Get to know your Sheriff Candidate Ward Calhoun.

My roots run deep in Lauderdale County, dating back to the 1860s when my mother’s family first settled in this area. I was born in Natchez, but my parents returned to Meridian when I was seven. I am a product of Meridian Public Schools. I met and married Meridian native, Connie McCubbin. After graduating from Mississippi College, we returned to Meridian to work and raise our family.

Two of our children currently live and work in Lauderdale County, while our youngest is serving in the United States military. I began serving as a reserve deputy in 1992. Realizing that I wanted to make law enforcement my full-time career, I joined the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department in 1996, and subsequently graduated from the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers’ Training Academy.

Over the years, I moved up through the ranks, from serving as a patrol deputy, to community policing grant writer and administrator, to major over the patrol division, to my current position as chief deputy. My goal, my vision, remains what it was over 30 years ago: to serve my community and to create a safe place to live and work, a place where my children and now my grandchildren can go to church and school and work without fear of harm, a place where they can live and thrive.