Share on LinkedIn

CAMP COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) - Candidates Michael “Sarge” Sparks and Sheriff John Cortelyou are on the ballot in a runoff for Camp County Sheriff.

Sparks is currently an investigator with the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office. He was a DPS Highway Patrol Sergeant until retiring in 2019. He has a few priorities in mind for the county if he is elected.

“I think the citizens deserve for their deputies to be well-trained. I think the deputies want it,” said Sparks. “The deputies are outstanding deputies and they want to be trained, they want to be marketable – the more training they have, the better they’re gonna do here for the citizens, and it’s a better chance for them to improve their life if they get hired somewhere else that pays more. If you’re giving the employees the training they need and want and deserve, they feel valued, they want to be here, they do their job better.”

Sparks is certified by Texas Commission of Law Enforcement standards, and said he could offer more training to deputies without having to spend money to send them other places for training.

He also noted an interest in modernizing the county’s law enforcement technology.

“I’ve noticed that Camp County is not up to date with a lot of the systems via like in-car computers, mobile CAD - the computer-aided dispatch programs - which I’ve been working with since like 2006 and here we are in 2024, and we’re way behind, and I know it’s an investment, but it’s an investment for the officers’ safety,” he said.

Sheriff John Cortelyou who is running for a second term has nearly 50 of law enforcement experience. He said he has no plans to retire any time soon.

“We’ve done a lot of good, positive things, and we’re not through,” said Cortelyou. “I think we’ve proven to most people that we’re honest, we’re above board, no nothing going on. We do the best job we can, and we do it within our budget, the most and the best we can.”

Another of his top priorities is keeping drugs and drug-related crimes out of the county.

“We work with criminal investigation division of DPS, you know, we’re a smaller department, we rely on them a whole lot to help us, and the teamwork we’ve put into it in the last three years have shown a lot of promise,” he said.

Also in his time as sheriff, the jail has expanded with an additional 18 beds and improved facilities to accommodate.

Early voting starts May 20th and ends May 24th. Primary election day is Tuesday, May 28th.