{"id":12473,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/patrick-polky\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T18:58:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T18:58:45","slug":"patrick-polky","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/patrick-polky\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrick Polky"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">July 2022 &#8211; Appointed Knox County Sheriff to finish the 2019 &#8211; 2022 term<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keeping Agencies Staffed: Maintaining virtually zero staff turnover by supporting\nour hard-working employees and sharing regional resources to keep our\ncommunities safe.\nFair and Professional Leadership: Providing honest, transparent leadership that\ntreats everyone equally while maintaining modern, professional standards.\nSmart Fiscal Solutions: Expanding local programs that fix root causes like\naddiction to stop repeat emergency calls and protect local taxpayer dollars across\nall our towns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am running because Knox County needs experienced, accountable leadership\nyou can trust. My 30 years in public safety and 21 years of military service taught\nme how to lead and take ownership of results. This isn&#039;t just a job\u2014it&#039;s about\nprotecting my large family, friends and neighbors. I use my lifelong training to\nkeep today safe and tomorrow secure. Because my family will live here long after\nI retire, serving every mainland and island town and neighbor fairly is deeply\npersonal to me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">What is the biggest challenge facing your town\/county? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest challenge is maintaining public safety services as emergency costs\nrise. Our biggest opportunity is expanding real teamwork between law\nenforcement and community care teams. Addressing root causes like mental\nhealth crises isn&#039;t a waste of resources\u2014it&#039;s smart policing. Building these\ncommunity-based services directly reduces repeat interactions with the justice\nsystem for those struggling. This saves significant taxpayer money and frees up\nstaff to focus on quality-of-life concerns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">If you could change one thing about how the town\/county functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I want to help establish a permanent, structural way for the county and municipalities to coordinate. This past year, I personally attended local town meetings across Knox County to listen, collaborate, and find practical ways to\nimprove our public safety services. This proactive outreach is already building strong bridges, breaking down communication silos, and bringing town leaders together much more often. I want to lock in this teamwork so we can always solve problems as one united team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Do you support more development \u2013 i.e. more housing construction and business building in your town\/county? Why or why not?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I support smart, sustainable housing and business growth that protects our\nenvironment and fits what each community wants. While the Sheriff doesn&#039;t make\nland-use choices, development impacts tra\ufb03c, emergency planning and our call\nvolume. We must ensure public safety scales responsibly with this growth.\nAdding affordable workforce housing is a huge win\u2014it preserves our unique\ncommunity character and makes it much easier to recruit and keep dedicated\npublic safety employees right here locally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13229,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Patrick","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"William","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Polky","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":12469,"voter_guide_candidate_age":0,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Knox County Sheriff","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"Lifelong resident, father, and grandfather. Over 30 years in public safety and 21 in military service. Active on local non-profit boards and state public safety committees. Animal rescue advocate.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"University of Maine Augusta - Bachelor of Applied Science, minoring in Public Administration; FBI-LEEDA - Supervisory and Executive Leadership; Maine Criminal Justice Academy - Law Enforcement O\ufb03cer, Corrections O\ufb03cer, and Instructor; Army NCO Development Program - Completed all requirements to attain First Sergeant. Georges Valley High School","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1RsZnGfefo0iDLW2LUWhk3V4FhfaFRNPk","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[1073],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-12473","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-democratic"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12474,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12473\/revisions\/12474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=12473"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=12473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}