BJ Burton, a veteran law enforcement officer who currently serves as police chief in Hawesville, has filed to run for Hancock County sheriff. Burton said he hopes to bring a proactive, community-oriented approach to the department if elected.
Burton, who is running as a Republican, began his career with the Kentucky Department of Corrections in 2011 before working in Indiana and joining the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office in 2017. Burton, 38, spent 6.5 years with the agency and said the experience solidified his desire to serve the county long-term.
“I really got to enjoy the people in the county, and I enjoyed everything about working in the department,” Burton said.
He accepted the Hawesville chief of police position in April 2023, a move he said provided valuable administrative experience. Burton said his decision to run for sheriff stems from wanting to help the county “continue to grow” while strengthening public safety.
“I want people to be able to come back and say, hey, this is a safe community,” he said. “I want to just try to clean it up and keep people coming back, because we’re on the right track.”
If elected, Burton said one of his top priorities would be increasing patrol coverage.
“I think it’s going to be putting more deputies on the road to make a heavier patrol presence, to get out and be a proactive department versus a reactive one,” he said.
Burton said visibility and relationship-building are core components of his policing philosophy.
“You have to build transparency, and you have to build a trust relationship, or you’re never going to get anywhere in policing,” he said. “If you get back to the old-school policing and get out of the car and start talking to people, you’re going to meet people. You’re going to have people who find comfort in coming to talk to you.”
He added that as sheriff, he would maintain an open-door policy and expect deputies to model that same level of accessibility.
“We’re not there to write everybody a citation,” he said. “We’re there to take care of the problem that’s there and prevent the problem from coming back.”
Burton said he supports school resource officers and emphasized the importance of strong partnerships with local and regional agencies, including the Lewisport and Hawesville police departments, Kentucky State Police, and the HIDTA task force in Owensboro.
“I want our schools and our children safe,” he said. “We want two deputies on shift, 24 hours a day, at all times. We want prompt response coverage. We want people to know that when we show up, we have the tools and equipment to do the job.”
Burton also supports implementing body-worn cameras and Flock license-plate reading technology, saying both tools increase transparency and help solve crimes more efficiently.
“At the end of the day, they clarify statements,” he said of body cameras. “They show people what happened. They can actually take you through things.”
He emphasized that the improvements he’s proposing are realistic within the department’s existing budget.
“We’re not talking about spending hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said. “This stuff is achievable. It’s just getting back to an old-school police presence and making it a community that everybody feels welcome in — but you feel safe when you come.”
Burton grew up in Ohio County and graduated from Ohio County High School in 2005. His wife, Jana (Veach), is a 2005 Hancock County High School graduate and teaches at Hancock County Middle School. The couple has a son attending elementary school in the district.
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