Elkhart County Prosecutor candidate debate attracts full crowd
ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. -- “I know how to do the job, I know how to put the attention into my employees, my staff, my lawyers, my support staff. This group of people are the most important thing,” said Vicki Becker, (R) Candidate for Elkhart County Prosecutor.
“I’ll be transparent, I’m going to report successes as well as failures, but I will work with the police departments, I will offer as much training as we can use so that we can have a successful outcome,” said Martin McCloskey, (R) Candidate for Elkhart County Prosecutor.
The two candidates running for Elkhart County Prosecutor went head to head covering dozens of topics to win over their audience. It was such a big turnout, that every seat was taken before the start of the debate and those entering after were taken to the overflow room.
Current Elkhart County Prosecuting Attorney and republican candidate Vicki Becker faced off against republican candidate Marty McCloskey at the IUSB Elkhart Center Wednesday evening. One of several heated topics, Elkhart city crime rates.
“Elkhart County is made up of a heck of a lot more than just the city of Elkhart, so if we’re going to be talking about statistics, we need to be talking apples to apples,” said Becker.
“You’re entitled to your own opinion but you’re not entitled to your own facts,” responded McCloskey.
Robert Miller who attended that debate says it’s those committing the crimes he wants taken care of.
“I want them to be fair, to hold up justice and convict when peple need to be convicted. I just want someone that knows the system really well,” said Miller.
But it all starts with what these candidates bring to the table and how they can execute the issues discussed during that debate such as violence, opioids and drug related crimes, and crime prevention in general.
“Under my administration, we will support second chance opportunities where appropriate, and I will aggressively prosecute those who commit violent crimes against others whether or not drugs are involved or not,” said McCloskey.
“Finding what is causing you to commit those crimes is the first reason in understanding what we need to do to treat that and to figure out how can we do better, how can we make different decisions,” said Becker.
You can vote for your favorite candidate May 8th.