For four years, Ernie Coleman wore a U.S. Air Force uniform. He spent the next 25 years with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. For another eight months, he served as a reserve deputy with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and he currently works as a police officer and law enforcement instructor with Beaufort County Community College

“I’ve been in uniform my entire adult life,” said Ernie Coleman. “I have dedicated over 31 years of my life to serving our Country, our State, and Beaufort County.”

Coleman plans to stay in uniform and he plans to make this one the uniform of the sheriff of Beaufort County.

Coleman is one of four Republicans and four Democrats who have announced their intended run for sheriff in 2014. But it’s a 25-year career with the Highway Patrol, serving as that agency’s public relations officer for 20 counties for two years, that he believes puts him in an winning position.

“I’ve got the enthusiasm and health and I’m ready to do it,” Coleman said.

Coleman states that his Christian values — the ability to pray and reflect — will help guide him in the office of sheriff. It’s an element he feels is vital, not only because the decisions he would make as sheriff would affect many people, but because he intends to employ them to assess some of the more debated issues affecting the sheriff’s office: specifically, sheriff’s office participation in CALEA, an international law enforcement accreditation program, as well as a voluntary, county-funded program in which deputies get membership in exchange for staying fit.

“I would take a close look at accreditation,” Coleman said. “I worked on it at the Highway Patrol. It’s a great thing. It was a great thing at the time. But when you have a policy that exactly mirrors the accreditation police—I’d take a look at that.”

Coleman believes that crime in Beaufort County falls into typical categories — drugs and crime driven by a lagging economy — but it’s his proactive stance on stress management and a positive working environment he feels will make a better sheriff’s office.

His focus right now, he said, is to encourage residents of Beaufort County to vote in the primaries that will determine who will run for office in 2014.

For more information about Ernie Coleman, visit www.erniecolemanforsheriff.com.