News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Putnam County Sheriff Eddie Farris has been elected the president of the Tennessee Sheriffs’ Association.
Farris received the majority vote of the 95 Sheriffs of Tennessee during the 2021 Fall Conference & 50th Anniversary. Farris said it is an honor to be elected to the position.
“It’s one thing to serve your community and the people that know you and live here and know who you are to be supported, but it is another thing to have the same support by the majority of other Sheriffs across the state of Tennessee,” Farris said.
Farris said as President, he will work with state leaders to give a Sheriff’s opinion on legislation affecting the justice system. Farris said he has two items he wants to address moving forward. The first being better communication with the association’s board.
“There’s a lot of information that goes through the Sheriff’s association each meeting, each board meeting, each quarterly meeting,” Farris said. “Things are flowing back and fourth. We got two lobbyists that work with us on helping with things down at the legislative committee and down in Nashville. It is very important that we get all that information pushed out to all the Sheriffs so they can respectively have all that information and be able to inform their citizens.”
Farris said working with Governor Bill Lee on Justice Reform is his second goal. Farris said having a seat at the table during discussions is something that is important to him.
“We have a lot of criminal Justice Reform bills and legislative actions that come across,” Farris said. “Some are doable. We need to tweak some. Some just shouldn’t be on the table when it comes to safety for this state and communities that we serve.”
Farris has served some 30 years in law enforcement. Farris said he got his start in the field in 1989 after returning to his home, Putnam County, after college.
“Went to work with Sheriff Jerry Abston and worked as a deputy and as a jail administrator for him for about five and a half years,” Farris said. “Then went and left to the Tennessee Department of Safety Tennessee Highway Patrol and went to the investigations part of that and worked 11 years. During that time, I was assigned over to the FBI for five years. In 2006 when Governor Phil Bredesen came in, we ended up getting moved and went over to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and worked another 11 years before running for Sheriff in 2014. So, I have had a blessed career.”
Farris said it is his goal to earn the public’s trust every day in Putnam County and bring that ethic to the state level.
