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> Jim Arnold's last days as sheriff
Southsider2k12
post Dec 27 2006, 07:25 AM
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http://www.thenewsdispatch.com/articles/20.../news/news2.txt

QUOTE
Jim Arnold prepares to leave post as sheriff


By Laurie Wink, The News-Dispatch


LaPORTE - With just a week until he leaves office, LaPorte County Sheriff Jim Arnold already misses the job he considers the pinnacle of his career.

“After 24 hours out of here, I'll probably be ready to be back in the fray again,” Arnold said.

He said he will miss working with the officers and interacting with the public the most, he said. Arnold, 62, was coy about his next career opportunity, but promised an announcement soon. Although he repeatedly called politics “a blood sport,” he did not rule out running for elected office.

Arnold said he intends to continue working with the National Sheriffs' Association (NSA) as a board member and instructor. He's active with the Indiana Sheriffs' Association, serving as president. Arnold also graduated from the FBI Investigation National Academy, and his training in terrorism preparedness has given him opportunities to travel nationally and internationally.

“I've been to Israel for a week of terrorism training with the Israeli Defense Forces, and was just in London for a week at Scotland Yard,” Arnold said. “We saw videotapes of the July 7 and July 21 bus bombings.”

Arnold said LaPorte County has several potential terrorist targets, but he refused to name them. A terrorist attack on Chicago would call for extra preparedness in LaPorte County because of traffic routes out of Chicago, he added.

But those are future scenarios. What about past people and events that shaped the sheriff?

Reflecting on a 36-year career in law enforcement, Arnold said he reached his career goal on March 1, 1967, when he joined the sheriff's department. He recalls putting his uniform on and sitting in the old jail with his father, Clifford, who was LaPorte County sheriff at the time. Arnold said his father - who also was a state representative and Michigan City mayor - was his role model.

“He was very much a disciplinarian,” Arnold said. “There were times he gave me a boot in the butt when I needed it. It's been hard at times for me to adjust to the way parents raise their kids now.”

About a year after joining the Sheriff's Department, Jim Arnold got involved in the North Lake Bank robbery that resulted in two Chicago officers being shot and killed. One suspect was captured at the scene, but two others escaped, although one was shot in the arm. Arnold said FBI agents and the LaPorte County Sheriff's Department cooperated in hunting down the two escapees at a Fish Lake cottage owned by a relative.

In 1970, Arnold was involved in a shoot-out with an escaped jail prisoner with a stolen gun. The prisoner put a bullet into Arnold's forehead above his left eye, coming close to killing him.

Another highlight came in 1983, when the Berrien County, Mich., sheriff's department asked Arnold to work undercover to break up a gambling ring. Factory workers at Bendix and Whirlpool plants were involved in a $20,000 a week football-betting operation interfering with plant productivity, Arnold recalls. As a sports fan, he was able to get close to the ring leader, who was subsequently arrested. Later, the two men played on a Bridgman softball team together for 13 years.

Baseball has been Arnold's other love. He hoped for a professional baseball career but, after playing one semester at Western Michigan University, his grades were poor and he joined the Air Force. Upon his discharge in 1967, he wanted to play baseball for Valparaiso University, but his father took him aside and told him to make up his mind between baseball and academics.

“He talked straight and always told the truth,” Arnold said of his father. “He was brutally honest.”

It took him 10 years to earn his bachelor's degree in history and political science from Valparaiso.

Jim Arnold says he is a man who sets a goal and does everything possible to achieve it. After a four-month appointment as sheriff in 1978 to fill out the term of former Sheriff Roger Nickel, Arnold ran for the office three times before winning in 1998. He learned a lesson from defeat.

“The first time I lost, I blamed the people,” Arnold admitted. “The second time I blamed the people, and the third time I realized the problem was me. I took too much for granted. The people brought me back to reality.

“In 1998, I ran on the promise to be accessible, accountable and visible.”

After years of being in the office from 5:45 a.m. until 4 or 5 p.m., Arnold hasn't yet faced the reality of not having a place to go or things he's expected to do. But he's looking forward to a bit of a break to spend with his wife, Lauren, and their seven children and the grandchildren. A grandson is expected Jan. 17, and Arnold will have to come up with a nickname for him, as he has the rest of the Arnold brood.

Contact reporter Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.


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