Learn what Nathan thinks about the topics that concern you.

Community policing is the idea of fostering relationships between law enforcement and members of the public. This is something that I feel very strongly about and have found to be a great way to make the community safer. Over time the sheriff’s office has drifted away from this practice. Currently, our Sheriff’s Office assigns one or two of its personnel as “Community Officers.” These individuals do a great job, but it is naive and half hearted for leadership to think one deputy can affect enough positive change. What needs to be implemented, encouraged, and changed is the internal culture to focus on community policing. Deputies need to be involved in the community they serve, and encouraged to do so both on and off duty. This can be done through youth sporting activities, school programs, public service organizations, and generally getting out and talking with community members. Effective community policing also needs to be balanced with consistent enforcement of law.

Historically there is a clear lack of proactive and pertinent use of press releases either through conventional means or social media. Information, good or bad, along with some positive stories about day to day operations is a great mechanism to communicate. It is the constant release of information that helps communities be engaged, promotes togetherness and most importantly shows the transparency that is needed for trust. The current deficit of information may be caused by: the conscious choice not to release information, lack of technical knowledge amongst leadership, or just plain apathy. Regardless of which one applies we are in the year 2023, and the Sheriff’s Office needs to be revitalized and be proactive in releasing information. Not releasing information in a timely manner leads to incorrect speculation or misinformation and neither of these is beneficial to the people.

So often we hear of an open door policy and that is a good thing, but it is only half of the mission of being a part of the community. Seeking out relationships and face to face communication has fallen by the wayside as we have been forced to settle for “good enough.” I want to change the “good enough” to “Excellence” as it pertains to availability. Getting out and communicating to people in our community through civic groups, youth sports, events, and social interactions will bring my term as sheriff to the next level because you should not have to settle for “good enough.” Vote for better!

The all too frequent turnover rate at the Sheriff’s Office is troubling and an indicator of something wrong. The inability to retain employees, from my perspective, is a lack of leadership that fosters a healthy teamwork environment. This is evident by the lack of supervisors who have ten or more years of experience at our sheriff’s office. Building a positive work environment takes effort, compassion, and commitment to staff mentorship without favoritism. As sheriff, training and building a solid leadership team and working as a unit to accomplish our goal of service to the community by retaining quality personnel to better our mission will be of the utmost importance. Retaining quality and motivated deputies will be fostered with a career development program, which I have previously created and implemented in my career.

My family is filled with animal lovers and we have had many rescued animals over the years. The ability for the animal shelter to provide the best temporary home for the dogs that are there is important to me. Something I have heard for many years that has been worrisome is the lack of availability and responsiveness at our animal shelter. This is not the fault of the staff but mostly the lack of resources provided to them to handle the workload they are tasked with day to day. More than several people have tried to offer assistance in different ways and have been met with silence. This is a perfect chance for a Sheriff’s Office/Community partnership to help our four legged friends. Volunteer groups to pick up donations, clean kennels, answer phones, and other tasks not specific to duties assigned to the limited and over-worked Animal Control Officers and Shelter staff would be beneficial. Putting in the work to attempt this type of new program doesn’t burden a budget/tax payer, it requires some out of the box thinking and respect for animals.