Who that will be, though, is yet to be determined.

Ken Hinton and Scott Neiswonger are vying for the Republican nomination. With no Democratic challenger, the winner on Tuesday will be essentially guaranteed the post during this fall’s general election.

Hinton has spent 28 years in law enforcement, 21 of which were with City of Warren police where he rose to the rank of sergeant, serving in a leadership role with the regional Drug Task Force. He’s currently a fraud analyst at Northwest Bank.

Neiswonger has served as an officer with the Conewango Township Police Department since 2006.

Ken Hinton

He started the Conewango K9 program in 2014, first with K9 Choper who died in a 2018 training accident and now with K9 Nic, working with the Drug Task Force and participating in many community service events.

Much of the role of the sheriff’s office is defined by statute. They’re responsible for courtroom security, prisoner transports, civil paperwork processes, serving warrants and PFAs as well as handling the pistol permit process.

But both have visions for how the office might evolve if given the opportunity to serve.

For Neiswonger, that includes several initiatives relating to how the office engages with the broader public.

“I want to make sure we conduct faster turn around and more available times for our citizens that want a concealment permit here in Warren County,” he explained.

He also would like to see the implementation of a K9 program within the office “and expanding that into our community to assist with getting drugs off our streets.”

Part of that requires dialogues in the communities and Neiswonger said he would strive to have an “open line of communications for our citizens, answering any questions or helping them with any problems that they may have.”

Hinton called for expanding sheriff patrols “in some of our outlying areas” like Sheffield, Bear Lake, Enterprise and Tidioute that don’t have municipal-level police protection as well as programming for helping seniors understand the effects of fraud.

In the same vein, he also said town hall meetings would be a priority for him.

“(There has) been a severe disconnect between law enforcement and communities,” he said. The town hall forums would hear “what their concerns are in law enforcement … that could be relayed from the elected sheriff to those jurisdictions.”

He stressed that would allow the community to buy into law enforcement and show “law enforcement also buying into the community.”

Expanding coverage

Both Neiswonger and Hinton said they would seek to expand the School Resource Officer program.

Hinton stressed that the SRO program is about “building relationships with the youth of our community” and proposed one deputy for each school to facilitate that relationship development.

Neiswonger acknowledged that such an expansion would require “working with the Warren County School District in accomplishing that goal.”

While it might not be apparent in how they dress or the job they do, the power of a sheriff’s deputy is limited when compared to municipal police officers or the Pennsylvania State Police.

There have been several attempts to push a bill through the General Assembly that would give deputies full police powers.

But like any significant legislative change, there are benefits and potential drawbacks.

“I believe that the bill needs to be looked at and needs to be passed,” Hinton said, explaining the need especially in light of the communities — Sheffield, Tidioute, Elk Township — that used to have local police coverage and no longer do.

But one of the challenges, he said, is whether “the existing members of the department actually (can) take on that extra role without having an increase to the current budget.”

There’s also a concern, Hinton explained, about training — the training for municipal officers and deputies may be “pretty much the same” but isn’t under the same umbrella and would require a legislative solution.

Overcoming those hurdles, though, would result in a significant benefit in his view.

“I think it puts law enforcement back to the community,” he said. “If you don’t like how the (state) troopers are policing your community, where do you take that argument? Is there really any local voice that is going to be here?”

Shifting those police powers to the sheriff’s office would result in having “that local office” like the City of Warren and other municipal departments have.

Expanded response capabilities is a benefit that Neiswonger outlined.

“I feel a positive to having the sheriff’s deputies out on the road is that there is more law enforcement present in our community and patrolling the streets,” he said. “Having more law enforcement, they would assist with calls when municipal officers or state troopers are tied up and have extended arrival times to help victims of crimes within our community.”

A significant concern that he outlined relates to staffing.

“The problem I see comes down to manpower,” he said. “As of late, us, as a law enforcement community, we are having a hard time filling positions due to the lack of interest to get into law enforcement. This is a statewide and country-wide issue.”

Building relationships

He also raised the budgetary and time issues that Hinton did.

“The sheriff’s office and its deputies have a very important job to do as in civil process, warrant service for the common pleas court, serving PFA orders, courtroom work and transports, Neiswonger said. “Having those jobs and adding in patrols and investigations, you would have to hire more staff which falls into the budget and more taxpayer dollars being used.”

The vast majority of the experience that both candidates bring to the table comes in the form of municipal law enforcement. Why do they think they’re qualified to make the jump to sheriff?

“As a police officer for 16 years in Conewango Township, I have trained multiple police officers and have been in a leadership role during that time as a field training officer,” Neiswonger said, “supervising officers and holding a position in the Warren County Drug Task Force since 2009.”

He cited training including critical incident command and natural disasters and school shootings.

“I’m also a small business owner and I understand the need for controlled spending and following budget lines,” Neiswonger explained. “I have written multiple grants and understand the need to save taxpayer dollars when it is possible.

He also highlighted a key element of working in most capacities: relationships.

“I have worked closely with all chiefs of police and supervisors that are currently working in the county,” he said. “I have a great rapport and working relationship with them making transparency and working together for the community an easy task.

“I feel that I’m an independent thinker and will always do what I feel is best for our citizens and the county.”

Hinton’s sheriff experience is limited to providing courtroom security as a special deputy sworn in in Elk County.

He cited leadership skills and “qualifications as a leader and mentors” from training through the FBI to Penn State and the National Guard.

As a sergeant with the City of Warren police, Hinton said he served as the liaison between the city and the Attorney General’s office and demonstrated an ability to “supervise men as a sergeant.”

That role came with grant and budget responsibilities.

“As far as being qualified to be a supervisor even at (the) executive level (of sheriff), I feel that I have those qualities,” Hinton said, and have “been trained in those qualities, exhibited … those qualities.”

He said that sheriff work is “different but it’s the same” to municipal law enforcement as he has experience serving PFAs and warrants. “Do I know what it takes to be a good law enforcement official? Yes.

“As sheriff … that position is to find the good qualities in each individual deputy… and to make them great qualities,” he said. “Everybody has something to offer within that department.”