PERU, Ind. – Mike Meeks announced his intentions to enter the race for Miami County Sheriff in 2018. Meeks is 48 years old and have two children, Kayla and Brianna. He regularly attends Zion Chapel Church in Peru.
Meeks has been a police officer with the Peru Police Department for 23 years. During his time with the department he has served as a shift supervisor for all shifts, and was the Assistant Chief of Police for 3 ½ years under past Chief Bill Raber. He currently sits on numerous committees to include, Miami County System of Care, Miami County School Safety Committee, 911 Executive Committee, Miami County Substance Abuse Prevention Council, Emergency Management Advisory Council and the Miami County Disaster Coalition. He has also been a member of the Miami Lodge Fraternal Order of Police my entire career.
Meeks has served Peru as the Chief of Police for the past two years. During this time the department has had many accomplishments of which he is proud. The PPD has secured over$200,000 in grant funding to update equipment including equipping all officers and police cars with new radios, purchasing tasers, Automated External Defibrillators (AED’s), portable breath test instruments, trauma bags and bullet-proof vests for officers and both K9 units.
In 2016 the Peru Police Department was able to restart their K9 Program. With the generous contributions given to the department by its citizens and businesses they were able to purchase a K9. They were also fortunate to receive funding from Dr. Caesar DePaco, of Summit Nutritionals International out of New Jersey, to purchase a second K9. The department and community saw a great need for our K9 program. The K9 teams are possibly our best public relations resource when it comes to public appearances, especially at our local schools. The K9’s also saw our drug arrests go from 15 in 2015, to 70 in 2016. In 2017 we saw our K9’s assist in 274 drug-related arrests, for an increase of 291%. With the community riddled with heroin and other substance abuse, we believe our K9 program is making a difference.
Meeks is a huge advocate of public interaction. He believes the department has a great rapport with the community. They have visited all Peru Schools on numerous occasions, including Cookie Days where they spent time talking with students and handing out cookies. They also visited Peru High School and rewarded drivers with donuts for wearing their seatbelt to school.
The department has worked hand in hand with the Miami County System of Care and Breakaway Bike Shop to initiate the Life Cycle Program. They have been able to take found, unclaimed bikes and place them in the hands of citizens who are in need of transportation. To date, 45 bikes have been recycled and put back into our community.
As with any sheriff candidate, Meeks wants to be sure to run an efficient office. He wants to schedule officers and all jail staff to serve the citizens the best they can. He wants the sheriff’s office to continue to serve the courts in the best way possible.
Meeks has spoken with various citizens about my running for sheriff and the number one question he is asked is, “Why?” “I am so grateful to be able to work in public service. I have lived in Miami County almost my entire life. I firmly believe the number one priority needs to be our substance abuse issue in Miami County. I have heard, and I also believe, that with our addiction and mental health issues we have in Miami County we would rather see treatment rather than incarceration. However, when we have to incarcerate, I would like for us to implement a quick treatment plan. Even for those who may be in and able to bond out, we need to give them options for treatment. I would like to work with our prosecutors, probation department, counselors and judges to implement a very strong system to make this happen. I have had the unfortunate occasion to see addicts die due to their addiction. We need to come together as a community, and a judiciary group, to better help those in need,” said Meeks.
Meeks wants to put an emphasis on crime and traffic enforcement. In the past two years the Peru Police Department has seen an increase of 45% in arrests. He said, “We need to continue to focus our efforts on drug enforcement, with an emphasis on those who are supplying deadly narcotics in our community.”
“I want to serve as sheriff to work with all city and county entities to make Miami County a better place to live and raise a family. I believe a strong working relationship amongst all who work and live in Miami County will only make our community a better place to live,” said Meeks
Meeks also wants to be a driving force behind a work release program, or maybe more commonly known as a “chain gang.”. This would be a win-win as we will see inmates feel they have a purpose and give them a sense of pride. It additionally helps the community by assigning inmates with various projects to help make our community a better place to live.
Meeks intends to run as an Independent Candidate. Therefore he will need to secure 110signatures prior to being able to become a candidate. Meeks said, “I cannot state strongly enough how important it is that we all work together as a county. I firmly believe in team work and I know that our citizens need to be a major part of that team. I look forward to working with everyone in Miami County.” If anyone would want to speak with Meeks, he can be reached at (765) 327-1247 or mikemeeksforsheriff@gmail.com. He would welcome any ideas, thoughts and concerns our citizens have that would make our county the best it can be.