"To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men"
Ask yourself
Have you or a loved one ever been the victim of a crime?
Are you aware of a time when the government violated your rights?
(If you’re not aware, watch some of my videos to hear of examples you may already know about.)
Do you remember an incident where a law enforcement officer was rude, curt, or simply did not provide “good customer service”?
Not a defense, but understanding
Don’t mistake me. Peace officers have a hard job that requires men and women who know how to be tough, tenacious, courageous and firm. Simultaneously, however, we expect these hometown heroes to also be compassionate, empathetic, scholarly, and discerning. They must always keep their head on a swivel, ever vigilant for danger, because that badge makes them a target. Yet be aware that the vast majority of people they encounter are good, decent people who honor and respect that symbol of authority they wear on their chest. It is a difficult job because of the multiple personalities they must present and the plethora of hats they must wear. Knowing this, one can better understand why cops get themselves in a bind when they forget how to be kind and understanding. I’m not trying to justify the inappropriate actions some officers take here, but simply create some understanding.
What do you expect?
So, what do you expect when you’re a victim of a crime? I believe most expect our government to “punish the man who works ill to his neighbors”[1].
But what about when it’s the government who is working ill against you or your fellow citizen? Does not that patriot-spirit that fought against tyranny some 250 years ago swell up within you?
And yes, when you see that YouTube video of an officer just being snarky and rude, you want his mama to smack his lips and wash his mouth out with soap … or maybe you just want to see him fired.
Or, to this point, you're maybe reading this and thinking,
“No. I’m not concerned about those things here in Hood County. I just want to know how you would address the recruiting and retention of deputies. Our local law enforcement is dangerously understaffed.”
Maybe you have other questions or concerns. If I don’t address your specific concerns, please reach out to me and let me know.
The solution
Training & Leadership
There is one solution to address all the scenarios I’ve just listed above, and it’s simple. It’s not easy, but it is simple: training and leadership. See: simple. Not easy, but simple.
Training must not only include the ‘how to’s, but the whys. Certainly, we must know how to do our jobs, but if we don’t understand why, it’s difficult to have the conviction to do it well. It may also be difficult to discern right from wrong in some situations if one does not truly understand their purpose … their why.
First Platform Plank
Primary Purpose of Law Enforcement
My first platform plank deals with just that, knowing our primary purpose: the protection of your rights. We require our service members, our law enforcement, and our elected officials to take an oath “to support this Constitution”[2], but we never teach any of them what it actually means to take that oath. When one understands our oath and why we take it, it is understood that the primary purpose of government, including law enforcement, is the protection of your liberties, not just by not violating your rights, but by bringing to justice others who have violated your rights (see plank 2). I will not only stand firm to my oath “to support this Constitution”[2], but I will ensure the staff of the Sheriff’s Office is trained, understands, and is held to their oath.
Second platform plank
Daily Function
I will ensure those working at the Hood County Sheriff’s Office are equipped and trained to properly respond to, investigate, and apprehend anyone who “works ill to his neighbor”[1]. I have a proven track record leading an agency to become more effective and efficient. Through my leadership, and the leadership of those around me, we have improved working relationships to create a better work environment, which in turn, improved efficiency and effectiveness. Go to my PROFESSIONAL HISTORY page to read about how we improved our case closure rate and closed two cold case homicides.
Third platform plank
Improving staff retention.
First, let me say that I am not opposed to receiving a pay raise. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the Sheriff as the head of the agency to advocate for commensurate pay and benefits for the staff of the Sheriff’s Office. Anyone who has looked for a job is keenly aware that pay and benefits is generally a major factor in recruiting. However, it is rarely a factor in retention. Leaders in most industries will agree that work environment, or work culture, contributes to low turnover above all other factors.
How does a leader affect the work environment or effect change in the culture of an organization?
That is the ten million, ninety three thousand, nine hundred ninety nine dollar question.
($10,093,999.00[3])
The best practices in building a cohesive work environment and strong teams are not top secret, but many in leadership seem uninformed on them. To truly be successful, leaders within an organization must commit to forevermore being a student of leadership. There are thousands of authors and thousands among thousands of books on the topic. In recent years, I have become an enthusiastic student on the topic of leadership, management and teams, studying books by such authors as: Patrick Lencioni, Lt Col Dave Grossman (ret), Simon Sinek, John C. Maxwell, Gino Wickman, and more. If you will entrust me with your Sheriff’s Office, I will dedicate time, talent and effort in training not only the current leadership, but the leaders of tomorrow. Mentoring and succession planning is not only good for tomorrow, it improves the workforce of today. This is just a glimpse of how I would improve retention at the Hood County Sheriff’s Office.
Other platform planks
Your tax dollars
Safety guards have been established that are supposed to protect against frivolous or wasteful spending of your tax money. I'm not going to request outside the budget cycle for predictable and routine spending. Non-budgeted expenditures should only be approved for emergency or truly unpredictable items.
Jail/Law Enforcement Complex
This is a complex issue that would be difficult to summarize in a single statement or paragraph with many tangent discussions that need to be had. The umbrella question: Am I in favor of a new $100M jail? No. Yes, we need to plan for the future which includes preparing for tomorrow's jail needs today, but I am not convinced that we cannot find a better solution than scrapping the current Law Enforcement Center completely and building an entirely new facility.
Chief Deputy and Rank & File
The question has already been asked of me, and I feel obliged to share it and my answer with you here. I’ve been asked who I would appoint as my chief deputy (undersheriff), and what would become of the rank and file staff at the Sheriff’s Office. As for my chief deputy, I don’t know. I have not selected one yet. I will wait until after the election before I even begin the search. As for the rank and file staff, I do not plan on changing anything immediately. I would want to evaluate the staff in the positions they would currently be holding. Ideally, most changes in the beginning would be slow and deliberate.