Shawnee County interim sheriff doesn’t think transition will be difficult

Phil Blume, Shawnee County’s incoming interim sheriff, doesn’t think his office’s deputies will have much trouble adjusting to the abrupt change in leadership they’re about to experience.

“This is probably more of an adjustment for me than anyone else,” Blume said Friday. “People have their job duties and assignments, and that’s not going to change. We’re going to push forward and continue our operations as we have.”

Blume, 54, will become interim sheriff next Wednesday after Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced Thursday that Herman Jones, Shawnee County’s sheriff since 2012, will replace Col. Mark Bruce as head of the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Jones, 60, takes over that agency in the wake of the resignations of Bruce and his second-in-command, Lt. Col. Randy Moon.

Jones had been among the two finalists for the KHP superintendent’s job in 2015, when then-Gov. Sam Brownback chose Bruce.