Two high-profile former lawmen are now seeking the office of Shelby County sheriff now that Sheriff Mark H. Luttrell Jr. has pulled a petition to run for Shelby County Mayor.

Luttrell, a Republican, also filed a petition to keep his job as sheriff.

Randy Wade, a longtime community leader and district director for U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen’s Memphis office, is running for sheriff in the May 4 Democratic primary. He ran in 2002, but came up short in the general election against Luttrell.

Reginald French, owner of Integrated Technologies and a former city administrator in former mayor Willie W. Herenton’s administration, was the Democrat nominee in the 2006 primary, but loss also to Luttrell in the general election.

Twelve other people also have picked up petitions at the Shelby County Election Commission. They are James H. Bolden, Floyd Bonner Jr., William S. Cash, Bennie Cobb, James Coleman, Larry Hill, Elton Richard Hymon, Dale Lane, Ernest A. Lunati, William P. Oldham, Bobby Simmons, and Erick Snyder.

Wade polled 45 percent of the vote when he lost to Luttrell in 2002. He said ministers, deputy jailers and business people urged him to try again when Luttrell decided that he’d run for county mayor.

“I had just really given up,” he said.

French said his latest bid for sheriff has nothing to do with Luttrell seeking, or not seeking, reelection.

 “The sheriff’s office is not Mark Luttrell’s office, nor is it a Democrat’s office or a Republican’s office. It’s the people’s office,” said French. “Four years ago, my campaign was solely based upon trying to provide the best public safety for the citizens in Shelby County.”

The sheriff’s job pays $117,599.52 annually. The sheriff has three primary responsibilities: to keep the courts and serve civil process; to keep the jail and secure wrongdoers; and function as the chief law enforcement officer and securer of the peace for the citizens of Shelby County.

Wade and French agree that the job calls for a little compassion toward ex-offenders seeking a second chance, and a get-tough strategy to deal with those who are hardcore, career criminals.

They also agree that there is a need for proactive strategies to reach the youth, rather than just reacting to criminal activity.

Such agreements notwithstanding, French and Wade – who speak fondly of each other – differ on how to fight crime and change the culture at 201 Poplar.

‘a record…of giving service’

Although political observers see French’s entry into the sheriff’s race as Wade’s biggest hurdle, Wade said he doesn’t have time to focus on French’s campaign.

 “My record speaks for itself,” he says.

Wade was appointed in 1982 as a deputy administrator of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department under then-Sheriff Gene Barksdale. “I was the blocker,” said Wade after Cohen had appointed him as district director.

“If people had problems, then they would come see me before they went to a lawyer, because I could usually solve their problems by talking to the right people in the right division.”

When the Sheriff’s Department launched its drug prevention program, Wade solicited the help of former NBA All-Star and Memphis Tiger basketball hero Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway.

 “I spent 25 years with the Sheriff’s Department and was a founder of one of the neighborhood watch programs,” said Wade. “I have a record in this community of giving service. This (sheriff’s job) will be only an extension.”

Born and raised in Memphis, Wade served 4 years in the U.S. Navy, with two tours of duty in Vietnam. He remembers recovering the Apollo 10 spacecraft while aboard the USS Princeton in 1969.

 “My main focus in this campaign will be juvenile crime in terms of the direction that crime is going,” he said. “I just can’t sit by and not do or say anything.”

He pledges to work with other law enforcement agencies and to use education and marketing as tools to prevent juvenile crime. “The neighborhood is inundated with negative ads such as ‘Gun time is jail time.’ The marketing concept that they have now is not working.”

Reflecting on his youth, Wade said he could have easily gone astray. “My father was abusive to my mother. When you look at Randy Wade’s background, I ought to be running from the sheriff rather than for sheriff.”

If elected, Wade said he’d be a hands-on administrator.

Asked how he would run his campaign and Cohen’s congressional race, Wade said, “Every stop that I make I will mention Steve Cohen. You can’t judge him by the color of his skin; I’m looking at the content of his character and how he’s represented us.”

‘I had plans of running for sheriff again’

French – linked to Herenton as a longtime friend and aide, has been looking at another run for Sheriff ever since he came up short in his 2006 bid.

Even as controversy surfaced surrounding some of his business deals, French continued to make inroads into the political arena. He has been quite visible in the community.

If elected, French said he would incorporate crime statistics and mapping and use that data to identify trends and then plan strategies in problem neighborhoods – techniques the top brass of the Memphis Police Department have been using since the inception of Operation Blue CRUSH (Crime Reduction Utilizing Statistical History) in 2005.

 “I don’t think there’s a silver bullet to preventing every violent act. But as sheriff, I would pledge to provide more effective interventions for our at-risk youth,” said French, a former police officer, juvenile detention officer, and corrections officer.

More importantly, he said, “I think the Shelby County Sheriff Department is in need of reorganization as well as a modernization – a top to bottom review.”  

Though French questions the current leadership, he thinks the rank and file employees otherwise are doing a good job despite “extremely low morale.”

 “They haven’t had a raise in six years,” he said. “There needs to be a change in leadership. The status quo is not acceptable.”

Public safety, said French, is his most important concern.

 “Last year, based on the FBI Uniform Crime Report, murders dropped by 10 percent in major cities,” said French. “However, homicides for young black males rose 31 percent. The FBI is reporting a reduction across all demographics except for young black males.”

He suggested a return to community policing. “We have to focus on the root causes of crime; we just can’t continuously lock people up.”

As for competing against the man he calls a friend, French said, “It’s good for us to have competition. It’s good for the community. At the end of the day, it’s up to the voters to decide.”