By Halea Franklin

With more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement in a variety of positions, Bryan Woodall hopes to add sheriff to that list as he is running for Greene County Sheriff on the Republican ballot.

Woodall is running against fellow Republican George Dallaire in the May 3 Primary Election.

Woodall currently serves as lieutenant of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department Reserves Program as well as Chief Public Safety Officer at Greene County General Hospital. He began his career at the Greene County Sheriff’s Department in 1991 working as a jailer and becoming a deputy in 1992. He also held positions as a reserve deputy, merit deputy, patrol sergeant, and lieutenant. He currently serves as a reserve.

“I started working as a deputy in 1992 and was promoted to Patrol Sergeant after only three years and was kept in a position of leadership throughout my time (at the sheriff’s department). Even as a reserve deputy, I have been placed in the role of leadership, currently holding the rank of lieutenant,” Woodall said.

Woodall, who holds an associate's degree in law enforcement from Vincennes University, is one of two firearms instructors at the sheriff’s office. This role requires dedicating hours each year to train law enforcement officers throughout Greene County.

In addition, Woodall has attended frontline supervisor classes are well as numerous incident command courses.

“Not only do I have leadership experience in law enforcement, but I have also been with the Switz City Fire Department for over 25 years and was placed in a leadership role there,” Woodall, who also sits on the Switz City Town Board, said. “I have been in as fire chief for the past 15 years.”

He’s used his incident command training to be an incident commander on large scale incidents for both law enforcement as well as fire service.

“In 2013 I started as the manager of public safety (at Greene County General Hospital), learning about healthcare regulations and the policy and procedures of our local hospital and started a public safety department that is an asset to the hospital,” he said.

Woodall feels his experience would be a great asset to the role of sheriff.

“I have been in a leadership role for the past 27 plus years. I have experience not only in law enforcement but also in other aspects of emergency services. Even though the sheriff is the leader of the sheriff's office, he is responsible for all the emergency services that are handled through that office. I feel that I have a good understanding of all emergency services,” he said. “I have led incidents with numerous law enforcement agencies, local emergency services, state agencies, federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations.”

Woodall realizes there are issues facing law enforcement in Greene County, such as the ever-growing drug crisis.

“Other than the ever-growing drug abuse crisis, I feel that keeping quality employees is and will be my biggest hurdle. I plan to be a proactive leader and will tackle the issue of employees by treating the employees like family,” Woodall said. “There are ways to teach them by training the leaders on ways to empower their staff making sure that I do not ask my staff to do anything that I would not do. You lead by example. When you put staff in positions of leadership, you should train them to be leaders, allow them to be leaders, and should stand behind your staff.”

Woodall’s strengths as a leader, he feels will only benefit him in the position, if elected.

“I feel that my strengths are and will be when I bring issues to the staff and we will come up with solutions together. I will not let things fester up. I have the philosophy that if we can stop bad behavior before it actually becomes a habit, it will be easier to change the behavior into good actions or behaviors,” he said. “With my time as a leader, I have found that your employees will accept things better if you give them an answer other than ‘because I said so’. You need to base your answers on standards, experience, and best practices. I am open and will have conversations with employees and am able to realize that I do not have all the best answers.”

If elected, Woodall hopes to bring the department to the forefront and be a leader in the community.

“(I hope) to make the citizens proud of our department and not to make it a bad experience when they need to call the sheriff’s office. This is done by stressing the importance of community policing and making sure that when the citizens call for an officer, they get an officer that treats them with respect and courtesy,” he said. “I plan to be able to provide updated technology to not only the deputies but also to all aspects of emergency services.”

Woodall said his leadership and experience — inside and outside of law enforcement — make him the best candidate for Greene County’s next sheriff.

“I have over 30 years of experience at the sheriff’s office, with my experience ranging from jail officer, to dispatch, to reserve deputy, to merit deputy, and into administration. I have leadership experience in not only law enforcement but in all aspects of emergency services and experience in local government. I am dedicated to my community,” Woodall said. “Even though I am not there full-time currently, I have been endorsed and supported by three former sheriffs that I have worked for - Sheriff Pierce, Sheriff Allen, and Sheriff Franklin. They know my leadership ability and believe I would be the best to lead this amazing group.”