Joyce announces candidacy for a second term as Sheriff

For the last 28 years it has been my honor to serve the citizens of Cumberland County through the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.  I’ve worked diligently to make our community a safer place to live, and the organization I admire, a better place to work.  But I believe I still have more to do…more to offer…more to accomplish!   

 

I am proud to announce my candidacy for Cumberland County Sheriff for a second term.

During my first term as Sheriff, we have increased the number of civilian volunteers in our Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) who continually give back to their community by assisting the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office with non-law enforcement activities that make our communities a little safer.  In addition to our VIPS program, in 2012, we started a law enforcement Explorer post whereby we train young adults from 14 to 21 years of age in various aspects of police work.  It is my intent to provide the young adults of Cumberland County an opportunity to also give back to their community, but also develop leadership skills under the guidance of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and the Boy Scouts of America.

I have already begun to complete our law enforcement accreditation process, strengthen our board of visitor program and continue to develop programs to reduce recidivism in our jail by working on some of the mental health issues plaguing our jail population.

We’ve made some technological improvements such as license scanners for all of our patrol vehicles, facial recognition software to compare photos of suspects against the 70,000 booking photos that we have in our jail database and we are beginning to put computers in the pods of the jail, so that correction officers can have up to date information on the inmates assigned to his or her pod.

Also, we have made great strides in improving our inter-agency cooperation by developing a memo of understanding with several police departments throughout Cumberland County to provide evidence collection and preservation services, should an agency need assistance beyond their staffing abilities.  Furthermore, in the last three years, we have added police officers from the Falmouth and Cumberland police departments to our tactical team which is comprised of deputies from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and officers from the Westbrook Police Department.

In addition to earning a Master’s degree in business administration and attending various executive training programs sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), I have diligently and with honor, advanced through the ranks at the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.  I have worked with three previous Sheriffs that taught me many great lessons. As the 50^th Sheriff of Cumberland County, I have applied this knowledge and lessons learned to improve the services, offered by the Sheriff’s Office, in addition to the quality of life of the people we serve.

My command staff and I recently developed a strategic plan.  We determined areas of the Sheriff’s Office which could be improved and we have developed committees consisting of employees from all ranks to ensure as many people  as possible would have input on the improvements.

The men and women of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office work diligently to provide the citizens of Cumberland County a great service and I am proud to continue to lend my dedication to service and leadership as Sheriff, to continue their quest.