Hot Topics.

Traffic enforcement will be a small, but important component of the Sheriff’s Office’s priorities. I recently retired from the CO State Patrol and the first three years of my career were focused on traffic safety, traffic enforcement, writing tickets, and making arrests. However, the balance of my nearly 20-year career with CSP was spent in public safety, critical infrastructure protection, and investigations. I led these programs and oversaw teams of sworn and civilian members that worked for me on these special projects. As I was promoted up to the command ranks, I focused on strategic goals, plan implementation, budgets, and creating new partnerships. As Sheriff, my top goal will be public safety and community service. I will use my previous experience to set a four-year strategic plan for the Sheriff’s Office and continue to build partnerships with agencies in surrounding counties.

In light of the current economic difficulties faced by the entire nation, and particularly the citizens of Custer County, I do not support the increase in taxes required to fund that project at this time. The current jail and courthouse do not meet the needs of the county now or for the future. This was documented in a Needs Assessment that can be found at the following link: https://www.custercounty-co.gov/justice-center. As the CO State Patrol Troop Commander for the area that includes Custer County, I was invited to attend the Justice Center Committee meetings and provide input. A proposal was presented to voters with a price tag of $18.7 million. Ultimately the voters rejected a plan to increase the county sales tax to complete the program. Since that time, construction costs and interest rates have significantly increased along with inflation. Since the beginning of this year, I have communicated regularly with public safety lobbyists at the State Capitol regarding a bill by representative Judy Amabile. This bill would create jail standards that would require expensive modifications to county jails. More details on the legislation can be found here: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb22-1063. At my request, the lobbyist arranged a meeting with myself and representative Amabile. I explained the concerns about how the increased costs would be borne by smaller counties like Custer. Ultimately the bill was changed to create a commission to study the feasibility of implementing jail standards and more importantly, recognize that different sized counties would have different abilities to implement jail standards. Ultimately, the buildings used by the county, including the Sheriff’s Office and jail, are the responsibility of the Board of County Commissioners. I would continue to report to the county commissioners regarding the needs of the Sheriff’s Office and jail facilities, and I will also continue to offer public tours of the jail for interested Custer County citizens. Finally, I will also work with the project designers to see if a less expensive alternative could be implemented to meet the needs of the county with no extra frills. I will continue to study the economic questions regarding paying to transport Custer County prisoners to nearby county jails and paying fees set by those sheriffs to house Custer inmates if absolutely necessary to meet standards.

I plan to implement a multitude of new training policies and programs not only to address minimum required training standards, but also high liability subjects, recent court rulings or legislation that impact our operations, and training enrichment programs of interest to deputies and supervisors. In a civil lawsuit, it is not uncommon for the documents of every training ever attended by the deputy to be examined. These documents include the CV on the instructor, lesson plans, a signed course roster, and many others. It is prohibitive to copy and file hard copies of these training documents, and instead, what’s more effective is to utilize software designed to track law enforcement training such as PowerDMS. Furthermore, the state Peace Officer Standards and Testing Board (POST) requires annual continuing education training. I will not only ensure that all staff complete the minimum required training, but also require additional training in high liability subjects. These high liability subjects include the use of force and emergency vehicle operations. I will implement a new training program to ensure staff are up to date on recent court rulings that impact our operations and implement a training enrichment program. This includes law enforcement-centric training that is not required by the state or Sheriff’s Office, but is of interest to deputies and supervisors in expanding their knowledge, skills, and abilities. Finally, I plan to offer personal development training such as emotional intelligence, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, Emergenetics, and team building programs. The goal of this new emphasis on training is to create a curriculum that can be applied to the job, to help members learn important personal development skills, and to prepare staff for future promotional opportunities.

Deputy recruitment and retention is one of the most important issues facing the Custer County Sheriff’s Office. I will personally meet with each member of the Sheriff’s Office to seek information on why they chose to serve with the CCSO and how we can meet the needs of that member. I will also meet regularly with staff to talk about their training and career goals and will work with the Sergeants to document a career progression plan to help the member achieve career and promotional goals. This would also ensure that we have a cadre of staff prepared to promote whenever there is an opportunity. I completed the 400-hour Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command Program (read more about this program at: https://sps.northwestern.edu/center-for-public-safety/landing/spscgraduates/). One component of this program was performing a staff study. The staff study will document whether the Sheriff’s Office has adequate staffing to meet the needs of the community. As Sheriff, I will complete a staff study and publish the results. I will also work with Custer County HR and the Board of County Commissioners to document whether salary and benefits are competitive with other agencies in the area, which will include cost of living and cost of housing components.

In the past year, I have met with every Police Chief and Sheriff in the four-county 11th Judicial District (Custer, Fremont, Chaffee, and Park Counties) along with their respective county emergency managers, most of the Fire Chiefs, and most EMS directors. Implementation of mutual aid agreements with surrounding jurisdictions is critical to the success of the Custer County Sheriff’s Office’s ability to respond to major crimes or disasters. I also recently met with the CBI Special Agent in Charge for Southern Colorado whom I have worked with many times in the past. I also recently sat down with the FBI agent who covers Custer County and talked about the possible support they can provide, as needed, to the Custer County Sheriff’s Office. As Sheriff, I will continue to meet regularly with these public safety stakeholders to ensure that help can be effectively provided whenever the need arises.

I will seek to add a crime analysis resource to the Custer County Sheriff’s Office and implement crime analytics software such as Bair Analytics: https://www.teamhuber.com/bairanalytics/. I will also create regional crime intelligence-sharing meetings with surrounding public safety agencies and prisons. One of my previous assignments with the CO State Patrol was in the Colorado Information Analysis Center (CIAC). I learned firsthand the value of utilizing crime data analysis to enhance criminal investigations and the deployment of staffing and other resources to boost public safety. Prior to COVID, I held these meetings for area law enforcement agencies. Detectives from each agency can talk about current cases and identify other agencies that have similar cases or are monitoring the same criminal suspects. As Sheriff, I will re-establish these meetings. When agencies work together they can solve crime more quickly and work to take the most dangerous criminals off our streets.

I believe in the principles articulated in America’s founding documents of small government and local control. One is hard-pressed to find a government service that gets better as it gets more bloated. The Preamble to the Constitution states: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”. The proper role of government is to protect and preserve citizens’ rights as outlined and enshrined in our Constitution. We in Custer County unfortunately fall victim to unfunded mandates by State government. One example of this is the possible forthcoming legislation to require more expensive jail standards and prisoner amenities. As Sheriff, I will be fiercely loyal to the citizens of Custer County and our right to make our own decisions for our community.