With a new sheriff in Greene County, Jack Williams has some ideas for changes in how he sees law enforcement.

One of the first changes Williams wants to make concerns animal control in the county.

“Animal control is probably one of the biggest problems that we have. I’m going to discontinue animal control unless it’s a dog bite or a vicious animal. We spend so many miles and hours just dealing with barking dogs, when we could be spending that time investigating burglaries, thefts, drugs, that kind of thing.”

He also wants to increase the amount that each community is paying for the sheriff’s office to provide law enforcement coverage. Williams points out that it’s been six years since there’s been an increase, which has incurred some extra expenses.

“We went through the years where gas prices were $4 per gallon with no increase and now looking at projected future for fuel prices and wage increases across the board, I just feel that taking a two percent increase for those years up to a ten percent increase (starting) in 2018 is justified.”

Finally, Sheriff Williams wants to add an additional deputy. He feels that since taking on Grand Junction and Scranton for law enforcement, it has increased their calls for service from 800 to 1,100 in 2005 to over 2,100 annually. By adding another deputy, Williams believes the coverage will be better and they can better protect the public.