Fair and Compassionate Leadership

 

Last fall the citizens of Perryville were given the opportunity to decide if the city was to appoint a City Marshal or keep it in the voter’s choice. Perryville strongly voiced their opinion: to keep it the choice of the citizens.  That’s exactly why I decided to put my name on this ballot, to give people a choice in who would lead the Perryville Police Department into the future. 

Now, one of the candidates has been removed from the ballot, so without a third candidate, the people would not have had a choice on April 8. My opponent is a good man, but I think that today, we need more than a good man to lead Perryville Police Department the right direction. I think we need a completely new leader to make a completely new start. 

It's true that I'm an "old cop." I was a police officer in the Air Force, then a jailer at Cape County Sheriff's Department. I worked my way up to Jail Administrator there, and then I got to come home to Perryville as a patrolman. I worked my way up to corporal and then sergeant, and I put 24 years in on the street. Almost 4 years ago, I was promoted to the city's codes enforcement officer and moved to city hall.  Now I'm the police officer who enforces all the nuisance codes in our city. (See my earlier blog for more about that.)

In all my jobs, I have always tried to be fair and faithful to the law. I was an effective leader at the police department and I have effectively run my own department within the city. But what sets me apart from my opponent is that I no longer work within the walls of the police department. This distance from my fellow officers puts me in the unique position of being able to start with a clean slate with every officer and every citizen. I was not involved in with the turmoil of the last year, and I did not benefit from it in any way.  I have no allegiance to anyone but the people I am sworn to serve.

I think the most important thing we can do as citizens right now is to demand that our new police chief focus on getting his house in order. I can be that chief, and you can count on me to be focused on what's best for our community. 

Please check out my blog and visit my personal Facebook page. If you have questions or concerns to share, please email me at mrjoemartin@ymail.com. 

I'd appreciate your vote on April 8!