix it.
"Clark County deserves better," he said. "I can give them a better government. I can be more open to them, and build some trust and relations and be a better sheriff than what we've had for the past, gosh, years."
Byers ran unsuccessfully against Maples in the 2022 general election. He said he had concerns at the time about outgoing sheriff Noel and wrote to the FBI that December about them. Byers said he also sent copies to state police. He believes his report influenced the investigation, but could not specify how.
Court records show the lead ISP investigator was assigned to the case following information from Maples, and LPM News reviewed a letter to the sheriff thanking him for his efforts that led to multiple people being arrested and charged.
What would you do to maintain or regain public trust after Noel?
Months after former sheriff Jamey Noel finished his second term, he became the focus of what would turn into a massive investigation into criminal activity during his time in office and while providing emergency services to Southern Indiana.
In 2024, he pleaded guilty to more than two dozen felonies, most related to New Chapel EMS. Maples is credited with reporting information to state police that launched the investigation.
"I don't hold anybody above the law," Maples said. He said he took a risk turning Noel in, but "that's what an elected official is supposed to do."
Maples said he's made the office more professional and transparent.
"I'm regaining the trust because I'm running the sheriff's office the way it's supposed to be," Maples said.
Earlier this year, a merit board reinstated a veteran sheriff's office employee Maples had recommended for termination. The employee's attorney, and some community members, said Maples was punishing him for supporting another candidate for sheriff. Maples' legal team said the officer was not a reliable backup, didn't respond to calls and was slow to scenes. Maples said his recommendation was not political.
Deeringer said it will take change and patience to build back up after Noel. He said the employees are victims, too, "because their boss did something that he shouldn't have done, and it's embarrassing to all the men and women in uniform."
He said he wants staff and the public to know the sheriff will support them.
"You have to put yourself out there," Deeringer said. "You have to let them know that they can trust you, and you got to prove it, and that's something that's going to be hard to do."
Kavanaugh said when trust is broken, it's important to identify the root cause.
"And we have to understand it starts not just one day of someone doing something," he said. "It's the mindset and focus, and what was the agency working towards, and what was the agency accomplishing?"
Byers said he thinks it will take a while for Clark County to come back after Noel broke the community's trust.
Transparency after Noel
The candidates say being open about spending is important.
Maples said he's taken steps to "try to be the most transparent sheriff we ever had." In 2023, the year he took office, he started providing the Clark County Council, the body which oversees county finances, with detailed statements and receipts on commissary spending.
"There's no hiding what I'm spending money on," Maples said. "I'm spending money on making the agency better."
Byers said transparency and public access are key. If elected, he said he'd post all of the office's expenditures on a website so residents can see it without having to file an open records request.
"I think that that openness will start to help build the trust," Byers said.
Deeringer said if elected, one of the first things he'll do is pick his team at the sheriff's office. He said it's important to put trustworthy and qualified people in support positions and hold them accountable.
"You have to do away with the club and start running it like a business," he said. "The job is not to take care of your buddies. It's to take care of the people of Clark County."
Kavanaugh said it's important to come in with an organizational plan internally, and to survey employees to see how they're feeling and what they're looking for in leadership.
He said he has a vision, "but you also have to hear from the people who are there and serving."
ICE detention
Last year, the sheriff's office entered an agreement with the federal government to house people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It came as President Donald Trump ramps up immigration and deportation enforcement across the United States.
The designation drew criticism from some local residents who disagree with the national push, worry about due process and don't want to see their local jail part of it. There have been small but regular protests outside the courthouse.
LPM News asked the sheriff candidates if they would continue with the agreement, and how they felt about the national immigration efforts.
Maples said the decision to house people for ICE wasn't made quickly — he wanted to make sure the sheriff's office could provide the services that were needed. But he also believed Clark County could provide better care than some other facilities.
He said the program is going well and while he's not against people migrating to the U.S. lawfully, he supports deporting people in the country unlawfully.
He intends to continue the agreement.
"Absolutely. It's the Attorney General Todd Rokita's agenda, it's the president of the United States' agenda, and it's my agenda," Maples said.
He also said the revenue was a factor. The federal government now pays Clark County $90 a day per person housed for ICE, plus mileage and staff escort costs. Maples expects that to bring in $2-3 million a year.
The money is paid to the Clark County government, not the sheriff's office, and Maples said it can help offset the impact to Clark County from a 2025 property tax overhaul measure.
"We would have to raise taxes if I wasn't doing this," Maples said. "That's a fact."
Some of the other candidates hold similar opinions.
Deeringer said he supports deporting people in the country unlawfully who have violent charges like rape or murder.
"But the ones that do want to come to America and be citizens, come in the right way," he said.
He said continuing the contract is "not a 'yes' or a 'no' question. For me, there's a lot more involved in it."
He said he understands both sides, and also noted the financial impact and said his first job would be to protect the people of Clark County.
"I'd hate to say, 'No, I'm not gonna hold ICE detainees' and then lose millions of dollars," Deeringer said. "They're making a lot of money off that."
Byers wants to know why so many county jails are being added to the reservoir of ICE detention facilities, what it costs to house and care for them and why people have been brought to Clark County rather than be housed in facilities closer to where they live or were arrested.
"So there's a lot of questions that need to be looked at, and it can only be answered by looking at the books and looking at the figures," Byers said.
Kavanaugh said he supports Maples in "doing everything [as] much as possible to keep our community safe," including entering the agreement.
He said people have to enter the country lawfully and that if elected sheriff, "I will maintain that facility to the degree and the standards of what the law does require, and I will do that professionally and ethically."
The primary election is May 5 and early voting is underway.
Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec Inc., the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation, and the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County.
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