By Halea Franklin

George Dallaire — a Republican candidate for Greene County Sheriff — feels he has the right experience, work ethic, and desire to serve and lead the office in the right direction for the citizens of Greene County.

Dallaire will face fellow Republican Bryan Woodall in the May 3 Primary Election.

Dallaire began his career at the Greene County Sheriff’s Department in 2001 and has served the last eight years as Sheriff Mike Hasler’s chief deputy.

“I have worked the road for the years and continue to assist our road deputies by covering shifts when needed, assist them with calls, and am available for call-out at any time to assist them,” Dallaire said. “My eight years as detective/sergeant is an invaluable experience and allows me to assist our detectives with more serious investigations performed by Greene County Sheriff’s Office.”

When Hasler was elected to the position of sheriff, he appointed Dallaire as his chief deputy.

“This position puts me in charge of the day-to-day operations of a facility that contains a law enforcement agency, a communications center, a jail, a commercial kitchen, a commercial laundry, an inmate healthcare system, a motor pool, and approximately 70 employees in a facility that operates 24/7,” Dallaire said. “This is no easy task and I understand this. There is much to be said for diversified training and being the person who has worked hand-in-hand with the current sheriff and staff for the last eight years as his chief deputy.”

In his current position, Dallaire also had the opportunity to work closely with the design of the new jail.

Dallaire has trained with the FBI as a hostage/crisis negotiator and the Indiana State Police as a Crime Scene Technician and as a Firearms and Use of Force Instructor. He’s a guest instructor at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, Dallaire said participating in multiple death investigation schools also has provided invaluable training for the jobs officers are asked to do in today’s world.

When it comes to leadership, Dallaire believes in leading by example.

“The culture of the GCSO comes from the top. If the leaders are hardworking, believe in helping people, doing the right thing, performing all tasks to the best of their ability, and do this by example then you establish the same with the people you work with. I would continue to do the same if I am elected sheriff,” Dallaire said. “As a leader, you must make sure everyone performs at the level expected and demanded by our citizens, courts, and the attorneys and victims. It is the leader’s job to be sure all the duties performed by the GCSO are done in a timely and professional manner as we are accountable to a great number of people and offices, and we have a high degree of liability that comes with the job we chose to do.”

Dallaire said a leader must also address the lack of performance by employees or departments within an office to determine if the issue is due to a lack of training by the department or an employee issue.

“The demands and liability demand this from all the leaders within the GCSO. Every person employed by the GCSO must have ownership to continue and improve our profession,” he said.

According to Dallaire, there are many challenges facing law enforcement today including not enough people, too much work many days, a more dangerous environment on many calls, and increased mental health issues; however, safety is a very important challenge.

 “Our deputy’s safety is very important as many times help is 20-30 minutes away. This has always been a challenge for us. Some of the things we have done to make things a little safer are an upgrade to their duty pistols, new portable radios, upgrading our current policy and procedure manual, video scenario training equipment, and starting to put in transport cages,” Dallaire said. “We were just awarded a body camera grant so soon all deputies will be wearing these cameras.”

Turnover is another challenge facing law enforcement.

“The GCSO and law enforcement have always had turnover in staff for many reasons, money, hours, shift work, burnout due to call volume, the demands placed on them by the nature of the profession,” he said. “The loss of experienced staff is difficult and costly. This will be challenging to address for all police departments. I believe it will I will take some time to meet with employees to figure out what can be done realistically to help curb this problem, but I am up for the challenges of this office.”

 Another potential issue, Dallaire said, is Greene County’s growth.

“Greene County is growing by leaps and bounds as more new homes are still in the planning phase. I am sure this will only increase our calls for service and fully expect I would be asking for help for our current staff,” he said. “I know this is one of the problems we have with our deputy staff is too much work and this problem is often compounded when our staff must cover in different towns due to their lack of staff.”

He's an active member of the Linton Elks and enjoys the involvement the Elks has within the community such as holiday meals, kids' Christmas, scholarships, and Easter Egg hunt, to name a new. He is also a member of the Bloomfield Masonic Lodge and an active member of the Bloomfield First Baptist Church. He serves as a precinct committeeman for Center Township District 1. He’s served on the Greene County Election Board as well as the Taylor Township Advisory Board. In addition, he’s been an election day poll worker for many years.

“Being active in my community is very important to me, I feel we all need to contribute to our community for the good of all our citizens,” he said.

Dallaire said he knows he is the right choice for Greene County’s next sheriff.

“I have the right experience, work ethic, ethics, and drive to continue building on the solid professional foundation of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office. This would be the greatest honor in my career to win your vote and confidence to lead a fantastic group of people into the future and serve all of Greene County into the future,” he said.