Decision 2024: Meet Will Kendall, candidate for Houston County Sheriff
Early voting begins April 29 and ends on May 17. Election Day will be May 21.
HOUSTON COUNTY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Four Republican candidates are qualified for the upcoming Houston County Sheriff election. Arthur Harris is running unopposed as a Democrat.
Matt Moulton, Will Kendall, Jimmy Dunn, and Slate Simons are competing to win the Republican nomination in the upcoming primary election.
41NBC’s Monica Diaz-Meek spoke with each candidate ahead of the May 21 election.
Candidate name: Will Kendall
Running for: Houston County Sheriff
Occupation: District Attorney for Houston County
Campaign Website: kendall4sheriff.com
MONICA- Good Afternoon. Today we have Will Kendall who is running for Houston County joining us. Thank you for being here today.
WILL- Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
MONICA- I’m glad to have you. It’s a beautiful day. We have a few questions talking about the Houston County Sheriff election. Starting off, what do you think is the biggest issue or challenge facing the Sheriff’s Office over the next four years and how do you plan to solve that?
WILL- Yeah, so currently upfront I think it has a lot to do with you know addressing felonies, particularly gang activity. Of course, you know in order to do that you need to come up full staff. You need to have an adequate staff at the Sheriff’s Office in order to serve the public and serve them well as it’s intended to do. I think looking at investigating, prosecuting gang bangers and drug traffickers and in order to do that having a full staff so I think that’s the main issue.
MONICA- Okay. Now, what do you consider when you are considering factor most heavily that would indicate we’re in a safer community? That you’re seeing better numbers in Houston County and you feel safer there?
WILL- So I’m a fan of community engagement. So I think that people are the best barometer in order to tell us whether or not we’re doing a good job or not, that crime is being reduced. I have yet to see data set or the program that can override what the people of the community actually know about their community . So I think that’s an indicator, what the people have to say about it, so community engagement will lead to the right results.
MONICA- Any particular community engagement that you’re thinking of?
WILL- You know I’m a fan of direct community engagement. In order to do things like town halls meetings, to establish a non-emergency line where you actually track issues and complaints and then provide resolution and results to the people that made those complaints so they know that we’re following through with those things as the Sheriff’s Department.
MONICA- Alright. How do you plan on making Houston County safer? Any new programs? Is it just being more involved in the community? How do you plan on making it safer?
WILL- Yeah, I think a lot of it has to do with being proactive. I’m not a huge fan of going out on Thursdays and cutting tickets for people talking on their cell phones and rolling stop signs. Using police force right now, we have to do it smartly and efficiently. We’re facing a national law enforcement shortage, Houston County is not immune to that. So we need to work on staffing, our recruitment and retention , to be active on that, but also utilize our police force smartly in efficient policing. So instead of cutting a soccer mom and dad speeding tickets and for rolling stop signs, we actually go after the gang bangers, the drug traffickers. You know, try to make an impact on juvenile crime in Houston County.
MONICA- Is juvenile crime something you’re seeing more of these days?
WILL- Yeah you know and I think it also, maybe we don’t see more of it, but certainly it is more notable and devastating when we do see it. It is a tragic, tragic thing when we have 13 and 14-year-olds killing people . I can tell you as the current District Attorney that we see and we know that those things are connected to gang activity. So we need to do something about our criminal street gangs, they exist in Houston County. I’ve said it for a couple year now, we’ve made some proactive endeavors even from the DA’s office to go after those folks and the work continues.
MONICA- Why do you think your the best candidate for Houston County Sheriff? You have other opponents, but what makes you the best or the most qualified?
WILL- Sure, you know I think a lot of it is having a good balance of things. You know I have an 8-year law enforcement career. I come from a law enforcement background. I’ve been in law enforcement longer than I’ve been a lawyer, which I know sounds kind of strange being the DA currently. Not only do I have a law enforcement background in training, but I also am the District Attorney. I deal with budgets, hiring and firing, counseling, reprimanding. I know what it’s like to be in public office. I know what it’s like administrate. Not only do you get law enforcement, you also get the administration capability. I’m a Marine veteran. I took an oath to uphold the constitution and as Sheriff, I will do the same.
MONICA- Alright. For folks wanting to go out to the polls, it is coming up and we just talked about early voting starting next week so what do you want to tell those voters?
WILL- Yeah so you know the biggest thing is to go out and make an informed decision. Don’t rely on yard signs. Don’t rely on somebody’s endorsement. Be an independent voter . Go out and research candidates. Look at their qualifications, look at their actual track record and make an informed decision as a voter. But most importantly, you know after that, go out and vote.
MONICA- Thank you so much for being here today. Now to watch the full interview and to find out more about the upcoming election, head on over to our website 41NBC.com
Snippets from all candidates’ interviews will air on 41NBC News at 6 p.m., 11 p.m., DayBreak and 41Today. All interviews will also be posted in full on 41NBC.com on the following days:
Monday, April 22 – Matt Moulton
Tuesday, April 23– Will Kendall
Wednesday, April 24 – Jimmy Dunn
Thursday, April 25 – Slate Simons
