Greene Co. Sheriff challenged in primary for first time since 2008 (2024)

For the first time since 2008, Greene County voters will have more than one candidate to choose when electing a sheriff.

Four-term incumbent Sheriff Jim Arnott is challenged by Ben McMains in the Republican primary. Barring the last minute bid of an independent candidate, the primary-winning nominee will run uncontested in the Nov. 5 general election.

Despite being of the same party, the candidates offer varying objectives for the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, and share a history in which McMains was twice decommissioned under Arnott’s leadership.

Jim Arnott outlines priorities for a fifth term

First elected sheriff in 2008, Jim Arnott has spent his entire 36-year career in law enforcement with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, where he served in a variety of positions. Arnott has worked as a patrolman, lieutenant captain of criminal investigations and chief deputy.

Through a patchwork of credit hours from several colleges, Arnott obtained his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration from Columbia Southern University, and also graduated from the FBI National Academy.

At the encouragement of his predecessor, former Greene County Sheriff Jack Merritt, Arnott said he ran for sheriff for the same reason he entered law enforcement, to “work for the victims of crime” and protect the community.

“Whether it’s a homicide case or whether it’s property damage case, I’m there to work with the victims and make our county safer and a better place to live,” Arnott said at a July 11 candidate forum hosted by the North Springfield Betterment Association.

Thus far, Arnott said he has “accomplished more than I set out to accomplish” with the new jail, which opened in 2022.

As for a fifth term, Arnott said he has “a few things to finish up,” including efforts to attract and retain employees. With a staffing turnover rate of about 7%, Arnott attributed progress that has been made on the staffing front to pay increases and educational opportunities.

“We’ve got a good group of recruiters now,” Arnott said. “We’ve got a good group of investigators. Our systems have figured out the direction we need to go, so I’d like to see that through to where we get fully staffed.”

Arnott also hopes to oversee the completion of a firing range in Strafford. The training facility is being built by Sheriff Arnott’s Distinguished Posse, a nonprofit organization led by Arnott, but will be used by Greene County deputies and other law enforcement agencies.

Originally estimated at $2.4 million, the project was awarded $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from the Greene County Commission and $2 million in the 2025 state budget, in addition to private donations.

In a fifth term, Arnott plans to lobby for truth in sentencing legislation at the state level to ensure convicted persons serve out most, if not all, of their sentences. He called it “frustrating” for the judicial system and law enforcement agents and a “slap in the face to the victims of crime” when offenders are released after serving as little as 10% of their sentence.

While undecided if he would run for a sixth term, Arnott, 56, noted that a fifth term would “take me where I’m eligible to draw my retirement.”

With $81,735 in campaign funds on hand as of July 3, Arnott raised more than $25,000 in the previous quarter, largely due to a $20,000 contribution from Brent Davis, owner of Bristol Manufacturing. His joint fundraising committee, Greene County Sheriff PAC, had $10,040 on hand in July, without about half of the funds contributed by Prime, Inc. in the last reporting period, according to records with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Though it ultimately had no effect on his candidacy for reelection, Arnott and his ex-wife made corrections to personal property assessment lists in late May 2024 after the Springfield News-Leader found discrepancies between their 2022 divorce case and tax assessment lists.

Transparency, accountability among planks of Ben McMains’ platform

A native of Newton, Kansas, Ben McMains moved to the Springfield area at 10 years of age, and later graduated from Fair Grove High School.

Now 43, McMains still lives in Fair Grove. He worked for the Fair Grove School District as a school resource officer, but was terminated after the Fair Grove Board of Aldermen voted to pull his commission in January at the recommendation of Arnott, who was serving as the interim police chief at the time.

McMains also served as the police chief in Conway, Missouri, a Greene County court bailiff and other roles with nearby law enforcement agencies, spanning an 18-year career. McMains holds an associate’s degree and currently works at Prime, Inc.

“Those are the things I think I can bring to Greene County,” McMains said at the July 11 North Springfield Betterment Association forum. “It’s a different view. I haven’t just spent all my years in one area, so I can take the community oriented policing that the city loves to do, I can bring that to the county.”

While employed by the Fair Grove R-X School District, McMains also served as a reserve officer for the Fair Grove Police Department, which experienced a slew of resignations for the second time in four years in December 2023.

McMains said Arnott informed him that he could no longer work as a reserve officer after a city employee directed Greene County deputies to photograph his patrol car at his house on days he was tasked with patrolling Fair Grove. McMains said it was “easier” for him to go home for bathroom breaks and lunch than to go by the office, and that he had permission to do so from a previous police chief.

Recalling a “heated” exchange with Arnott, McMains said tensions “calmed down” before he lost his commission following an investigation into a complaint that McMains “intimidated” the city employee when he turned in the keys to the patrol car, he said. McMains acknowledged he may have come across as a “smart aleck,” but asserts that he was not aggressive in any way.The Fair Grove Board of Aldermen’s decision sparked public outcry, and an appeal by McMains that failed to win back his old job.

While serving as a court bailiff, an employee of the 31st Judicial Circuit, McMains was directly decommissioned by the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.

While it wasn’t mandated in in Greene County, McMains said the judge he served under wanted him to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and alleges they asked Arnott to pull his commission when he refused, while acknowledging there was more to it.

McMains was unwilling to authorize the release of his employment records to the Springfield Daily Citizen. Such records are not subject to disclosure under the Missouri Sunshine Law.

If elected, McMains said he aims to build better relationships with the youth and other law enforcement agencies, increase communication with the public through social media and local news outlets and provide accountability by bringing in outside agencies to investigate jail deaths and officer-involved shootings, and equipping deputies with body-worn cameras.

In-custody deaths involving staff, whether the result of a car crash, use of restraint or a shooting, are investigated by the “Sheriff’s Critical Incident Team,” which is comprised of the sheriff’s offices in Greene, Lawrence, Webster and Christian counties. All other in-custody deaths are investigated internally in Greene County, in addition to an independent investigation of the medical examiner, according to Arnott.

“We are the biggest law enforcement — sheriff’s department in Missouri,” McMains said. “We don’t have body cameras. I don’t understand why that is, body cameras are great. They hold everybody accountable, not just the deputies but also the people that you’re dealing with.”

While acknowledging the “anti-police movement” has negatively impacted the recruitment and retention of law enforcement agents, McMains suggested that new leadership could be the difference maker in further improving staffing levels at the sheriff’s office.

“If you have good leadership, people are going to want to come to your agency,” McMains said.

Recognizing the need to provide good pay and benefits to attract employees, McMains said he hates the “idea of incentives.”

“If you get into incentives on people trying to get them in, you have to do something to retain the people that you already have and give them some sort of fees and some sort of bonuses for staying,” McMains said.

With a long-range goal of launching a youth camp in collaboration with surrounding law enforcement agencies, McMains said “simple things,” from baseball games to water balloon fights “can make a huge difference” in reconnecting with the youth.

McMains has raised $3,360 for his campaign, and had $1,191 on hand as of July 14, according to his latest quarterly campaign finance report with the Missouri Ethics Commission. McMains’ largest contributor, Tiffany Browning, donated $1,198 to his campaign.

Arnott disputes need for body cameras

Arnott opposes Greene County deputies wearing body-worn cameras, pointing to the “astronomical” expense of maintaining footage, the prevalence of cameras in the jail and in police cars, as well as privacy concerns.

“If I’m going to a burglary at Greg’s house, and I walk into his house, my body camera is supposed to be on with the Missouri Sunshine Law,” Arnott said at the forum. “That’s a public record now, so anybody later can subpoena that.”

McMains argued the county could obtain grant funding to cover the cost of body-worn cameras, and that the cameras would only be worn by law enforcement officers, and not every employee of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.

“Accountability — we shouldn’t have to put a price tag on,” McMains said. “Let’s stop wasting our money on Mustangs and fancy looking cars that just inflate our egos, and put it to where it matters, and that’s accountability and that’s body cameras.”

McMains would consider revising response to homeless encampments

One of Arnott’s goals in a fifth term is to “continue his proactive response to illegal encampments and protect the constitutional rights of private property owners,” according to his campaign website.

Arnott said that his response to illegal encampments, trespassing and vandalism on private property was circ*mstantial, but that the Sheriff’s Office typically makes arrests where property owners have signed a “letter of enforcement” or have posted private property signage. The Sheriff’s Office also carries out weekly “sweeps” for property owners that have signed a letter of enforcement.

“I would like to enhance that, as much as staffing will allow,” Arnott said.

McMains said the Sheriff’s Office’s “first priority is to the landowner,” but said he would consider adopting a policy similar to the Springfield Police Department, which provides campers 24 to 48 hours’ notice to vacate. Springfield officers also notify One Door, which provides housing intakes and referrals for unsheltered individuals.

“I don’t think burning their property is one answer,” McMains said, alluding to previous allegations that Greene County deputies set fire to a Springfield homeless camp.

Candidates outline goals on mental health, violent crime

McMains said he would like to better train deputies to de-escalate mental health crises, and is open to collaborating with behavioral health service providers.

“All it really takes most of the time is — if they’re not hurting anybody else, if they’re not hurting themselves, and if they’re not going to hurt you, — all it takes is a little bit of time for them to calm down,” McMains said. “And if we can allow them to have that time, why not give them that? We don’t have to go in there and get hands on within the first 30 minutes of us being there.”

Arnott said the sheriff’s office provides de-escalation training above and beyond the state minimum, and started a crisis intervention training program. The sheriff’s office also has psychologists and licensed practical counselors on staff, and provides taxi rides to Burrell Behavioral Health’s Behavioral Crisis Center.

He also touted a recent collaboration with the Jordan Valley Community Health Center, which stations a staffer at the jail to help direct inmates with resources upon their release.

Arnott said that violent crime, particularly gang violence, is “progressively getting worse” in Greene County, pointing to the average daily population of 1,000 inmates and the circuit judge position added to the bench last year.

Addressing gang violence with the gang violence task force he put together would continue to be a priority for Arnott in a fifth term.

McMains believes that better relationships with other law enforcement agencies will lead to a reduction in gun violence and drug trafficking in Greene County.

History between Arnott and McMains among reasons for contest

While the candidates sought to focus on the issues, the history between Arnott and McMains has had a direct impact on the election and is one of the reasons McMains decided to run for sheriff.

“We need a change,” McMains said. “We can’t keep going by the system that we are currently doing, which is the ‘good ole boys’ system — ‘Do as I say, not as I do. If you say something I don’t like, you’re going to get out of here, I’m going to make you leave.’ And we as citizens deserve better than that.”

While Arnott was unable to elaborate on the circ*mstances of McMains’ decommissions, Arnott said that “the information I’ve heard out there from [McMains] is not correct” and previously described the conditions of his ouster as a court bailiff as an “integrity issue.”

In Fair Grove, Arnott said he “simply was the person that delivered the news, but I do agree with it.”