Former St. Joseph County Sheriff Frank Canarecci has endorsed Republican Rod Laureys, saying the job Democratic nominee Scott Ruszkowski is seeking is not the job Ruszkowski has previously held.
“You can do an exemplary job of running a city police department and still not even have close to the qualifications needed to run a sheriff’s department,” Canarecci said.
Canarecci served two terms as sheriff, from 2003 to 2010. He was elected as a Democrat. Ruszkowski has led the South Bend Police Department since 2015. Laureys is a St. Joseph County police officer and a Marine Corps veteran. The election is in November.
He is the second former sheriff to endorse Laureys. Joe Speybroeck, who served from 1995 to 1998, endorsed him earlier this month.
Canarecci said the comparison between the two departments is not close. He said he looked up the figures himself: 461 square miles of patrol responsibility in St. Joseph County against 41.9 in South Bend.
“The sheriff has the jail, the warrants, the courthouse security, the civil process, and there’s a lot more things other than just a detective bureau and a road patrol.”
Asked directly whether running a city police department prepares someone to run a sheriff’s department, Canarecci said no.
He offered his own phrasing for how he wanted the point attributed. Ruszkowski, he said, “would be more qualified to be a chief on the sheriff’s department and do patrol functions, but not nearly qualified for the other responsibilities that a sheriff has.”
“I don’t wanna bash him. I don’t have anything against him, but he doesn’t know,” Canarecci said.
“Until you sit in that chair that has that little sign that says sheriff, you don’t know how many angles are coming at you.”
The Jail
Canarecci said the county jail is the center of the job and the part a sheriff has to know before he walks in. He had 700 inmates when he was sheriff.
“The jail is not an OJT (On the Job Training) type of learning experience. You need to know day one going in there how to operate a jail.”
He listed what that means. Food services. Inmates’ rights. Classification.
Classification decides where an inmate is housed, and Canarecci called it probably the one thing that keeps inmates safe. Booking officers ask about gang affiliation, to avoid placing someone with a rival gang member.
“You want your inmates to stay safe” he said. “Maybe they got drunk one night, did something stupid. You don’t want them to get beat up in the county jail.”
The medical side is contracted. Canarecci said the jail had round-the-clock medical staffing, cells designated for medical use, and a psychologist or psychiatrist on site a couple of times a week. Inmates flagged as suicidal were housed alone, in suicide-resistant garments, under constant watch.
“That’s one thing that a police chief really doesn’t have to deal with,” he said, “negotiating the medical contract for the safety of the inmates.”
The department’s budget was approximately $16 million when he held the office.
“You better know your budget if you’re sheriff. You better know every line item.”
Metro Homicide
South Bend announced in September 2021 that it would pull its officers out of the county’s Metro Homicide unit, effective January 2022, while Ruszkowski was Chief of Police. The city attributed the decision to staffing. The Metro Homicide unit stopped taking cases in October of 2021 and formally disbanded in the first week of January 2022.
Canarecci said he was out of the office by then and did not know the particulars. He put the question in terms of who the unit served.
“Most of the homicides in St. Joe County occur where? In the city of South Bend. So who benefits most by that unit? You would think the city of South Bend.”
County Prosecutor Ken Cotter, said at the time of its closing that roughly 78 percent of the county’s homicides since 2003 had occurred in South Bend.
The reasoning behind the withdrawal, Canarecci said, is a question for Ruszkowski.
On staffing, Canarecci pointed back to the jail. Corrections officers are special deputies rather than sworn police officers, he said, and staffing that building is its own problem.
Why Canarecci Endorsed Laureys
Canarecci said he went to people he hired during his own time as sheriff, people who have worked with Laureys, and asked them what they thought.
“These people could have said anything they wanted to to me,” he said. “So when you have people that you know and hired give their honest opinion on a person, that says a lot.”
He also pointed to the jail ministry, and said Laureys has committed to keeping it going. Canarecci put Steve Coyle in the chaplain’s position, and called it the thing he is most proud of from his time in office.
“A lot of them have never had structure, never had discipline, and never had somebody who cared about them.”
Canarecci also pointed to who Laureys would have around him. He said Laureys will be working with experienced personnel, and named John Botich, who ran against Canarecci for sheriff and whom Canarecci then appointed assistant chief. He said he did not believe Ruszkowski could put someone in that position who had Botich’s knowledge.
Asked whether any of this was personal, Canarecci said it was not.
“He’s a brother, with the same ultimate goal that I have,” he said of Ruszkowski. “Keep crime down, catch the bad guys, and lock ’em up.” Canareci said he would have no problem sitting down at a table with Ruszkowski.
Advice For The Next Sheriff
Asked what the next sheriff should prioritize, Canarecci started with personnel.
“Get a good jail warden, get a good chief, get a good assistant chief, and meet with all your department heads and assure yourself that they know what they’re doing, because you can’t go in blindfolded on day one.”
He added one more thing a sheriff needs: a lawyer.
“When it comes right down to what you legally can and cannot do, that changes so often that what we could do two years ago, you probably can’t do today.”
Canarecci said his own counsel was Pete Agostino and the late Howard Williams. He credited Agostino with handling much of the negotiation on the jail’s medical contract, and said contract work of that kind is something a city police chief does not ordinarily deal with.
Canarecci’s Background
Canarecci served four years of active duty in the Air Force before joining the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department in 1973. He spent his first two years in the jail, worked midnight patrol from roughly 1975 to 1981, then served as a detective. He held administrative posts under three sheriffs, including thirteen years as assistant chief.
He left the department after about twenty-five years, won a seat on the St. Joseph County Council, and served four years before running for sheriff. He said his years on the County Council gave him a view of the county budget from both sides.
Canarecci holds a master’s degree in public administration from Indiana University South Bend.
“That’s what you’re in when you’re sheriff,” he said. “You’re a public administrator.”
Logan Foster
Logan Foster is the founder and editor of Redress South Bend, an independent news outlet covering local government, courts, and public institutions in South Bend and St. Joseph County, Indiana. He reports from primary documents: public records requests, court filings, state audit reports, and campaign finance disclosures. His reporting has examined city and school district payments made without competitive bidding, school board spending, and the records of candidates in county races. Redress South Bend obtained the South Bend Police Department's ShotSpotter coverage map after the department initially denied public access. The outlet is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Online News Association. Reach him at info@redresssouthbend.com
