South County voters will have the opportunity in the election this fall to affect safety countywide, say candidates for Snohomish County Sheriff.
The campaign for sheriff became a three-way race when state Rep. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, recently threw his hat into the ring alongside two Sheriff’s Office veterans, Lt. Rob Beidler and Chief Tom Greene.
Lovick announced his bid in May, while Beidler and Greene have been campaigning for more than two years. Current Sheriff Rick Bart is barred by term limits from running again.
Since much of South Snohomish County is incorporated, residents here may not interact with deputies very often, but the race still affects them, the candidates said.
As chief law enforcement officer in the county, the sheriff is responsible for public safety countywide, including disaster situations, Greene said.
“So every property owner is impacted by who the next sheriff is,” Greene said.
The sheriff’s position is also unique in that the voters get to select a law-enforcement leader, Greene added.
“The sheriff is the only law enforcement leadership position anywhere in the nation where the people get to choose,” he said. “It’s been that way since the founding of our country.”
Lovick emphasized developing more partnerships between the county and city agencies.
“They’re good relationships (now), but they could be improved,” said Lovick, a former State Patrol officer. “That’s what everyone wants.”
Examples of city-county partnerships include a gang task force and exchange programs between the Sheriff’s Office and city agencies.
“I’m a huge believer in having exchange programs,” Lovick said. “They worked very well when I was in the State Patrol.”
Beidler also wants to improve relationships between the Sheriff’s Office and local law enforcement agencies.
“It’s about sharing resources with the common goal of fighting crime,” he said. “It’s about erasing some of those lines of death between cities and the county.”
In addition to partnerships between law enforcement agencies, Beidler wants to develop relationships among city and county governments, fire agencies and county residents.
“We need to move forward to fight crime together and aggressively,” he said.
While each candidate has similar goals for the county, their campaigns are taking a different approach to the position.
Lovick said his campaign will primarily focus on providing the best public safety possible from the Sheriff’s Office.
“We will work very, very hard to make citizens feel safe on the street, in their homes, and knowing their kids are safe in schools,” he said. “That improves quality of life and that’s the number one thing I plan to do as sheriff.”
He pointed to legislation he drafted while serving in the state House as evidence of his commitment to public safety.
Greene’s campaign emphasizes his experiences on the administrative side of the Sheriff’s Office, the candidate said.
Among other duties, Greene is responsible for recruiting and training employees, and managing the department’s budget. He also has experience bargaining labor agreements from both management and labor positions.
“All of those experiences are what is typically required of local chief’s of police,” Greene said. “The sheriff should have those (qualities) and more.”
Beidler said his focus is crime fighting in the county, seeking out the worst offenders and either rehabilitating, relocating or incarcerating them.
While he has heard concerns about staffing in the department, Beidler said there are other issues to fix first.
“I think we owe it to the citizens of Snohomish County to be effective and efficient as possible before asking for more deputies,” he said.
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