Sheriff Dennis Meeks asked voters to consider the progress made in his department in four years, while his November opponent, Lockhart Police Chief John Davis promised to return the office of sheriff “to the people.”

Both men participated in the Civitan political forum co-sponsored by WAAO and The Star-News Tuesday night.

Davis, a Paxton, Fla., native, said if elected, he would create a separate division of the sheriff’s department to deal with civil process, commonly known as serving papers.

“If we’ve got three deputies on the road, we don’t need two of them serving papers,” he said.

Meeks said Alabama law makes civil process the sheriff’s “No. 1 job and duty.”

Asked how he would handle bingo issues if elected, Davis said he is a sworn officer who has no choice but to enforce state laws as writted.

“We don’t choose w hat laws we enforce,” he said.

Asked how security measures had been updated in the county jail during his tenure of office, Meeks said he worked with the jail administrator to add security cameras and also added more razor wire on the outside fence.

Meeks is a Democrat, Davis a Republican. Their names will not appear on the ballot until November.