2026 Voter Guide: Marion County Sheriff

Samantha Horton: Today I'm joined by Tom Vaughn, the Republican candidate for Marion County sheriff. Thanks for joining me.

Tom Vaughn: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Horton: So, just first to start off, could you just talk about why you decided to run for sheriff.

Vaughn: Yeah, I've been in law enforcement for 30 years. I was born and raised in Marion County. I have 10 grandchildren that live in Marion County. So I thought it was my, with all my experience and training, it just seemed like a good fit.

I started my career out at the sheriff's office. There's some problems there that, I think my experience and background can fix those.

Horton: And with that experience, I guess could you talk about what you believe is the biggest problem or challenge for the Marion County Sheriff's Office?

Vaughn: A lot of it right now is the leadership and their training. I'm a graduate of the FBI National Academy, so I got to go in with Quantico for 11 weeks. But leadership is one of the things that you really have to look at.

One of the things I tell everybody at Southport is, if we don't train our people properly, we don't give them the equipment they need to do their job properly, and we don't give them that support and background, we can't fault them if something goes wrong. That falls on us.

And after talking to a lot of the sheriff's deputies or deputies, we see a lot of that. They don't have, they might have the initial training, but they don't have that ongoing training, and they don't have the tools that they need to properly do the job.

So that's one of the biggest focuses. I think once you can get the whole department onto a plan, and you know, give them those tools and support. I think you'll see a better sheriff's office than we have currently.

Horton: And I want to talk to you about some of the big issues, possibly, that are on voters' minds. I know one could be the new state law that requires law enforcement, including the sheriff's office, to comply with federal immigration enforcement. I guess – could you talk about, a little bit, what you – how do you believe the Marion County sheriff's role should be with that enforcement.

Vaughn: Yeah, and you know, it's funny we talk about this a lot now. And like I tell them, you, we're voting in a law enforcement officer, right? We took an oath to uphold the law. We don't create laws, we enforce them.

But there are things that we need to do, as the sheriff and our jail, to make sure that the warrants, the detainers, and all that, are legal. So that's one of the things that we would look at. It's like anything else, if IMPD asks for backup, we are going to assist another law enforcement agency. The ICE is no different. We would assist them on that.

But I will tell you that when they bring those detainees to the jail, the very first thing we're going to do is make sure: Do you have the right paperwork? Are they illegal aliens that you can detain? And if they're not, then we're not going to hold them.

But it is the responsibility of the sheriff to work with other agencies and, and work hand in hand to make it an easy process. So as sheriff, I will do that.

Horton: I know, speaking of, I guess jail – I know with the Marion County Sheriff's Office, they recently sued the state due to its delays transferring convicted inmates to Department Correction prisons. I guess, can you talk about – the office says it's causing overcrowding. So, how would you handle overcrowding issues at Marion County?

Vaughn: Yeah, I mean, one of the things we built a new [Community Justice Campus]. One, we didn't build it for the future. We built it for what we had 20 years ago. I think there's maybe 50 or 100 beds extra. That's it.*

One of the things you have to look at is, we have a lot of people who are convicted of a crime and are supposed to go off to prison, and they end up staying in the sheriff's office for, or sheriff's jail, for years. And that does put a burden on the detention deputies and the jail deputies for the overcrowding portion of that.

That's something you need to work closer with. I think that's everything the sheriff's office has. The communication isn't very well. They don't work with the outside agencies well on when we change policies or procedures. So really looking at that, working with the correctional facilities to make that a quicker, seamless process to get inmates who have been convicted to their, you know, to prison.

*Editor's note: The new jail at Community Justice Campus opened in 2022 with a capacity of 3,000 inmates, 500 more than the previous jail. The current sheriff says today the jail is budgeted to care for 2,400 capacity due to the budget set by the City-County Council.

Horton: And I know another topic that comes up a lot is youth gun violence here in Marion County, and that's continued to draw attention from state and local leaders. What do you see as a path to reducing gun violence with the Marion County Sheriff's Office?

Vaughn: I mean, that's one of the big things is, I think we've gotten away from a lot of the community policing aspect of it. Mentoring the youth at Southport, we're very big on. We have a training center. It's got basketball goals, and it's got all this stuff. And we want the teenage kids, those type of kids, to come to us, and work through that.

We have a cadet program, where, if you're 14 to 20 you can enroll in this program, and you work with officers on that mentorship. You know, trying to get them on the right path. I mean, unfortunately, we have a lot of families that, the parents are working two and three jobs.

Those kids are home by themselves a lot. What can we do to give them a place, an outlet, a safe outlet to go to? Downtown Indianapolis at midnight is not the place they need to be. But I think if you look at the rec centers and those type of things, we've kind of backed off a lot of those programs, and it's more of, we'll just give you a place to hang out.

I think we really need to bring those mentorships back. You know, whether it's a pastor, a business leader, get everybody involved so that we can start work. I mean, they're our future, and if we don't get a hold of them now, gun violence is terrible.

Horton: And I know also with state laws recently passed making camping outside on public property a Class C misdemeanor. How do you see the role of the sheriff's office in enforcing that, or what you're, what you would see?

Vaughn: Yeah, and one of the things that, that's, when somebody says you know it's a Class C misdemeanor, they don't have to go to jail. They can be summons arrested, which means they get a court appearance. But again, where, where are we? Where are they going? If we throw them off there, they're just, we're chasing them down the street.

So again, I think we have a lot of issues, but we don't have a lot of community that will sit down and discuss how to solve these problems, putting people in jail for camping on the street is not going to solve our issue. It's just going to create overcrowding and more issues that way.

So again, you have to sit down and find out. You know, our shelters are packed. So where are we sending them? It's the same thing. We know we look at mental health — jail, once the mental health facilities closed down, jails became those hospitals. And that staff does not have that training or education to be able to work with that. So again, it's, jail seems to be a place that everything ends, and then we, we stop talking about it.

So that's one of the things that, as the sheriff, needs to be more vocal, needs to be out front in saying what's the solution. We know what the problem is. We have to find the solution.

Horton: And I know Flock cameras as well. Where I want to touch on those a little bit too. They've come under scrutiny. But do you believe that they are a benefit to your office? And should the city continue to have them or county in this [case]?

Vaughn: Yeah, at Southport we do have Flock cameras. We have two located in strategic areas. They are a very good tool. It's like any other tool that we have. If you don't have the right policies and procedures in place, they will be abused.

At Southport, I think some of the thing, with the Flock they have, to look at too is when you, the issues that we're having are the ones that the officers are putting the plate number into the system. It's not the normal running for stolen vehicles, missing people, all that. It's where the officer has the authority to be able to log that plate to track it.

At Southport, we looked at that right off the bat when we got the cameras. That has to have a case number attached to the plate, which means why are we looking for it? You know, what's the probable cause? All of that kind of stuff. Then that has to be approved by a supervisor.

That supervisor then approves it, and then that license plate hit is audited once a week by a major or somewhat higher to make sure that do we still need it in the system. Are we still you know continuing the investigation?

So I think when Flock came out, everybody got it. It was a great tool. But again, in law enforcement, one of the things you have to look at is the good part and the bad part, and how do we stop the abuse of a tool that we have.

So I will say, Flock's been around since like 2006. This isn't like a new tool that we've had. I think the abuse is just being more, has been more lately. So I think it has to have those guidelines in there. I know Florida's looking at the Senate or House to look at putting guardrails on that, and I wouldn't be opposed to that at all.

But I think again, with good leadership, you have to have those good policies and procedures in place, and then review them, and then make sure you're doing the audits to make sure that they're not being abused.

Horton: We have about 40 seconds left, but I want to just give you a chance. I know you touched on training as one of your big things. I guess do you want to add any more to that conversation in the last few seconds?

Vaughn: Yeah. I mean, like I said, I went through the FBI National Academy. I am a certified Indiana law enforcement instructor, since 2001. I think that, I always hated when I got a new job and the training was like a week long, and you felt like you didn't understand the complete job. Our reserve officers actually go through a certified training through [Indiana Law Enforcement Academy]. They're certified at the end of that.

I believe if we give the tools to the officers or deputies and make them emboldened to use them and understand what's going on, I think we have a better qualified group of officers and deputies.

Horton: That was Tom Vaughn, Republican candidate for Marion County sheriff. Thanks again for joining me.

Vaughn: I appreciate it.

Samantha Horton: Today I'm joined by Kelvis Williams, a Democratic candidate for Marion County sheriff, thanks for joining me.

Kelvis Williams: You're welcome very much.

Horton: So I just want to start off first. Why did you decide to run for this office?

Williams: You know, I have an extensive background in law enforcement. I'm in my 42nd year, I did 25 years with the Indiana State Police. Went through every rank.

When I retired, I was a major in charge of the Homeland Security Division, I was the liaison for the state of Indiana to the federal government. My time with the state police, I was able to manage million-dollar budgets. I was able to train troopers.

I was able to work a lot of different areas on the Indiana State Police. When I retired from the state police in 2003, I did not feel that I was ready not to be a policeman anymore.

And fortunately, I got called by Frank Anderson, who was the sheriff at the time, and offered me a position with the Marion County Sheriff's Office. I was happy to receive that position as a lieutenant.

I rose through the ranks on the sheriff's office from lieutenant to captain to major, now deputy chief and executive officer to the sheriff, and I feel I still have a lot to offer, not just to the sheriff's office, but to the community of Marion County.

Horton: And can we talk about some of the, what do you feel is the biggest issue facing the Marion County Sheriff's Office right now?

Williams: Well, right now I think there are a couple. One would be jail overcrowding.

At some point in time, we're going to have to look at alternative measures for our inmates, with the bond schedule being changed, and we've got the Department of Correction inmates in our facility, is causing an issue for us, and at some point in time, we will be looking at the overcrowding.

The other issue that I feel is, is retention of our officers. There are the other agencies around Marion County, surrounding counties pay a lot more than we do.

And sometimes we have a difficult, not sometimes, we do have a difficult time retaining our great officers. You can't blame the young folks that have a young family, they need more money. And a lot of them want to go out and be policemen.

And as you know, the Marion County Sheriff's Office, we don't have that enforcement branch anymore. So that's going to be an issue for us to retain them, give them the good training that they need, and have an environment within the sheriff's office where they want to stay.

Horton: And a new state law requires law enforcement to, sheriffs offices to, comply with federal immigration enforcement. What do you believe the Marion County sheriff's role is in immigration enforcement?

Williams: Our role is to follow the law and hold the 48-hour detainees unless they have a local charge. We would hold them longer than that, but that would be what the sheriff's office is obligated to do, according to the federal law.

Horton: And you touched on this a little bit. I'm hoping you could talk a little bit more about it. But the Marion County Sheriff's Office recently sued the state due to its delays in transferring convicted inmates to Department of Correction prisons. The office says this is causing overcrowding, like you mentioned – How could you, how would you handle the overcrowding issues?

Williams: Well, there are a couple things we can do. We could start looking at other counties across the state to house some of our inmates. The other thing we can do, when our new facility was built, it was built with the expectation of expanding.

Of course that's going to take a lot of money. But those are two things that we can do. We can look at other counties to house our inmates and really look at expanding our jail for another 1000 beds.

Horton: And youth gun violence in Marion County has continued to draw attention from state and local leaders. What do you see as a path to reducing youth violence in in the Marion County Sheriff's Office?

Williams: In the sheriff's office, you know, when we have our youth in there, we do have some special programs for, for youth. We also have partnered with several agencies in the county that deal, deal with the youth, and I would continue that process and even expand it if I was able to.

Where we have different programs, different organizations come together to help combat, the, the Youth and Gun Violence Program, I'd be willing to work with all branches of law enforcement in Marion County, the prosecutors office, the other agencies, IMPD, and offer them any assistance that we can to help with the Youth and Gun Violence Program or issues.

Horton: And how do you plan to enforce the new state law that makes camping outside on public property a classy misdemeanor. I know this has garnered a lot of attention within how law enforcement's role will be in this enforcement.

Williams: You know that, that issue is concerning to me because that's also going to add to our overcrowding in the jail. Of course, being the sheriff of Marion County, if someone is arrested, we don't decide who gets arrested, but we have to make room for them.

We have to provide room for them in our jail. It's up to the judges and it's up to the law enforcement agencies in the county to decide who comes to our jail. But when they come to our jail, we have to take care of them.

So I really don't have a part in saying who comes to our jail, but when they do come, we have to make sure that they're taken care of responsibly, and we have a bed for them.

Horton: And Flock cameras have come under scrutiny recently. You know, how important, do you believe they are a benefit to your office, and should the city and county continue to have them?

Williams: Flock cameras are a great benefit. We have eight cameras on our community justice complex, and they have allowed us to, to capture folks on a warrant, stolen vehicles and other crimes.

They are an asset to the law enforcement community. It's very unfortunate that we have had some officers on our, on other agencies who have violated the policy and procedures for Flock.

I do, the officers that have done it violated the policies. It's bad. It makes us all look bad. And I, I applaud the chiefs who are, I applaud the chiefs who are making the officers responsible.

I think policies need to be presented for Flock cameras. They are a great tool that we use, and I would really hate for the Marion County Sheriff's Office or any agency to lose the ability to use Flock.

They have been a tremendous asset to the law enforcement community. But, again, officers that use it wrong, I'm for whatever admonishment that those agencies do to those officers.

They shouldn't be doing it wrong. They should not be violating their oath. Should not be violating the policies and procedures of Flock.

Horton: During your time in Marion County Sheriff's Office, what do you feel is something that you're really proud, that you feel like the office has accomplished? And we touched on things that you feel like are the biggest issues, but is there anything else that you feel is something that you want to see adjusted, fixed, improved within the office?

Williams: You know, I think the biggest thing for me would be our retention of officers again, and our pay. We, we have got to come up with a way. We've got to come up with an atmosphere within our facility to make sure that we keep our, our good employees.

We have a tremendous facility, state-of-the-art facility, and I just want to make sure that we have enough folks within that facility to do the job that the Marion County Sheriff's Office needs to do.

Horton: On top of pay, do you feel the training is pretty universal. Do you feel like training can be improved within the office?

Williams: Our training is second to none. We give our new officers four weeks of our training, and then we send them to the law enforcement academy right after our training, and they become tier one officers.

We provide the same training that all the other law enforcement agencies in the state get at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy.

So, a lot of our, a lot of training, that goes on at the Law Enforcement Academy is done by Marion County Sheriff's Office deputies. So our training is, as I said before, second to none.

Horton: And I know you had time with the state as well. I guess can you talk about what you see the role with Marion County Sheriff's Office and and collaborating or working with the state law enforcement as well, and how that is now and what could possibly be improved.

Williams: Well, are you referring to working with, like, the state police?

Horton: Yes.

Williams: We have a good relationship with several law enforcement agencies, and we have state troopers at our facility on a daily basis.

When they have issues in Marion County, we work well with, with their attorneys. We work well with, with the leaders of the state police, and we all get along.

I can, would continue that process. I don't see anything that's going to interrupt the relationship between the Marion County Sheriff's Office and the Indiana State Police.

Horton: Kelvis, we have about 20 seconds left here. I guess, is there anything else you want to add to the conversation today? You know, about what you feel is pressing and why you're running for, for Marion County sheriff.

Williams: Again, I'm running because I don't think I'm finished with my law enforcement career. I've got 42 years in law enforcement. I've been a leader. I've been a supervisor. I've supervised the 911 center for two and a half years.

I have a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. I've been to two of the most prestigious law enforcement schools: the FBI National Academy, [and] I've been to the Northwestern School of Police staff in command.

And I want to use my experience and my education to further the Marion County Sheriff's Office to make us one of the best sheriff's offices in the country.

Horton: That was Kelvis Williams, the Democratic candidate for Marion County sheriff. Kelvis, thanks for joining me.

Williams: Thank you for having me.