Sheriff’s Office honors founder Chuck Jenkins at S.T.O.R.M. anniversary

The Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office used S.T.O.R.M.’s 30th anniversary to spotlight a local law-enforcement figure whose work has been tied to safer roads across Mississippi. Chuck Jenkins, the sheriff’s office academy director, was recognized as a founding member of S.T.O.R.M., the sobriety-enforcement group that began in May 1996 and has spent 30 years pushing DUI enforcement, crash prevention and occupant protection.

S.T.O.R.M., short for Sobriety Trained Officers Representing Mississippi, says its mission is to reduce deaths and injuries on Mississippi roadways by lowering the role of alcohol and other drugs in crashes and by increasing the use of safety belts and child protective devices. The group’s current programming shows it remains active in training and professional development, with listings for a 2026 Spring STORM Conference, DUI awards and instructor-school activity.

The anniversary celebration also honored retired Oxford Police Department Deputy Chief Kevin Stark. S.T.O.R.M. president Dillion Cates thanked Jenkins and Stark for their service and leadership, underscoring that the recognition was about more than ceremony. It tied two local names to a statewide network that has spent decades training officers, sharing enforcement practices and keeping impaired driving at the center of traffic-safety work.

That broader mission still matters. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 11,904 alcohol-impaired-driving traffic deaths in the United States in 2024, and says about 32 people die every day in drunk-driving crashes. In Mississippi, the Office of Highway Safety lists impaired driving as a top priority and directs federal traffic-safety funding into impaired-driving, occupant-protection, child-restraint and traffic-services programs.

The local connection runs through the sheriff’s office itself. Lafayette County says the department is responsible for countywide law enforcement and jail administration, and its public-safety efforts also include a vehicle decal program for residents with communication impairments and a camera registry program. Jenkins’ role in the county academy further links the anniversary to day-to-day police work in Lafayette County.

According to county training materials, Jenkins helped bring the Lafayette County Law Enforcement Officers’ Training Academy to life during Sheriff Joey East’s first term. The academy uses 307 hours of academic, physical and practical training per recruit class, had graduated 29 officers by December 2021, and sent 18 more recruits into the field on Dec. 16, 2021.

For Lafayette County, the S.T.O.R.M. anniversary was a reminder that traffic safety is built as much in classrooms and training programs as it is on patrol. Cates’ recognition of Jenkins and Stark pointed to a network that is still carrying its original mission into a new generation of enforcement.