Newly appointed Fentress County Sheriff Hunter Fowler said his top priorities are building trust with the community as he steps into the role.
Fowler was officially appointed Monday night, after previously serving in an acting capacity. He said his focus now is on strengthening both the sheriff’s office and its relationship with the public.
“I just, I want to see Fentress County grow, become a safer place, really, you know, shine some light here in my sheriff’s office to, you know, bring back that public trust that the county honestly deserves,” Fowler said.
A key part of rebuilding trust, Fowler said, will be improving communication with the public. Fowler said the office will be more active on social media while also being more approachable than in the past.
“My door is always open, my phone is hardly, if ever, off, and anybody’s welcome to reach out to me or to any of my deputies,” Fowler said. “We’re going to increase training, we’re going to really push forward some new quality officers here.”
Fowler said trust is critical for effective law enforcement and ensuring the community feels confident when deputies respond to calls.
“It doesn’t matter what we do as long as we, as long as we do our job the correct way,” Fowler said. “And as long as you have the right mindset and the right, you know, interest at heart, we’re not doing it for personal gain. I mean, obviously, we’re up here for, you know, the community, and we want to show that we want to be one strong community altogether.
When it comes to public safety challenges, Fowler said drug-related crime is the county’s most pressing issue.
“Everything seems to stem off of our drug issue,” Fowler said. “Our thefts, they’re drug-based, a lot of our assaults, drug-based.”
To combat that, Fowler said the department has already taken steps, including reinstating two narcotics officers and launching an interdiction unit to target drug activity.
“That means that some of our deputies are going to be sent to some more specialized training to be able to really target the issue,” Fowler said. “Honestly, our end goal isn’t to target the user. Our end goal is to target the ones that selling it to the users. They are the ones who are fueling a lot of the bad habits.”
Looking ahead to the coming months before the next election, Fowler said his goal is to lay a strong foundation for long-term improvements.
“We have to build a strong foundation,” Fowler said. “Community trust is first, and then we’re going to be working hard on our drug program in the county.”
Fowler said regardless of the election outcome, he hopes to implement programs that will continue to benefit the county in the future.
“I’ve said that to my deputies from the get-go, you know, we have to build a strong foundation, but you can’t be going off and branching off on everything else,” Fowler said. “We want to make sure that we’re going from the ground up and then, you know, community trust is first, and then we’re going to be working hard on our drug program in the County. And honestly, it’s all about planting a seed.
Fowler said the appointment marks a significant personal milestone as well.
“There are a lot of people who will complain about the way things are going,” Fowler said. “They watch as issues kind of go on and, you know, it’s, it’s easy to make a complaint, but it’s sometimes it’s hard to get up there and try to be a positive, positive change for it. And I don’t want to sit idle. I want to be able to, you know, get up and get after it and do the correct thing and really better the community for it.”