The two candidates for Johnson County sheriff have markedly different backgrounds and experiences, which is translating into separate goals for each if elected.
Democrat Jason Boudi is not a police officer or sheriff’s deputy, but said he understands the job of sheriff to be managerial. He would use the county-wide position to advocate for issues that are important to him while managing the sheriff’s office, such as support for reducing the influence of money on elections, reducing the amount of firearms available in the U.S. and for moving non-violent drug offenders to rehabilitation programs rather than jail, he said.
The Greenwood resident and cyber incident investigator for Eli Lilly decided to seek the job because he wanted to run for office, but didn’t want to compete with a fellow Democrat, so he picked a position without a Democratic candidate that he thought he would be well-suited for.
His opponent, Republican Duane Burgess, has worked in every position in the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and is currently in charge of the overcrowded Johnson County jail, where 300 to 400 men and women are housed daily while awaiting trial or serving sentences. The Greenwood resident has a 30-year career in law enforcement and is motivated to lead the department through his sense of caring about and being challenged by every task and case he has faced.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryHe’s learned the most as commander of the jail, which prepared him well to be sheriff because managing the county jail will always be the biggest task any county sheriff faces, he said.
Whoever is elected Nov. 6 will be in charge of overseeing the sheriff’s office and the jail and courthouse security program with a total budget of $9.3 million and 150 employees. The sheriff is ultimately responsible for the training and oversight of deputies as they conduct patrols and investigations and jail officers who oversee the inmates in the jail.
Sheriff Doug Cox has served two terms and cannot seek a third.
Boudi said he is a member of some political action committees, and he and other residents challenged each other to run for office. Becoming sheriff would give him a larger megaphone for important issues he wants to change, he said.
“Just run for something, to put a different perspective out there,” he said.
He said his military experience would give him a good perspective to be sheriff, which is a position he views as more managerial, rather than on the streets patrolling in a vehicle.
“I don’t have any preconceived notions of what works, what’s going to work, or what’s in place that is broken in terms of implementing,” Boudi said. He would take input from all levels to figure out how to better utilize the resources that are available to handle all the responsibilities that fall to the sheriff’s office.
Burgess has been involved in helping the county study how to expand the Johnson County jail and is focused on being responsible with tax dollars and building the right kind of expansion that has space for beds, classrooms, operational programs and storage.
“We have to be fiscally sound with what we do with taxpayer dollars,” Burgess said.
He has traveled to other counties to look at their jails and wants a cost-effective expansion that is easy to maintain. As sheriff, he would also work with the judges to help control how long suspects are in jail awaiting trial, he said.
Boudi said he had heard that overcrowding was a big issue at the jail, but didn’t know what had and hadn’t been tried to alleviate the problem. As sheriff, he would try to decrease the amount of time non-violent drug offenders spend in jail, and rather guide them to rehabilitation programs.
As sheriff, Burgess would continue the sheriff’s office efforts to get offenders exposed to treatment programs while keeping the public safe, and keep in place the narcotics investigation team and its work with other agencies to keep drugs out of Johnson County.
“We do everything we can to track those narcotics back and get them off the streets,” Burgess said, noting the link between drug dealing and violent crime.
Dangerous people who commit crimes need to be in jail and the public kept safe, Burgess said.
He’s also focused on keeping neighborhoods safe and protecting residents’ property, and said he would keep patrol cars in neighborhoods in an effort to deter and catch criminals who are breaking into vehicles, for example. The sheriff’s office will continue to work diligently to catch suspects in all cases, he said.
Boudi said he was not prepared to discuss or lacked information regarding whether the jail or sheriff’s office overall needed more employees or what programs could be added to the jail, but would want to implement programs that give offenders the best chance at becoming a contributing member of society.
Burgess said the county council has helped grow the manpower at the sheriff’s office in the last four years. Pay for jail officers has slowly increased, which helps with recruitment and retention of employees who are exposed to some of the worst aspects of the community, he said.
If elected, Boudi would look for ways to highlight concerns he has nationally, such as the abundance of money in politics and how it influences elections, he said.
He’s also concerned about the over-availability of firearms across the country, specifically in certain states.
“I know the sheriff is not a legislative body, but I would enforce any gun restrictions currently on the books,” Boudi said, and advocate as much as he could for greater restrictions on the availability of firearms and ammunition.
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Johnson County Sheriff
Term: 4 years
Duties: Oversees Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, Johnson County jail and courthouse security program with a total budget of $9.3 million and 150 employees.
Salary: $129,723
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Name: Duane Burgess
Party: Republican
Residence: Greenwood
Family: Wife, Dee Ann
Occupation: Johnson County jail commander
Educational background: Center Grove High School graduate; graduated from Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, Indiana Law Enforcement Academy Chief School and FBI National Academy
Political experience: None
Memberships: Indiana Sheriff’s Association, Master Mason – Union Village Lodge #545, Murat Shrine – Indianapolis, Johnson County Shrine Club (past president 2012), Johnson County Mini Mystics, Murat Shrine Fireman’s Club, Murat Shrine Police Club, and Fraternal Order of Police – Johnson County Lodge #154.
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Name: Jason Boudi
Party: Democrat
Residence: Greenwood
Family: Wife Lauren, three children
Occupation: Cyber incident investigator for Eli Lilly
Educational background: Graduate of Center Grove High School, bachelor of science degree in computer engineering from Wright State University, master’s degree in electrical engineering from University of Dayton
Political experience: None
Memberships: Information Systems Security Association; Central Indiana, and International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium
Military Service: Served in the Air Force from 1996 – 2000, the Ohio Air National Guard from 2000 – 2016, and is a retired reserve captain
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