A standing-room-only crowd packed into the InterBank Community Room Monday to hear from each of the four men vying to become the next sheriff of Kingfisher County.

Kingfisher County Republican Women hosted the forum that featured prepared questions for each of the four candidates, Jeremiah Loper, Aaron Pitts, Jonathan Riedlinger and Forrest Smith.

Each of those four filed last month as Republicans to fill the seat that will be vacated when Sheriff Dennis Banther retires at the end of the year.

There will be a primary election June 18 to decide that successor.

KCRW President Tamara Hopkins introduced the four candidates and turned it over to Vice President Debra Parks, who served as the moderator.

The four candidates drew numbers to decide the order of answering through each of four rounds of questions.

The candidates were given the questions ahead of the forum.

“We wanted them to prepare and not just come up here and not have anything,” Parks told the crowd.

“We wanted them to be thoughtful about it because this is a thoughtful and a big job and duty and we wanted some thought behind the responses.”

Questions included: How would you reduce wait times for deputy response?

What do you think would be the best use of the deputies?

How would you redirect resources to improve operations?

What is one current strength of the sheriff’s office and one area of deficiency?

What would be your priorities?

What is your position on civil asset forfeiture laws?

However, Hopkins pivoted about 20 minutes into the forum.

“It’s kind of dragging a little bit,” she said before opening it up to the audience for questions, provided the questions stayed away from personal attacks or recent attack ads circulating against Riedlinger and Banther, purportedly from Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan.

That church is known for its staunch political stances and public protests. It has been labeled a “hate group” by several organizations and has been condemned by multiple Christian groups.

Those attacks have come in the form of multiple YouTube videos as well as a pamphlet.

The final 40 minutes of the forum focused on answers to multiple questions from the audience.

The first asked about the necessary qualifications to run for sheriff, to which Loper replied: “I’m not taking any questions from people. I hate to sound rude, just not going to.”

Loper later relented and provided answers to multiple other questions.

One question all candidates answered was why they chose to run for sheriff.

“I believe that I can make an impact on this entire county. I feel like I’m a personable guy. You can easily approach me and have a conversation with me,” said Pitts, the current Hennessey police chief who was the first to answer. “And I care about people. That’s the biggest thing. Working at the school, it helped me build a relationship with a lot of people. It helped me connect with people.”

Pitt is a former school resource officer at Hennessey Public Schools.

“In law enforcement, any of these guys can probably tell you, sometimes you become hardened. Working at that school brought me down to that level a little bit. It helped me learn how to connect with people.”

Smith, the former chief of police in Okarche, answered next.

“I live in Kingfisher County. I want to improve it. I want to do what my part is to improve it,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 27 years and I just feel the draw and the need to continue that drive, to continue making improvements in the department. It’s like a calling. No matter what anybody’s feelings are about any of us here, we all do a very hard job and have been for quite some time.

“At the end of the day, we’re still police officers. We each have, probably, our own desire or need that we want to fill that position.”

Loper, who is on the Hennessey police force, was the third candidate to answer.

“I believe I can make a difference in this county. Like Forrest said, it’s a tough job, but I believe we can get there as long as we work as a team,” he said.

“That’s what it boils down to, teamwork. That’s what we’re here for.”

Riedlinger was recently promoted to undersheriff at the KCSO and answered last.

“I love this community. I want to continue to move forward and keep doing the great things we’re doing and just keep excelling and making our community a safer place for not only my kids to grow up in, but everybody’s kids,” Riedlinger said.

“This is a nice community. We’re not Oklahoma County. We’re not Logan County. We have a nice, safe community that we can always improve on but for the most part it’s a really great community with amazing residents.”

Hopkins provided candidates one final time to speak and asked them to relay one thing they’d like the audience members to take away from the forum.

Loper was first to answer.

“I think we really need a change in the sheriff’s office. We really do. I could say a lot of things, but I’m not,” he said.

“There’s been a lot…I mean you’ve seen the videos going around so I really think there has to be a change. I’m not sure if they’re true or not, but if they are…that’s what it is…we need a change.”

That was the only reference of the night to the negative material.

Smith spoke next. “I want you to take away experience. When you think about running the sheriff’s department just like you would a business or anything else for that matter - that you want someone with experience,” he said.

“Like I said before, I have 27 years of experience in all aspects of policing. So I think you really need to look at experience when you’re looking at someone running the county.”

Pitts was third to answer.

“I talk about it a lot… relationships. Really what it’s all about is the people,” he said. “I’m always going to be for the citizens of this community. Because without citizens, none of us really have a job, right? I want you to take away that I’m going to do whatever I feel is best for this community.”

Riedlinger echoed the community sentiment.

“It’s true. It’s pretty much what everyone is saying: Community, community, community. Without you guys we are nothing. We have to have you for everything,” he said before later mentioning the large budgets for both the department and the jail.

“It’s a lot. It’s going to be learning a lot. It’s going to be taking on a lot, but it’s a job I’m willing to do to make sure that we can find the best for not only the department and the jail, but for the community and everybody that resides within the 906 square miles.”