VIENNA — Timothy “T.J.” Halle, a reserve officer with the Edgar Springs Police Department and EMT with Dixon Ambulance District, is an independent candidate for Maries County Sheriff in the Nov. 5 election.

Halle said he expects the most difficult challenge for the next sheriff will be learning what the people of Maries County need.

“I say difficult not because it’s difficult to do that, but it’s difficult because there will be a lot of moving parts and a lot of gears turning all at once,” he said. “Making sure people know that the sheriff they voted in is really what they wanted, making sure they get what they deserve and respectfully giving them a sheriff’s office that they can utilize and rely on to not only enforce the laws of the county (and) the state of Missouri but to know that they can utilize the sheriff’s office in a time of need. If someone needs help, we go regardless of whether a law has been broken. The sheriff’s office needs to work with fire and EMS and the community to offer a safe Maries County.”

Halle acknowledged his belief that issues with drug-related crimes are something that the community does not want to think is here even if it is in the area. If he became sheriff, he would like to change the county’s drug enforcement affiliation to the Mid-Missouri Drug Task Force based in Tuscumbia.

“I think they offer a larger scale of resources,” he said. “And if we’re paying for something, it is necessary to look at the investment that we’re making and come to a conclusion of whether or not we’re getting an adequate return on investment.”

Another idea Halle shared was to establish a county victim advocacy group for victims of crimes related to drugs, domestic violence, child abuse and similar offenses.

“Anyone that needs some type of motivation or a shoulder to lean on while they’re going through an extremely rough time in their life needs to be provided,” he said. “There have been countless times where I’ve worked cases, and you want to help them, you want to stay with them, but it’s just not feasible. And if we have other people that can help these people, circle back around, it’s community advocacy. In order to build a better community, we need to be there for one another.”

Halle said he would contact the nonprofit Missouri Behavioral Health Council and other counties with victim advocacy programs to find out how Maries County could establish a similar program.

Previously serving as Dixon’s police chief, Halle said his experience in managing a department’s budget is limited, but it is a topic about which he is ready to learn more.

“I didn’t have an opportunity to work with a lot of the budgeting at Dixon other than small things here and there,” he said. “I’ll say that my strength is that I’m an individual who’s willing to seek out information and education to better myself and better the people that I work with. When I was at Dixon as chief, it was a very humbling experience to realize that there were several forms and paperwork that I had not ever seen before, and I finally got to the point that I made phone calls and I told someone: ‘I don’t know what this is, and I need help.’ The amount of encouragement and assistance that people are willing to give you when you’re just willing to say you don’t know is very, very nice and very refreshing.”

Halle said he had been looking into finishing a bachelor’s degree with courses that could help inform his time as sheriff by covering topics such as emergency management and grant writing. He also has a network of people with whom he attends church, and he said they could help answer questions about money operations.

“If you think you know everything, then you’re not going to have the answers,” he said. “I’ll most definitely try to utilize grants and grant opportunities.”

Halle said that because it had been about eight years since he worked at the sheriff’s office, he did not have firsthand knowledge of the jail’s current condition. He did not want to speak about the Maries County Jail specifically.

“Jails need to be up and operating at a maximum at all times,” he said.

Although Halle recognized his inexperience in jail administration, he is planning to learn about it if he wins the election by speaking with other jail administrators.

“Other than what I’ve learned at the jail here in Maries County and what I’ve seen at other jails in the area, I don’t have a lot of experience with jail operations,” he said. “That would be another thing that I would need to learn about and find out just what is required of jails. You may think that the jail is clean and the jail is operating well, but then you find out that you have all of these red flags and failure to comply with different requirements.”

The Maries County Jail temporarily closed in September after several sheriff’s office employees began leaving in anticipation of a new sheriff’s administration. Halle said reopening the jail is a priority for him.

“If we’re using other jails in the area, and we’re not using something that we have in our resources, I think that’s a failure on our behalf,” he said.

Halle said that at some time in the future, he expects the county will need to consider upgrades or possibly a new facility. He said a regional jail with surrounding counties could be a possibility though funding could be a hindrance.

“I think that at some point in time, with the advancement and the growth in population, there will need to be something larger,” he said. “But to say that we need to go build a jail right now would be extremely overzealous. At some point in time, that needs to be addressed, but by making sure it’s feasible (and) making sure it’s effective and efficient before we just go throwing money at something.”

One of the tasks for the next sheriff will be to replenish a depleted staff. Halle said he plans to do that by creating a family environment among employees.

“I’ve always said that if you cannot break bread with the people that you work with, then they’re not the right people,” he said. “I want deputies whose families can come in and we know everyone’s name, know each other’s children, and it’s a very tight-knit community. If you have those structures of family in the workplace, then there are less opportunities for division. Reaching out, doing interviews and really getting to know the people would be how I would try to fill those voids.”

Halle said he would like to model the sheriff’s office’s command staff structure after other law enforcement agencies that have a commanding officer over personnel and a commanding officer over inventory.

“That way you’re not burning out your staff,” he said. “You know that this officer is going to lead your people, and this officer is going to be taking care of your inventory, so you’re not having too much on one person if the personnel allows for it.”

Halle said this leadership structure would include one chief deputy and two lieutenants. He said he did not have anyone in mind for the position because he wanted to remain focused on his campaign.

Although the Maries County Sheriff’s Posse is a nonprofit organization operating independently of the sheriff’s office, the current sheriff’s administration was crucial in establishing the volunteer group. Halle said that if elected, he would like to work with the group.

“I like the idea of the posse,” he said. “As long as they’re doing good for the community, and they’re doing it in a safe manner, and they’re really contributing, I don’t see why it’s an issue. Sure, there are things that we need to make sure that there are no liabilities to it, but if they’re out there attempting to better the community, have community advocacy, then they’re going to be willing, just like everyone should be, to hear the considerations about how to make it better.”

In recent years, the sheriff’s office and its relationships with other local law enforcement agencies have been strained. Halle said his plan would be to repair those problems with communication.

“Regardless of the mindsets,” he said. “Regardless of the past issues, whether you like someone, you don’t like someone, or you work well with them or not, you have to be able to sit at a table and discuss the issues. You have to be able to ask the weird questions, say the weird things and point blank, get down to the topic that needs to be discussed. I think it’s just that simple; you just have to do it.”

As Halle’s last pitch to voters ahead of next week’s election, he reiterated his purpose for running for sheriff.

“I’m not in this for me,” he said. “I’m in this for my family. I’m in this for my four boys. And I’m in this for the people who have a voice but don’t necessarily have the fearless energy to say it. I want to give people the ability to speak up and speak out on the things they want and help build something that we can turn over to the next generation. The duty is ours; the results are God’s.”