Kent was born and raised in Unicoi County and graduated from Unicoi County High School. He has also attained an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice. He
is married to April Street Harris who owns Carolina Market and Deli. Kent and April have three children – Kerri, Mason and Evan.

Among Kent’s achievements can be listed as being the youngest Alderman ever in Unicoi County – being only 20 years old when he was elected in 1992. Kent served as an Alderman for 10 years until his election as Sheriff in 2002. Sheriff Harris was also Chief Deputy and served as child abuse investigator under Sheriff Pete Stefano’s administration and as a Deputy and Patrol Sgt. under Sheriff Bob Whitson’s administration.

Kent attends Pentecostal Holiness Church in Erwin where he formally served as president of the men’s fellowship and church van driver. Harris is also a member of the Unicoi County Gideons, and is active in the Republican Party of the first district. He is also a third degree mason belonging to the Erwin Masonic Lodge.

Sheriff Harris implemented the Welfare Check program for senior citizens and disabled persons in Unicoi County. This program ensures that each person on the list is contacted daily to check on their health and well being. Currently people are called each day as well as seeing that medicine, food and other vitals are delivered to them.

When Sheriff Harris was running for election in 2002 his primary platforms were drugs, child and elderly welfare concerns. Throughout his administration he has been unrelenting in his efforts to provide citizens of Unicoi County a safe and secure place to live and work. The crime solubility rate has went from 32.23 percent in 2002 to 84.31 percent in 2008. This figure represents the highest solubility rate in our area.

Each portion of Unicoi County has a neighborhood watch program implement by Sheriff Harris. He also brought the D.A.R.E. program back to all of the schools in the county. He has installed school resource officers in the middle school and high school in Erwin.

Sheriff Harris is also proactive in litter control and has encouraged litter control through education in the local schools. One method he uses to teach litter control in the schools is an art contest – awarding the winners a $100 savings bond.

Sheriff Harris also established a canine unit consisting of drug dogs, bomb dogs and bloodhounds for search and rescue. Also, through his efforts the first motorcycle officer was assigned to patrol the town of Unicoi. From 2002 until the year 2007 Sheriff Harris updated his fleet of cruisers by utilizing vehicles confiscated from drug dealers or by using proceeds from drug confiscations thereby not incurring cost to taxpayers.

The Sheriff has received national recognition for his efforts in the Neighborhood Watch program in 2005. The department received $10,000 from Walmart for public service to the community. The Unicoi County Sheriff’s Department won second place in the state of Tennessee for the year 2005 in traffic safety and public awareness of the dangers of traffic-related offenses. The sheriff’s department has been nominated for a national award for Sheriff Harris’ participation in a unique drug awareness program. The department has one of the highest percentage case solvability of any department its size in the country. The Unicoi County Sheriff’s Department has a fully-trained S.W.A.T. team, four K-9 officers that are nationally certified and has upgraded equipment and training to deal with homeland security issues in Unicoi County.

In 2008 Sheriff Harris was awarded a Record of Service award for his public service efforts. The award was presented by The Erwin Record – Unicoi County’s newspaper.

In 2005, Sheriff Harris was presented a certificate from the Unicoi County Chamber of Commerce for his work in the community during the citizen of the year banquet. In 2007 the National Police Officer’s Hall of Fame presented Sheriff Harris with a medal for his work in solving a murder case that occurred in Unicoi County.

ROCIC (Regional Organized Crime Information Center) recognized the Unicoi County Sheriff’s Department for their efforts in solving crime through communication.

Sheriff Harris always maintains an open-door policy to the public to resolve conflict, problems or concerns that anyone may have. He is a working sheriff that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

 

About Kent