Sheriff candidates speak at forum

BENTONVILLE -- Four men seeking the Republican nomination for Benton County sheriff faced off Tuesday night for the third time in a week.

The candidates -- Sheriff Kelley Cradduck, Lowell Police Lt. Paul Pillaro, Siloam Springs Police Cpl. Timothy Filbeck and Sheriff's Office Maj. Shawn Holloway -- spoke at the meeting of the Republicans of Benton County. The forum was held at the Benton County Services building on Southwest 14 Street.

Sheriff hopefuls

There are four candidates seeking the Republican nomination for Benton County sheriff. Glenn Latham is running as an Independent and will face the winner of the Republican primary in November.

The primary election is March 1. Early voting begins Feb. 16 and continues through Feb. 29.

Source: Staff report

Sheriff Kelley Cradduck’s arraignment is set for 8 a.m. Feb. 29 in Circuit Judge Robin Green’s court. A special prosecutor has not filed formal charges against Cradduck.

Pillaro, Filbeck and Holloway are trying to unseat Cradduck.

All four candidates touted individual experience working in law enforcement.

Holloway said he's had 21 years in law enforcement and spent more than 16 years at the Rogers Police Department where he worked as a patrolman, detective, and in the crime suppression unit. Holloway said he worked his way up to sergeant and lieutenant before leaving to work as a major at the Sheriff's Office, where he oversees the patrol deputies, criminal investigation division and other specialized budgets. Holloway said he has also experience working with budgets and went to a private entity to buy vests for their SWAT team.

Filbeck said he has more than 30 years of experience working in public safety. His career began as a firefighter and he worked his way to battalion chief. He became an arson investigator and later decided to switch careers into law enforcement. He began working in a jail in Georgia and worked as patrolman and detective. He was later assigned to head the criminal investigation division.

Cradduck didn't refer to his recent arrest, but introduced himself as "Sheriff Al Capone." He was arrested Jan. 19 in connection with tampering with public documents, a Class D felony; and tampering, a Class A misdemeanor.

Cradduck said he served in the military before returning to Rogers and started working in the medical field and he spent 17 years with the Rogers Police Department. Cradduck served as the public information officer for the department and he also headed the gang and crime suppression units while at the department.

Pillaro said law enforcement is his passion and has spent 15 years in it. He's spent the majority of his career at the Lowell Police Department and currently works as a lieutenant.

One of the most debated questions at the forum concerned deputies working within cities in the county.

Holloway said patrol deputies should be assigned more to cover unincorporated areas in the county. Holloway said deputies assigned to a specialized division, such as the crime suppression unit, have to go where the crime is.

Holloway said the Sheriff's Office doesn't have a good working relationship with the other law enforcement agencies in the county and Holloway cited the lack of leadership in the Sheriff's Office for the poor relationships.

Filbeck said as a Siloam Springs police officer he's happy when he sees a county's patrol vehicle in the city. He also said it's unnecessary to have deputies in specialized divisions working in unincorporated areas of the county and asked why would anyone send the "gang unit to cow pastures."

Cradduck said there's technology proving his deputies spend time patrolling unincorporated areas of the county.

Cradduck said he attempted to work with cities to combat gang crimes, but those agencies chose not to work with him. "I haven't seen a gang of heifers out there committing crimes," Cradduck said.

Cradduck said it wouldn't make sense to put a DWI checkpoint in areas of the county where few cars travel, so they want to have the checkpoints in heavily traveled areas in order to catch intoxicated drivers.

Pillaro said he works side-by-side with deputies. Pillaro said he wants to bring all the departments together to work with the Sheriff's Office.

The four candidates also were asked about open carry. They all supported open carry, but Cradduck said he believes a person who wants to open carry should go through the same requirements as individuals who get their concealed carry permit.

Pillaro supports open carry and questioned the necessity to have to pay $200 and the class in order to conceal carry. Pillaro said $200 isn't mentioned in the Second Amendment.

The candidates spoke at forums last week and Monday night.

NW News on 01/27/2016

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