RICHMOND, IN — About 50 family members and friends of Richmond Police Department Chief Kyle Weatherly and community members attended at Smiley’s Pub and Beer Garden last week as he formally announced his run for Wayne County sheriff.
Acknowledging his time as an active-duty tanker in the U.S. Army and his two-decade career in law enforcement, Weatherly said his experience shaped him into what he is today.
“It taught me discipline, courage and the value of putting the mission and the team before yourself,” he said to the crowd. “That’s the foundation I brought with me, and that’s the foundation I carried through every step of my law enforcement career.”
Born and raised in Wayne County, Weatherly started his career on midnight shift patrol for the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department before becoming the supervisor of detectives and the investigations division in the department.
Weatherly said that should he be elected sheriff, he wants to build a department that works with every township, agency and city, under the platform of “One county, one team.”
“That’s not a slogan,” Weatherly said. “It’s the only way forward. This campaign is about bringing Wayne County back together. It’s about protecting our kids from fentanyl and predators. It’s about backing our deputies and first responders so they can do their jobs and come home. It’s about turning the sheriff’s department into a team again.”
When asked what his top accomplishments at the Richmond Police Department were, Weatherly said the question was difficult to answer because his job is not done there. But he said the most important thing to him was creating an environment and providing the tools needed for it to be successful.
“We want to make sure they’re happy within the home of the Richmond Police Department,” he said. “It’s all about that good work-home life balance. You create that environment and people want to be a part of what we’re doing.”
An improvement Weatherly said he’d like to work on if he’s elected is the communication between the sheriff’s department and RPD, saying it’s not what it could or should be.
Over the next year leading up to the election, Weatherly said he plans to continue working hard for the benefit of the community.
“We still have a job to do and we still have people that rely on us, so there’s no stopping us,” he said. “We’re just going to work hard and take care of people because that’s what we do.”
So far, only one other candidate has announced a run for sheriff: Chief Deputy Alan Moore.
About other candidates who plan to announce a campaign, Weatherly said that although he can’t control what his opponents may say or do, he is just going to work on getting his message across to potential voters.
Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him on X (@evan_weaver7) or email at eweaver@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: ‘One county, one team’: RPD’s Weatherly formally announces campaign for Wayne County sheriff
Reporting by Evan Weaver, Richmond Palladium-Item / Richmond Palladium-Item
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
