Stone County Sheriff’s Town Hall Recap | October 15, 2026
Thursday, October 15, 2026 · 6:30 p.m. · Fairground Expo Building
WigginsMS.com founder Sundee Williams attended this town hall and asked questions during it. The sheriff also referred to WigginsMS.com’s reporting in one response.
At this meeting: Sheriff Todd Stewart said he alone decided to keep the county's four Flock license plate cameras after a board-approved 60-day trial, reviewed last year's budget and introduced two new deputies, answered audience questions on call volume, an arrest complaint, jail billing, community service and school bus violations. He announced a bicycle drive. Jane Brewer announced the Charing and Sharing Christmas Day dinner. The next Town Hall will be held in February in Magnolia.
Opening Remarks
Last year’s budget
Sheriff Todd Stewart said the department went over budget last year on gas, prisoner billing and medical costs, but otherwise came in well. He said the county pays for inmate trips to the emergency room, which cannot be predicted.
New budget and deputies
The sheriff said the board approved the budget he requested, including two new deputy positions. Both new deputies started this week, and he said residents should see more patrol.
Calls for service
The sheriff said the office answered 11,700 calls for service in 2025 and is on pace to exceed that this year. Totals are counted by calendar year, and he said he would report the 2026 number next year.
Command staff
The sheriff introduced his chief deputy, a captain over the criminal investigation division, the jail’s chief administrator, the warden, and the reserve deputy staff, including the reserve captain.
Questions From the Audience
Call volume
WigginsMS.com founder Sundee Williams asked whether the rise in calls reflects more crime, better response or over-policing. The sheriff said the office is never over-policed because it is short-staffed, and that calls are up because residents are comfortable calling and get a response. He said animal complaints, once a large share of calls, dropped after the county built kennels.
Hunting dogs and adoption
The sheriff said dogs are often dropped in the county after hunting season and asked residents to call if they see them. The office rounds them up and adopts them out at no charge, first come first served, with a signed waiver. A volunteer had run a Facebook page for the program, which he said had lapsed. He said he had dogs available.
Arrest complaint
An attendee said her husband was arrested in August 2025 on a domestic violence charge, that the arrest lacked probable cause, and that the charge was later dismissed. She said he had a bloody arm yet was listed as a defendant, that photographs taken were not entered into evidence, and that he was denied heart medication in custody. She said the couple had called and visited the sheriff’s office multiple times.
The sheriff said deputies must investigate when called and that the standard for an arrest is probable cause, which he described as 50.1 percent. He said that in domestic violence cases with signs of violence the statute says an officer shall make an arrest, even for a misdemeanor the officer did not witness. He said innocent people are sometimes arrested and that the court is where cases are decided. He said he could not address the case without reviewing it, said he found it hard to believe the couple had been to his office as often as they described, and pointed to his open-door policy. He also mentioned his Internal Affairs division and asked whether the couple had given a statement to it. He said, “We’re not infallible.”
The sheriff set a meeting with the couple at his office at 9 a.m. the next morning. No vote.
Property dispute and crisis response
A second attendee described past visits by deputies, including a response by a CIT officer that she said was resolved well, and a dispute over a relative cutting trees on her property. She thanked the deputies for how they handled it. The sheriff said deputies hear both sides and decide during the investigation, and that they cannot always please both parties.
Flock License Plate Cameras
Audience question. An audience member asked about the county’s Flock license plate cameras. The sheriff responded by referring to the questions raised and the articles written on WigginsMS.com by its founder, Sundee Williams, saying they raised good questions.
How the cameras came to the county
The sheriff said the sheriff’s office tried to get Flock cameras before he took office. He described the earlier request both as voted down by the board and as tabled by an outgoing board waiting on a new sheriff and board majority, and said the last CID major had brought it to the board for approval. After he took office, he said, the board approved a 60-day trial. When the trial ended, he decided to keep the cameras. He said that decision was his alone and that he did not return to the board for approval.
Cameras and data retention
The sheriff said the county has four cameras, on the major routes into the county from the north, south, east and west. They photograph the vehicle and tag. Data once kept for 30 days is now overwritten after 7 days, under an amended policy and contract. He said the office searches the system only when there is a complaint or crime and a vehicle description. He called the cameras a force multiplier because the office is about six deputies short of full staffing, and said rural areas have little Wi-Fi or home security video and door-knocking does not gather information the way it once did.
Cases cited
The sheriff said the system helped locate a man with dementia who was found safely in Petal after a neighboring jurisdiction was alerted and a press release went out through WLOX. He also cited two children in a custodial kidnapping case found in Yazoo City, wanted fugitives, weapons arrests and stolen property.
Data sharing with other agencies
WigginsMS.com founder Sundee Williams noted that the county has given outside agencies access to its data. The sheriff said the county has memorandums of understanding with surrounding agencies, including Harrison, George and Pearl River counties and that the arrangement runs both ways. He cited a joint SWAT response from Harrison County to a barricaded murder suspect last year at no cost to the community. He said he does not control Flock’s database and called concerns about what happens to data when it is not in use valid.
Legality and limits
The sheriff said the cameras are legal and that anything can be abused, citing banks, credit card companies and a recent breach of a Department of Justice database. He said that if courts later require warrants, as they did for cell phone searches, the office will comply. He said the office has been offered more cameras and declined, citing Fourth Amendment concerns, and that he writes the office’s policy and can change it if the community as a whole is against something. He said a small percent, one or two of the loudest voices, does not make the system ineffective.
Jail and Community Service
Inmate labor
An attendee asked whether inmates still work outside the jail. The sheriff said they do, but no longer on garbage trucks. He said family members had left drugs in trash cans for inmates, two inmates passed out, and there was a fistfight on a truck. After hearings, the board moved to contract trash pickup, which he said proved cost-effective after about six months. Inmates now do limited, supervised work.
Jail billing and community service
An attendee asked about jail costs, citing $250 a night, and whether people could pay off fines with community service. The sheriff said the jail charges $25 a day and could charge more after day 31 but chooses not to, citing the financial position of local governments [verify]. He said community service depends on the person and the judge, that two inmates had done community service in the past two years [verify], and that inmates could be supervised on community work, such as at the senior citizens center [verify].
A Justice Court judge in attendance said the court offers a deferred service program for first-time offenders.
Traffic, Training and School Safety
Blue Envelope program.
An attendee asked about the Blue Envelope program, in which drivers with autism or other special needs keep an envelope to hand to an officer during a traffic stop. The sheriff said he supports the idea and suggested keeping the envelope on the visor or dash instead of the glove box. He encouraged families to bring children with autism to community events.
The sheriff said he will look into deputy training and raise the program at the November meeting of the state standards board he sits on.
Driver’s education.
The sheriff said Mississippi is bringing back mandatory driver’s education for first-time license applicants starting next year, and said many traffic infractions come from young adults who were never taught to drive.
School bus and crossing guard violations
WigginsMS.com founder Sundee Williams asked what is being done about drivers passing stopped school buses and running the crossing guard’s stop at the middle school. The sheriff said school staff call him directly and he reassigns deputies to “hotspot” patrols at the needed times. He said semi trucks have passed stopped vehicles at a no-passing zone on Highway 26, and that Wiggins police help at the three schools inside city limits. He said the middle school is expected to move to the high school campus in two or more years [verify], and that traffic problems follow wherever students are.
More deputies will be assigned to the area.
Funding and Equipment
Grants, vests and radios. The sheriff said it is too early in the new budget year to judge spending but he does not anticipate problems. The board sets the office’s budget, and the office also uses grants, including a DOJ grant with a 50/50 match for vests that cost about $1,200 each and are fitted to each deputy. He said the office joined Wiggins Police Department to make a joint request to the area’s congressman for radio and communications funding because of dead spots where deputies must use cell phones to reach dispatch.
Announcements
Re-election
The sheriff said he will seek re-election next year and described the office’s goal as being good stewards of taxpayer money.
Bicycle drive
The sheriff said the annual bicycle drive for children is starting soon. The first year it collected about 25 bikes, and last year a group the office escorts on bike rides donated 100. Families can call the sheriff’s office with a name, phone number, address, the number of bicycles needed, the child’s age group and whether the child is a boy or girl.
Benefit for a reserve captain
Attendees were told about a benefit at Wild Bill’s on Saturday, October 17, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., for a reserve captain returning to duty after a June motorcycle accident near Columbia. The event included children’s booths, among them an autism vendor.
Door prizes
The sheriff’s office held a ticket drawing for door prizes, including gift baskets, cutting boards and a chair. Wristbands were also available.
Next town hall
The next town hall is planned for February in Magnolia [verify the date and venue].
Christmas Day dinner
It was announced that the Caring & Sharing Christmas dinner will be held at the Fair Grounds on Christmas Day, its 20th year, for anyone who would otherwise be alone or in need.