(Editor's Note: This is the third in a series of podcasts and articles featuring the candidates running for Cleveland County Sheriff. The interview can be streamed on Apple Podcast, Spotify or over www.clevelandcountyherald.com)
RISON - Brad Young of the Rowell community said he wants to bring his experience working as a state trooper for the Arkansas State Police and as a game warden and colonel with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission to the Cleveland County Sheriff's office.
Young is one of three candidates seeking the Republican nomination for Cleveland County Sheriff. He is facing Vance "Lee" Freeman and Keden Shurm, both of Rison, for the office being left open by the retirement of Sheriff Jack Rodgers.
Since there are no other candidates running for sheriff, the winner of the Republican primary will be uncontested in the November general election.
A Cleveland County native, Young and his wife, Carla, have two children: Brenna, who was voted as Student of the Year at Woodlawn High School, and Hudgin, who is in elementary. He said his wife is a nurse practitioner and works at the Family Medicine Clinic located across from Walmart in Pine Bluff.
He is also the son of Cleveland County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Gary Young.
Since an early age, Young said he has always wanted to be in law enforcement. He said he took a job with the Arkansas Department of Correction in June 2000, the month after graduating from Woodlawn High School. Young explained you had to be 21 to be hired by the Arkansas State Police so he felt gaining some experience with the Department of Corrections would help him land a job.
Young said he spent about four years at the Department of Corrections, working his way up to sergeant in the K-9 unit. He also worked as a part-time deputy for Cleveland County Sheriff Joe Paul King during that time before getting what he described as his dream job with the Arkansas State Police in 2004.
After working with the State Police for about six years, Young said a game warden’s job came open. “I’m a big hunter, so protecting the resource that we all love was very important to me,” Young said.
He switched careers over to the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission (AGFC), starting off as a game warden working alongside Oscar Gerard in Cleveland County. He worked his way up the ranks in the AGFC being promoted to sergeant, captain, major and finally colonel in 2021. As major, he was responsible for the eastern half of the state and once he became colonel, he was essentially the top game warden responsible for 181 sworn officers across the state. That job also included administrative duties and budgeting.
“And you might think for the whole state it would be a big budget, but it really wasn’t,” Young said. “So you had to do a lot with I a little, if that makes sense—to get creative in finding funding to get good things for your officers.”
Some of those “good things” was technology for his game wardens. Not only did they get computers for their vehicles, they also got body cameras and tasers. He said the cameras would automatically start recording when the taser was activated. He said that was beneficial in two ways.
“It’s transparency, number one, with the public,” he said. “Number two, it shows where you’re deficient with your- taming. If you’ve got some officer safety issues, it’s not to Monday morning quarterback anybody. It (the body camera video) is to see where you’re deficient in your training and provide that—address those issues you feel like you need to, that otherwise you wouldn’t have known about.”
Young said he left AGFC in August 2025 and “has never looked back.”
Approach to Law Enforcement
Young said protecting the citizens of the county and the state is his first priority.
“I take enforcing the law very, very serious,” he said. ‘You know, we have drugs all over. It’s not just in Cleveland County, it’s everywhere. I’ll take a head-on approach to that. I’ll meet it head-on. I’ll make sure that we have the proper coverage for our county.
“I’ve heard that a lot as I’ve been out talking to voters—deterring some of these thefts just by getting out and being seen,” Young said.
“As far as my approach, I’m going to do what I’ve always done, and that’s protect the citizens of this county and state,” he said.
“We have anything from thefts to drugs to everyday crime. The good thing that I see in this county is we don’t have a lot of violent crime, which is very big,” Young said. “That speaks volumes for our county. If we can knock the drugs down and the thefts—you know, obviously you knock the thefts down, that’s going to be able to stop them from affording their drugs.
“I’ll take it head-on,” he said, “I’ve got a zero tolerance for that, and that’s always been my approach.
Challenges and Issues
When asked what he thought were the biggest challenges and issues facing the Cleveland County Sheriffs Department, Young said budget.
“Obviously budget,” he said. ‘You’re going to have to find some outside funding to be able to accomplish some of the things that we want to accomplish.
“We just received a good update to our jail—had a new roof, new electric locks, doors, all that—and it just received an excellent pass as far as the jail standards go, So that’s good,” he said. “That’s a big thing when the sheriff is dealing with your jail. That's probably the biggest headache that you will have.”
Young said he would also like to provide more training for deputies.
“That’s another thing that I provide—all the money that the state has sunk into me in training over the past almost 26 years, I’m going to be able to provide that, if given the opportunity, for free to our deputies,” he said.
He said training can be very expensive, pointing out that one advanced self-defense class he took while working for Game & Fish cost $5,000 a week.
Deputy Recruitment
One of the issues facing small, rural counties in Arkansas is offering a salary that is comparable to larger cities and counties. Young said the answer is a good environment and training.
“You can’t obviously pay big money like some of these big cities and sheriff’s departments might, but you can provide an environment for these deputies and good training that they can’t receive anywhere else,” he said.
“We obviously have a great county to work. That’s something else that speaks for itself,” Young added.
“They’re not running from call to call. They’re able to be proactive and get out and engage with the public and talk to the public about their concerns, and it’s not just running from call to call,” he said. “We’re very, very fortunate with that.”
Young said he will also work alongside the deputies. “When you see your boss getting out there working, there’s a lot to be said for that,” he said “That makes you want to be better as well.”
County Coverage
Young said having quicker response times - regardless of your location in the county will be a priority.
“My big thing—and I’ve heard this from the voters—is providing an immediate response, 24/7, which is one thing that I take veiy seriously,” he said.
He mentioned in particular some of the more isolated areas of the county like the Hwy. 167 area in the northwest corner, and the Hwy. 54 area in the northeast corner.
“We’re getting very close to where we can get 24-hour coverage, where a deputy doesn’t have to basically put on their clothes to come help you; there’s somebody out that can be an immediate response,” he said.
One way to achieve that, Young said, is to have deputies assigned to patrol certain areas in the county, and then have those deputies complete their reports in a visible location using the laptops inside their patrol units. How that would look on a day-to- day basis, he said, would depend on the number of deputies available.
“I want an immediate response, but no longer than, you know, 15 minutes’ time. I’ve done that. I’ve been there, done that as a trooper—basically sleep with your socks on, if you will.”
Young also discussed the sheriff department’s police contacts with Rison and Kingsland.
“Obviously you have to look at where your call volume is,” he said. “A lot of the call volume comes right here in Rison. So it just depends on which way the call volume is trending.
“Like I said, there will be deputies that will be very proactive out patrolling. Rison, Kingsland, New Edinburg—everybody is going to be just as important as the other to us,” he said.
Campaign Pitch
Why should someone elect you as sheriff?
“I think the biggest thing is my experience,” he said. “Law enforcement has been my whole life. It’s not a job to me; it’s a lifestyle. I’ve never looked at it as a job. I love doing what I’m doing and really don’t feel like you ever work a day in your life if you do that.
“As far as resources that I can get to this county, I have contacts not only in our state but others,” he added. “No matter what it is, I will make sure that our county is covered, whatever the need is.
“If we have an elderly person that’s missing—take a morning like this morning, as cold as it is—time is very important to find that individual,” Young said. “I have the resources to find them, whether it be drones,
K9S, whatever it may be, and it’s not necessarily coming from our county at that expense.
“My resume stands for itself,” he added. “I’ve supervised a lot of people, balanced multi-million dollar budgets. I’ve had a lot of diverse training. So I’m ready to get in and do good work for the people.
“If it’s the Lord’s will and the will of the people of this county, . then that’s the way it’ll be,” Young said. “I’ll be available to them 24/7.”