Sheriff Tim Hutchison's Platform

Sheriff Tim Hutchison remains committed to keeping Knox County citizens and their neighborhoods safe. Good law enforcement has only one fundamental goal: keeping the public safe. People are entitled to a sense of personal safety at all times. They should feel safe at work, home, and play. We must always honor this obligation, says Sheriff Hutchison.

Keeping our children safe is a major priority. Sheriff Hutchison established a School Police Officer Program in 1999 in response to a national and local trend of rising juvenile crime. Eight officers were placed in the high schools outside the city limits. Since then ten officers have been placed in seven Knox County middle schools and fifteen officers in twenty-five elementary schools. This partnership between the Sheriff's Office and Knox County schools has proven successful is preventing numerous tragedies.

Protecting our children is one of the reasons Sheriff Hutchison created a special task force to track convicted sex offenders. Officers make sure sex offenders are compliant with TBI regulations regarding registration and residency requirements. Officers also conduct information seminars in daycare centers, schools, and neighborhoods so parents can better protect their children.

The Sheriff's Office web site at www.knoxsheriff.org also provides direct information about which neighborhoods convicted sex offenders live.

Knox County neighborhoods are under a more watchful eye now that the Sheriff has reduced response time by re-mapping patrol zones. Officers now have a smaller area of primary responsibility and are more visible in neighborhoods.

A part of good law enforcement means being fiscally responsible. Sheriff Hutchison has proven himself to be a careful and conservative custodian of the taxpayers money. Since becoming Sheriff in 1990, Hutchison has brought the department to the end of the fiscal year without ever exceeding the budget set by County Commission. In fact, he has turned back in to the county $14 million dollars in unspent budget dollars since 1990.

By being an efficient fiscal manager of the public's money, Sheriff Hutchison has secured approximately $6.9 million dollars in state and federal grant funding. These funds have been used to hire new patrol officers, provide officers for the School Police Officer Program, fund new projects such as Project Lifesaver and the Volunteer Services Program. Grant money has been used to purchase equipment such as laptops for all the patrol cars and fingerprint machines. A total of 47 positions in the agency are being paid for from a state or federal grant.

Grant money has also been used to buy equipment and supplies to prepare Knox County for any natural disaster or terrorist incident. Knowing that front-line emergency providers are paramount in either case, Hutchison helped form the East Tennessee Homeland Security Council to better promote and enhance planning, cooperation and support for the agencies involved in homeland security. The Council is made up of local emergency service providers from a sixteen county region in East Tennessee.

Sheriff Tim Hutchison has always observed the basic principles of public service as an elected official:

Personal and professional integrity: holding public office means protecting the public trust at all times, in all matters, whether personal or professional.

Dedication to duty: the Office of Sheriff is a demanding position and a great responsibility. The Sheriff must be willing and able to work long hours, make difficult decisions, and stand firm in the face of controversy.

Experience to handle the position: law enforcement today is more complex than ever. A successful Sheriff must have the right combination of street experience, training and administrative experience to handle the job. Tim Hutchison has 32 years of service at the Knox County Sheriff's Office.

The Sheriff must have strong leadership skills: Tim Hutchison is a proven leader at both the local and national level. He heads one of the largest law enforcement agencies in East Tennessee with over 1,000 personnel. He has been elected Sheriff four times. In 1998, he was selected by his peers in the National Sheriff's Association as National Sheriff of the Year.

Protecting our community and its citizens is an obligation Sheriff Hutchison has proven that he is capable of, and is ready to continue.