With the announced retirement of Sheriff Matt Carter at the end of the year, the two candidates for McCracken County sheriff in the Republican primary are not incumbents.
Ryan Norman and Wes Orazine will appear on the ballot in the May 17 primary election.
Norman is the chief deputy of the McCracken County Sheriff’s Office.
“It’s the No. 2 position, so I’m with Sheriff Carter day in and day out, doing everything a sheriff does except sign the checks, basically,” he said. “He works with me on the budget through to day-to-day operations.
“I love law enforcement, I love our community and I love the people who work for the sheriff’s office. It’s a family. Many times – weeks, months – I spend more time with the sheriff’s office or the community than with my family.
Norman has worked in the sheriff’s office since October 2009 and has served in the drug division and as a firearms instructor. He was Special Assistant to the U.S. Marshal in 2017, promoted to Detective Captain in 2018, and named Deputy Chief in January 2020.
He earned the MCSO Meritorious Service Medal for bravery.
Norman served with the Paducah Police Department from 2006 to 2009 and was a military police team leader from 2004 to 2006, after serving as a security forces team leader from 2003 to 2004.
He also served in Iraq from 2008 to 2009.
“My heart is with the sheriff’s office,” he said. “I saw how (former) Sheriff (Jon) Hayden raised the standards of the Sheriff’s Office and how Sheriff Carter has continued to do so, how we continue to launch new programs and professionalism, in my opinion , just tripled since I started there. .
“I want it to continue. The people at the sheriff’s office trusted me, and I don’t take that lightly.
Norman said he would like to do more to stop internet crimes and crimes against children.
“One of the things that we’ve seen emerge over the last few years – and I saw it when I was a detective in the drug division and when I was a supervisor of juvenile investigations – is crimes on the Internet and crimes against children,” he said. .
“One of my goals that we’re going to achieve very soon if elected is to dedicate at least one detective first and hopefully two to get extensive training on these types of crimes because it’s about a different kind.”
Orazine was drafted into the Marine Corps in 1994 and applied to be a military police officer, which he held for six years. He was active in the Marine Corps Guard and was called up for service after 9/11 while at the police academy in Richmond, but didn’t have to go.
“I stayed where I was, which was probably a good thing,” he said. “I was able to finish my classes at the Paducah Police Department Academy and come back here and serve the city.”
Orazine started his local police department in 2001, starting as a street patrolman.
“I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I liked being on the stage first. I felt like you were doing the most good by stopping everything we were going to do.
Through his work with the narcotics team at street level, he helped identify areas of the city that were target areas for drug activity by saying the drug of choice ranged from cocaine to methamphetamine.
“I was part of the team that was able to fix that once we started doing the directed patrols and hitting those target locations,” he said. “In 2005, he went to zero murder. I am proud that this is maintained. I don’t think the crime rate has returned to this severity (before the crackdown) since then. »
Orazine was a field training officer for new Paducah police recruits and served in that capacity until 2007.
“I literally participated in the training of every recruit that was hired and fired,” he said. “You look around and realize that at one point you trained about 90% of the department, so maybe it’s time to move on.”
Orazine worked with the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team from 2007 to 2009.
Orazine was promoted to sergeant in the PPD in 2011, then promoted to captain in 2018. He retired from the Paducah Police Department in 2020 before working in the McCracken County Sheriff’s Office.
Orazine said he was proud of his experience in law enforcement.
“It’s more than just a badge for me,” he said. “It was never enough to have the badge and go out there and answer the call. I wanted to help and I always believed that if you are able to help, you should step in and help .
Orazine said one thing he wanted to do as sheriff was for the department to be accredited, which he said would provide a standard for the department to judge its own performance, ensure staff accountability and reduce the amount the responsibility of the department.
“Law enforcement kind of stays in your blood,” he said. “It’s hard to get out of it.
“The sheriff’s office was quite understaffed; it’s still a revolving door there. I’ve heard all the (reasons) for pay to the ‘good old boy’ system and people don’t want to stay but it’s hard to compete as an agency and bring in quality candidates when you don’t can’t compete with the agency a few blocks away.
The Paducah Sun will feature candidates running for public office in McCracken County who will compete in contested primary races on Election Day, May 17, as well as candidates running for state representative offices. who will represent parts of McCracken County.
