Jones County Sheriff race set with 4 candidates

JONES COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) - In November, Jones County will have four choices for one big decision: The current sheriff, two law enforcement officers or a past sheriff.

Macon Davis won the primary race last night, slating his name on the ballot for November. If elected he wants the department to be transparent with the community.

“I want the people to come. I want them to know that the door is open,” Daivs said.

“I want them to know that it will be discreet what they tell us and deal with us because, look, any law enforcement agency without the public’s trust, number one, and number two, without their comments and communication, many times they will know things that we don’t know and that folks will not tell us.”

Alex Hodge has previously served 12 years as the sheriff in Jones County, but this time he wants to serve differently if elected, starting with changing the culture.

“Through the door, we will bring that positive, professional leadership to the table, to the people of Jones County and to the men and women who are desperate to have it,” said Hodge. “They’re thirsty for strong, leadership. They’re looking for that leadership, and I will provide that leadership for them.

We will immediately begin connecting with people and serving people. We will immediately begin directive patrols where our visibility once again being the greatest deterrent to crime is visible across our county.”

Jones County’s current sheriff, Joe Berlin says he wants to build on the past four years of fighting the drug crisis in the community.

“Again, we’re focusing on the drugs in our community. This is an ever-growing problem, and we’re fighting it every day,” Berlin said.

“We’ve served 200 and something cases to 250-something cases a year on these drugs and illegal activities in the county. We’ve had to increase our investigations division because [of] some of the property crimes and stuff.”

We did reach out to the fourth candidate, Kenny Rogers Sr., multiple times, but were unable to get an interview.

Want more WDAM 7 news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

Copyright 2023 WDAM. All rights reserved.