By James Brown
Glasgow News 1
Adam Bow will officially be the sheriff of Barren County on Sunday. He was appointed by Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd on Friday afternoon after a special-called fiscal court meeting.
Bow was sworn into office by Circuit Judge John T. Alexander, and the deputies were also given the oath of office.
Bow won the Republican primary for sheriff in May. He is running unopposed in the Tuesday general election.
Bow said since he won the primary in May, Kent Keen has been guiding him as he prepared to take over.
“It’s still a monumental task taking over even with having that knowledge base and that information sharing,” Bow said. “It’s very important that we had such a good relationship, and we are able to transition so well.”
Circuit Judge John Alexander administers the oath of office to Adam Bow (not pictured) on Oct. 30, 2026, who is the new Barren County Sheriff. James Brown/Glasgow News 1
Keen announced his resignation last week, ending his 13-year tenure. His last official day in office is Saturday, Oct 31.
Bow said he knew Keen would resign the office early, and they have worked to make the transition as smooth as possible.
“I had a little bit of a heads up. There were some administrative things that had to get done ahead of time before he announced it to the public,” he said.
Bow has been a member of the sheriff’s office since 2011, serving as a deputy, detective and public information officer.
He said there are some things he would like to do, such as get K-9 units back at the sheriff’s office.
“We haven’t had K-9s for several years,” Bow added.
He said the process is underway to have deputies who are trained with K-9s, and he hopes to introduce those after the first of the year.
“I’m excited to get started,” Bow said.
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