VIENNA — Mark Morgan, 46, is a first-time sheriff candidate. He currently works as a sergeant with the Belle Police Department.

Morgan grew up in Tennessee. His journey to Maries County began when he joined the United States Army at 25 years old to give his family more opportunities than they had while he was working as a truck driver.

“I had just started my family and had two little ones at the house,” he said. “I didn’t really have the time to take off work to go to school. I ended up joining the Army instead. I always kind of felt like I wanted to serve the community. It seemed like the right choice for me.”

In the Army, Morgan used the truck driving skills he developed and became an 88M Motor Transport Operator. Training for the role included loading and unloading procedures, GPS systems, radio communication, vehicle and convoy security and defense, hazardous material transportation and vehicle recovery operations.

Basic training took Morgan to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Later, he would go to Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Fort Bliss, Texas and eventually to Missouri at Fort Leonard Wood. He also served on three deployments to Iraq.

“When I retired, the Army would have moved me anywhere I wanted to move to,” he said. “I liked Missouri. It seemed like home to me. My kids graduated from Vienna High School. My family was tired of moving. We really liked the area. We liked the rural community. So we decided to stay here. It’s a lot like Tennessee where I grew up. There’re just no mountains.”

Morgan said his time in the Army helped him develop many skills that helped inform his law enforcement work and potentially his work as sheriff.

“Leadership, management, critical thinking, lots of stress inoculation,” he said. “It’s a long, long list of training. The Army is really big into developing leaders and developing mentors. I couldn’t even fathom the number of classes and time we’ve spent working on that kind of stuff. I was a small unit leader in my last two deployments to Iraq, so leadership would be one of the biggest tools taken away from the Army; what it means to be a leader, how to lead people effectively in stressful and combat situations.”

While Morgan was still on active duty in the Army and stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, he heard about a part-time police academy hosted in Waynesville by the Missouri Sheriffs’ Association. He began taking courses in the 11-month program during nights and weekends in the summer of 2014 and completed it in the summer of 2015.

“It was something I wanted to do before I joined the Army,” he said about beginning his career in law enforcement. “They didn’t have part-time classes back in Tennessee. So I either had to take off eight or nine weeks at one time, and I just couldn’t do that financially.”

One of the instructors of the police academy was the chief of the Crocker Police Department at the time. He offered Morgan an opportunity to join the department as a reserve officer. Morgan said his time with Crocker was voluntary and he did not accept pay.

When a part-time position opened up with the Vienna Police Department, he applied and got the job.

“I was like ‘Well, I’m spending my weekends doing this anyway,’” he said. “I might as well get paid for it.”

When Morgan began working for Vienna, he met many of the Maries County Sheriff’s Office deputies. The new connections led to him joining the sheriff’s office as a reserve deputy in 2016. Upon his retirement from the Army in 2018, he joined the sheriff’s office full-time. He worked as a road supervisor and K-9 handler and reached the rank of lieutenant before leaving the sheriff’s office in October 2022.

In November 2022, Morgan took his current position as a sergeant with the Belle Police Department. He is also a K-9 handler for Belle.

Morgan said he has studied criminal justice for more than 20 years across several different training programs and has accumulated approximately 130 credit hours.

“I’m a field training officer,” he said. “A police marksman. Obviously a certified K-9 handler. I’ve taken countless classes pertaining to crime scene investigation, shooting analysis investigation, interview and interrogation techniques.”

Morgan said his years of experience in law enforcement have taught him about how the reality of police work differs from public perception formed through depictions in popular media.

“Cop shows have very high-action scenes,” he said. “They don’t show all the countless hours of dealing with very minor incidents or just countless hours on patrol.”

Morgan said his biggest motivation for his campaign is to bring the county together. He emphasized his approach to community-oriented policing and making sure the public knows the officers and deputies serving them.

“I want to have a sheriff that’s transparent, who’s at the sheriff’s office and available,” he said. “To have a sheriff who is actually running the office and places the needs of the community above his own. I really think we need that desperately in Maries County.”

When Morgan launched his campaign more than a year ago, he did it early to make up for a perceived disadvantage he had against opponents who have lived in Maries County all or most of their lives while he has only lived here for 12 years.

“Not growing up here, I knew a lot of people didn’t know who I was,” he said. “Didn’t know my name. I wanted to allow that extra time to attend these events and put my name at the events. (Campaigning) has been really rewarding because I’ve gotten to meet a ton of people in this county. That’s really what continues to motivate me: when people come up and they’re telling me ‘Hey, we need a change,’ or ‘We’re glad you’re running.’”

Morgan has been married to his wife Lori for 25 years. They have two children, Matthew, who moved back to Texas, and Tori, who attends State Technical College in Linn. In his free time, he enjoys hunting, fishing and driving his 2015 Jeep Wrangler.

“(Jeeping) is something that started when I was stationed at Fort Bliss,” he said. “There’re a lot of deserts out there, and that’s where I bought my first Jeep. We spent countless hours out there in the desert just cruising the dunes. It’s an awesome hobby, especially when you need to get away.”

Morgan is a member of the American Legion, VFW (Riders), the Fraternal Order of Police and the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association.