When one of the deputies at the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office retires or leaves for another job, we lose a part of our institutional memory. All experiences and knowledge the deputy has acquired is no longer available to the rest of the team at the sheriff’s office.

It’s like downgrading or removing a part of your personal computer.

Of course the remaining personnel and new employees are gaining knowledge and memory each day.

Inexperienced or new deputies have access to the information and knowledge that can be provided by more senior and knowledgeable ones.

These senior deputies can provide much needed information to less experienced ones. This information can include family histories, of cases that have been solved or unsolved, of methods of operation (modus operandi) of different criminals and who the repeat offenders are in the county.

One example is a local burglar who used a sledgehammer to break in doors when he entered residences. This was his M.O.

He was arrested and sent to prison.

Then, a few years later, he was released from prison and he began his crime spree of breaking into houses by using the same M.O. once again.

Our detectives determined it was the same perpetrator who had been released from prison.

He was later arrested for committing the burglaries.

Many of the people we deal with today as adults, we also dealt with when they were juveniles.

Many times we have had to arrest the adult sons or daughters of prior adult offenders for the same type crimes — even though they had no juvenile record.

This, of course shows the affect parents have on their children and how important parents are in the family unit.

It’s surprising how often we at the sheriff’s office glean information and intelligence from our senior staff.

Most of them and others in our agency have continued their educational pursuits in their off duty time.

I am a supporter of education and of younger personnel doing the same thing. In today’s law enforcement community, it takes both experience and education, along with job performance to continue to advance in rank.

I, along with my senior staff, want to develop leaders and others to be effective, efficient and compassionate public servants.

To do that we are planning a more secure and sure career path for our deputies. We want this to be a path to career satisfaction with rewards, of job security and salaries comparable with surrounding agencies, etc.

As your sheriff, I am anxious to prove to the taxpayers of Bradley County that we are worthy of their trust through making effective and efficient use of their annual investment in county law enforcement.

It’s my desire this trust will grow in the coming years.

We have a number of hard working people who could succeed or have already succeeded in more populated areas.

They have the right stuff!.

We will need people like this with their skills. We will need them more and more as Cleveland and Bradley County continues to grow and takes on a cosmopolitan flavor, so to speak.

International presence has been here, attracted by Lee University and by the Church of God’s International Headquarters, but it is going to increase as industries, such as, Volkswagen and WACKER come on line.

These are exciting times for all of Bradley County.

In law enforcement, we must take on a new sophistication to keep abreast of the times.

As your new sheriff, I am willing to be open to new things as we build on the tried and true from yesterday.

Cody Dewayne Ballinger

An investigation taking several days to complete led Bradley County Sheriff’s detectives to Cody Dewayne Ballinger.

The 20-year-old suspect was first charged with multiple attempts to force entry into Collins Market on Harrison Pike. During the investigation detectives discovered attempts to kick open two doors, pry the lock off the front door, and knock a hole in an exterior wall.

Ballinger is additionally charged with entering an outbuilding on Hannah Road a short distance from the store. Two extension cords were taken.

Ballinger is tied to a theft of jewelry and medication from two homes on Lead Mine Valley Road. The jewelry was pawned and has since been returned to the owner.

Ballinger faces burglary, attempted burglary, theft and vandalism charges.

Dallas Lee Stuman

Through investigation of the theft that occurred sometime between November 16th and the 23rd, Bradley County Sheriff’s detectives identified a former fire fighter at the Prospect station, 39-year-old Dallas Lee Stuman, as a suspect. A friend of Stuman’s gave investigators several places where he might be but he could not be found at any of those locations.

Early Wednesday morning patrol deputies had contact with the suspect and brought him to the Judicial Center to meet with the detective assigned to the investigation. After being questioned about his involvement in the crime Stuman was charged with burglary and theft over $10,000 and placed in the Bradley County jail.

The camera, which is a valuable piece of equipment fire fighters use to find people trapped inside smoke-filled buildings, was sold for $50 and has been recovered.

Stuman is in custody without bond.

A 56-year-old Cleveland man will spend the next 12 years behind bars after being sentenced for the possession and distribution of child pornography.

In June, the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit of the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant for the Peerless Road home of Jeff S. Henson. Computer hardware found in the residence was examined revealing several hundred sexually explicit images of children on the computer’s hard drive.

Henson has been in custody at the Bradley County jail since his arrest for sexual exploitation of a minor and aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor. He plead guilty and was sentenced to eight years on each count by Circuit Court Judge Amy Reedy with the two sentences to run concurrent under Reedy’s order.

Earlier this summer the Cleveland Police Department charged Henson with aggravated sexual battery. At the same hearing he pled Nolo Contendere to attempted aggravated sexual battery and received an additional four years in prison.

The case was prosecuted by Asst. District Attorney Steven Hatchett.