Qualifications & History

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People of Callaway County, my name is Victor A. Pitman. It is my pleasure to announce my candidacy for the Office of Sheriff. It is my hope that as we move toward the primary election, and hopefully the general election, I can demonstrate that I am the best candidate for the Office of Sheriff. I have been a law enforcement officer for over 40 years and possess a Missouri Class A Peace Officer License. It is not possible in this announcement to justify to you that I am the person you should elect as your next sheriff. However, my training and experience have made me well prepared to lead the Callaway County Sheriff’s Office administratively and operationally.  I have attached a personal history statement to this announcement to allow those of you who don’t know me to get to know me from a broad perspective. As we get to know each other, I will provide more specific information as needed or requested. My primary philosophy as a law enforcement officer is “the police are the public and the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence” (Sir Robert Peel, 1829). It is my belief that a Sheriff and his office should perform their duties to the highest ethical standard, being objective and reasonable in the exercise of authority, as well as when that authority should not be exercised. That the supreme law of the land is the Constitution of the United States, and State of Missouri above all other inconsistent statutory, regulatory, or political agendas. I believe that the Sheriff performs his duties for the people that he serves and should always do so in an open, honest, and ethical manner in cooperation with the community. I believe the measure of success for law enforcement is not how many people you arrest or how many cases are successfully prosecuted. I believe the real measure of success is an investigation that clearly identifies the objective facts involved in an incident so the judicial system can determine if there are grounds for prosecution or not and the people of Callaway County can determine if a person is found guilty or not. I believe success should be measured by how safe everyone in the community feels, by how much they trust the sheriff’s office and are willing to cooperate in maintaining the welfare of their community, and by the absence of crime rather than how many crimes are successfully prosecuted. I learned early in my career that it is impossible for one person to achieve that level of success on their own. For that reason, one of the most rewarding efforts throughout my career is being very active in law enforcement education and training. The more I learned, the more I developed my competence through training and experience, the better I am able to help train future law enforcement officers and through them increase my efforts toward success. Along those same lines, I believe a leader’s success is not measured by what they personally accomplish, but rather how they help others be successful and how well they accomplish their specific role within the agency. I look forward to earning your support, and hopefully continuing my career of service to the community of Callaway County.

 Please click the "LEARN MORE" button below to read my Personal History Statement