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Meet Jim Neil, Hamilton County Sheriff candidate

Man in sheriff's uniform from shoulders up smiles in front of mottled backdrop with American flags flanking him
Courtesy
/
Jim Neil For Sheriff Committee
Jim Neil

Jim Neil is the former Democratic sheriff of Hamilton County. Now he is the Republican candidate for sheriff, taking on the Democratic incumbent, Charmaine McGuffey, once his employee. The two have a complicated history, which you can read about here and here.

LISTEN: Cincinnati Edition's interviews with Charmaine McGuffey and Jim Neil

Jim Neil wants his old job back.

He's running for sheriff, four years after Hamilton County voters chose Charmaine McGuffey for the job.

Neil was sheriff from 2013 to 2021. Before that, he had a 30-year career wearing the badge as a deputy, a DARE officer, a bomb technician, and an academy instructor in the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.

This time he's running with a different party affiliation. Neil switched from Democrat to Republican after 2020 when he lost the Democratic nomination.

But he says he's not interested in politics.

"I want to get out of politics when it comes to law enforcement, and just concentrate on public safety."

Neil says he wants to come back because he doesn't think the current sheriff is running the organization properly.

"I had to ask myself, 'Well what are you going to do about it?' And I am a man of faith. I discussed it with my family, and I discussed it with the Father too, and 'What are you going to do about it?' I decided to right the ship, I need to run it."

Neil still has some friends in the office, and says there are some who are not happy either.

"As sheriff, not only do you need to focus on the services that you're providing, making sure that they're top-notch, but you need to focus on the people delivering the services: the subordinates. You got to take care of the people because the people will take care of you, and the people will take care of the public."

Neil says morale is causing some deputies to retire as soon as they can, and others to find jobs elsewhere. Many law enforcement agencies across the country have reported problems recruiting.

For Neil, the reason is "because [of] the agenda of the Democratic party — they do not support law enforcement, the activists," he says. "Now Democrats do, the citizens, they want law enforcement as much as the citizens who are Republican or independent. We all want law enforcement. But the activists, they demonize us. It's a small group, but they're very vocal."

Neil says that can all be fixed with good leadership.

"You need to focus on the personnel, but it starts with the leader. The leader has to be in the right place. And the leader of the organization has to back and support what the mission is. The mission is not a political agenda. Quiet simply, it's an easy job if you just follow the mission: enforce the laws, arrest the offenders."

Neil says one of the major factors behind crime has been drugs. Specifically, the opioid epidemic. He says he's dealt with that.

"When I was sheriff, we were the first jail in Ohio that was providing the level of treatment that we were providing to those addicted. And not just drugs, but we also have a number of our offenders that are incarcerated because of mental health reasons."

Neil says those two groups made up 75% of the incarcerated population. He says simply having someone in those circumstances and keeping them in custody is a step forward.

"We're not social workers, although we're involved because we're a resource, we're in a position to make referrals if it's out of our area of expertise."

Neil says he'd run the Justice Center differently, pointing out during his term, the jail could hold up to 1,600 prisoners, and he had overflow, with some incarcerations held in Butler County. As of July, the Justice Center was holding about 1,200 people.

Neil says some of those cells could be holding people in the country illegally. He says if he can't hold them, he'll turn them over to federal authorities.

"Since 9/11 we have the worst terror threat right now in our nation, facing the worst threats right now in our nation because of the open border," he says. "There's good people from all countries, but there's evil. And in law enforcement who do we go after? The evil."

Neil says he's signed visas for foreign nationals for reporting crimes, to help them extend their stay.

"If they come to Cincinnati because Cincinnati's a sanctuary city, if they're not violating state laws they're not going have an occasion to be arrested by a sheriff's deputy or a police officer."

The job isn't about politics he says. The sheriff should leave that at home.

"I've seen on county buildings a Pride flag being flown," he says. "Well that's fine. The American flag allows you to fly any flag you want, but you fly them at your house, your private residence. You don't fly them on a county building, a state building, a federal building."

He opposes flying a flag with political implications because not everyone in that agency or department believes the same thing, and it creates a negative atmosphere.

"But what we do believe in is supporting your right to believe in what you believe in."

Neil says his focus, as sheriff will be on public safety and cooperation between agencies.

Bill Rinehart started his radio career as a disc jockey in 1990. In 1994, he made the jump into journalism and has been reporting and delivering news on the radio ever since.