Former deputy challenges Koon for Lexington sheriff in Republican primary
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The State’s candidate questionnaire for SC 2020 Primary Election Day
Several state and local primary elections are held in South Carolina on June 9, 2020. Read The State’s questionnaires below to hear straight from your candidates.
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One of the elections of note in the June 9 primaries is the race for Lexington County Sheriff.
Two Republicans are on the ballot: incumbent Jay Koon and challenger David Arnold.
Koon has held the office since a 2015 special election to replace former Sheriff James Metts, who was indicted on federal charges. Koon won re-election and his first four-year term in 2016.
Both Koon and Arnold have spent all of their professional careers working in law enforcement, including significant time in the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department. Koon began working at the Lexington Police Department in 1994, before being elected sheriff. Arnold worked at the sheriff’s department from 1999-2010. In 2012, Arnold joined the Columbia Police Department to assist in its Emergency Preparedness/Homeland Security division. He worked in Columbia for two years before retiring.
DAVID ARNOLD
Q. What is your background?
A. The challenger is a 50-year-old graduate of Heathwood Hall who later earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, a master’s in Criminal Justice Administration, a master’s in Homeland Security/Emergency Preparedness and Management, and a doctorate in Criminology.
Q. What is your political experience?
A. I have worked for several elected officials (Richland County coroner, Richland County sheriff, Lexington County sheriff) and was a part of their campaigns.
Q. What is your professional experience?
A. 30 years in law enforcement. As a street cop, death investigator, police supervisor and as a captain over a highly populated portion of Lexington County referred to as Region 1 which includes residential and commercial (areas). Plus over 500 courses in Homeland Security, Incident Command, Emergency Management and Crisis Response.
Q. Where did you grow up?
A. Columbia.
Q. What do you think the sheriff’s department does well since your opponent became sheriff?
A. He hides in his office extremely well and also avoids the people of Lexington County terrifically!
Q. What do you think the sheriff’s department can do better if you are elected?
A. We need to provide better response times, more of a professional attitude when dealing with the public.
Q. What are the top issues in this campaign, and how specifically would you address them?
A. Recruitment and Retention. Develop specific teams to handle high crime areas. Be accountable and transparent. Improve our community involvement.
Q. What is something important about you that you want voters to know?
A. I love this profession and I gave up a life of wealth to do this for the past 30 years (Arnold is the son of Gerry Sue and Norman J. Arnold, after whom the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health is named.) I had options as I could have run the Ben Arnold Co. or the Arnold Companies but I chose a life of servitude. I am passionate about caring for my fellow humans. Everyone should have a community responsibility and this one is mine!
JAY KOON
Q. What is your background?
A. The sheriff is a 47-year-old graduate of the University of South Carolina (Class of 1994) with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice.
Q. What is your political experience?
A. I have served as the sheriff of Lexington County for the past five years.
Q. What is your professional experience?
A. I have been a certified law enforcement officer for over 25 years in our community. I have attended many trainings in my career to include the FBI National Academy, FBI National Executive Institute, National Sheriffs’ Institute and the SC Criminal Justice Academy’s Police Chief’s School.
Q. Where did you grow up?
A. I am a lifelong resident of Lexington County.
Q. What do you think your department does well since you became sheriff?
A. My first focus after taking office was customer service. That is something that is lacking among government agencies because citizens do not get to pick and choose their service provider as they do with private businesses. We treat our citizens as our customers.
Q. What do you think your department can do better if you are re-elected?
A. Recruitment and retention is a challenge for law enforcement agencies across the country. Our profession is not attracting interest for many reasons. We have made great strides in addressing this with the creation of recruitment and stay incentives, collateral duty pay, paid holidays and by promoting our overall quality of life in our community. We have made improvements but still must keep this as a priority.
Q. What are the top issues in this campaign, and how specifically would you address them?
A. There are several key issues in this campaign. The incredible growth that our community is experiencing strains all of public safety to keep up our service levels. We must continue to focus on innovative ways to keep up through the use of technology, design and adding the most appropriate manpower to address issues that arise. We have some of the best schools in our state. The safety and security of our students and faculty is very important to our community. I join with other parents everyday to hope that our students come home safe. We have worked with our school districts and the S.C. Department of Education to develop safety plans and strategies to keep our schools safe. The challenge is to staff and maintain the security for future schools as they are being built.
Five years ago I pledged to enforce the law fair and consistently, and I have done just that. In 2015, we had just come from one of our darkest days as an agency. There were a lot of concerns about trust, accountability and relationships were strained with many agencies. My team has rebuilt those relationships and addressed those concerns. We were the S.C. Law Enforcement Officer’s Associations’ Award of Excellence recipient in 2017. The dark days of our past are long behind us and the sheriff must continue a successful future and not revert to the past.
Q. What is something important about you that you want voters to know?
A. I am a law enforcement officer and not a politician. My focus has always been and will remain on the safety of our citizens. My family is a stakeholder in this community. My wife and I have lived in Lexington County all of our lives. We have both served our community, she as a teacher and I as a law enforcement officer.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 10:42 AM.
