Saying she wants to keep the worst criminals off the streets, Jamie Dykes, a county prosecutor for years, announced her candidacy for Wicomico County State’s Attorney.

She made the announcement outside Circuit Court last week, with her husband and young sons standing beside her.

“We have a serious problem with crime -- violent crime. A reluctance to recognize that, not addressing that issue, will cost more lives,” Dykes told the crowd of supporters who attended.

“The violent crime we see in this county is fueled by gangs. To operate gangs, gangs require money, which results in illegal drug trade and illegal gun possession- and competition for both,” Dykes said.

“A reluctance to recognize that gangs are here, or that gangs are an issue, will prove to be a costly mistake with long-term and devastating circumstances. When I’m elected, you will know who the state’s attorney is. You will see me leading from the front and by example,” Dykes said.

Dykes will compete as a Republican in the primary election scheduled June 26.

Her roots are in the county, where she, her parents and grandparents always lived, she said, calling it “the only home I have ever known.”

The wife of Maryland State Trooper Jason Dykes and daughter-in-law of the late Salisbury Police Chief Coulbourn Dykes, the former Assistant State’s Attorney said her family “instilled in me and my sisters the importance of public service.”

A Parsonsburg resident, she joined the Parsonsburg Volunteer Fire Company when she 13 and became an Emergency Medical Technician at 16.

A graduate of Parkside High School, Salisbury State University and the University of Baltimore School of Law, Dykes said her “commitment to the rule of law” led to a staff position in the State’s Attorney’s Office in 2006.

Dykes said she “found her true passion within prosecution and victim advocacy” in that office.

“Within nine months … I became the prosecutor assigned to the Wicomico County Child Advocacy Center.  It is here that I became both passionate and extremely skilled at delivering swift and certain justice for child victims of a range of types of abuse.”

Dykes said she believes leadership is “about vision, integrity, trust, and an unwavering commitment to both team and its mission” and was careful to demonstrate that kind of leadership at the Child Advocacy Center, Wicomico Bureau of Investigation and State’s Attorney’s Office.

She said her uncle, former state Sen. Lewis R. Riley, taught her “how to bring people together to solve problems.”

“It is here in Wicomico County, as a prosecutor, where I found my true calling,” she said.

“I worked to keep society safe. I worked with the most vulnerable families in our community, and we helped rebuild them. My heart is in public service and in public safety, and this is where I need to be.”

Ella Disharoon, who was appointed State’s Attorney upon Judge Matt Maciarello’s elevation to Circuit Court, has yet to announce her intentions, but it is presumed she will run for the post.