Everyone and welcome.
My name is Erin Hunt.
I'm the executive director
of the Colorado River Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Thank you all for joining us tonight
for the Garfield County Sheriff's Forum.
We're grateful to see such a strong community interest in
learning about the candidates
and the future of public safety in Garfield County.
On behalf of the chamber, I'd like
to thank both the candidates, Brent Baker
and Dan Loya for being with us this evening
and for their willingness to participate in this very
important community conversation.
Thank you both. I'd also like to extend a special thank you
to our partners who helped make tonight possible thank you
to the Youth Theater for hosting us in this wonderful venue
To Ron Milhorn of KMTS for serving
as our moderator this evening
and to Recinos language services
for providing translation services
and helping ensure tonight's forum is accessible
to more members of our community.
If you need those, you can find
that at the front table over here.
We appreciate everyone taking the time to be here,
to be informed and to be a part of the conversation.
At this time, I'd like to turn things over
to our moderator, Ron.
Thank you all and enjoy the forum.
Thank you Aaron. Well, good evening everyone.
Welcome to tonight's forum.
It is indeed intended to be a forum, a discussion
between the Republican candidates vying
to be the next sheriff in Garfield County.
Many of us weren't sure when there would be a new sheriff in
town because Lou Valerio proudly
and with distinctions served
as the top cop in the county for 23 years.
Lou, you've certainly earned your retirement
and we thank you
Now about tonight's form.
It is about sharing ideas, identifying issues,
and considering solutions as they relate
to law enforcement in Garfield County.
Unlike a debate, there are no winners declared in a form
that is something to be determined
by each individual citizen when
they exercise their right to vote.
Before we begin, I must address the elephant in the room.
While primaries are generally uneventful, I think we can
and all all agree that the campaign trail leading up
to this particular primary election has taken some strange
and unexpected turns.
It has drawn a great deal of attention
and some very strong opinions expressed
through various mediums.
It has been unusual
and to some degree unprecedented out of respect
for the political process and most importantly,
for the candidates and the voters both in attendance
and to those listening and watching tonight's forum,
I must demand that everyone be on their best behavior.
Applause is fine, but cheering, jeering
and rude comments will be frowned upon
and if it gets out of hand,
you may be asked to leave the theater.
Each candidate has been informed of the topics
to be discussed, but not the questions.
If there's time, we might take a few questions.
Well, we, we will have a few questions
that have been submitted by members of the public
and that's it.
I'm off my soapbox. Let's
begin now.
Our rules of the game, if you will.
Sorry, that's my sports background.
Each candidate will receive two minutes
to present an opening statement.
Our questions candidates will receive two minutes
to answer several questions.
There will not be time to go back and forth.
If you'd like to comment on the other candidate's answer,
you'll be using your time to comment
and still answer the question.
Is that clear? Yes.
Alright, and then we'll have a two minute closing
statement as well.
We begin with an opening two minute opening statement
and we start with Brent Baker.
Good evening. Make sure my mic works. It does. Okay, good.
I'm Brent Baker and I'm not just running
for Garfield County Sheriff.
I'm stepping up to lead for 45 years. This has been my home.
I was born in parachute, raised in our emergency services
and stood on the front lines as a volunteer, EMT
and firefighter right here in this community.
I've served you in the Garfield County Sheriff's Office
for the last 24 years.
Let's remember why we're here today.
This is a Republican primary
and the focus should be on conservative values,
constitutional rights, and the future of Garfield County.
The question before us is not what's
outside political interests
or leaders from neighboring counties?
Want. The question is what the people
of Garfield County want, who they want as their sheriff.
The selection should be decided by the conservative voters
of Garfield County and by
who they believe will best protect their constitutional
rights and who will uphold the law
and serve the community with integrity.
At the end of the day, the most
important question is simple.
Who do the conservatives of Garfield
County want as their sheriff?
You ask me what separates me from the other candidate.
The answer is dedication. Rooted in blood and sweat.
He may have decades law enforcement,
but my 24 years have been spent serving Garfield County
and only Garfield County.
He worked for a neighboring county.
I have blood for this community.
I wear the scars of serving you every single day.
He cannot say the same.
Integrity and character, these are just not words to me.
They're my bedrock. While we hear the attacks aimed at
current Sheriff Valerio whose endorsement I accept,
but let me be clear, I'm not him.
You'll find no honest facts to asail my integrity
and trust me, people have tried.
I stand ready to serve with honor
to implement the vital changes this sheriff's office
desperately needs and
to ensure we better serve you the
dedicated citizens of Garfield County.
My dedication runs deeper than a badgeing uniform.
It's wove woven into the fabric of this community.
For two years, I fought
for our children on the Garfield County School
District 16 Board of Education.
For years I dedicated myself
to Colorado River Valley Little League board
and I still volunteer an umpire there.
I've invested in the future of our youth.
I serve on the agricultural board
for the Grand Valley Future Farmers
of America Advisory Board,
supporting our agricultural future.
Let the other candidates in neighboring
county appreciate his service.
I have served and I will continue
to serve you the citizens of Garfield County.
Thank you,
Dan.
Two minutes.
Good evening. I'm Dan Loya.
I'd like to first to start off by thanking my family.
My wife, as Mr.
Hor said, this primary has been very unprecedented.
It's been a long hard road
and we're gonna, we're at the tail end
and I'm here to serve Garfield County.
This is my home. I've been here 45 years.
I've raised my family here. My dad was a coal miner here.
My kids graduated from Rifle High School.
I graduated from Glenwood Springs High School.
My wife works in the medical field here.
We own a nice multiple properties in Garfield County.
I've given my blood, sweat and tears as well.
My family owned businesses here.
I'm ready to serve Garfield County.
I have 30 years in law enforcement.
Most of those years have been in major crimes,
protecting children, defending them.
Narcotics investigations.
Last six years in executive leadership,
running an entire organization overseeing a multimillion
dollar budget, writing policies, implementing policies,
hiring command level positions.
I'm also very unique that I'm able
to serve everybody in Garfield County regardless of
who you are, I'm bilingual, I'm bicultural.
Regardless of where you stand on the immigration issue,
over 35% at Garfield County is Latino.
They're business owners, they're taxpayers
and I'm here to represent them as well.
That is unique and that's the first time in history
that we have a candidate that can serve both
citizens of Garfield County.
Along with everybody else, I want to be the sheriff
of all the people and serve everybody regardless
of your race, creed, sexual preference and everybody,
and protect your constitutional rights,
which every law enforcement officer should swear to do.
First question for Dan,
and again, we will alternate throughout these questions.
Public safety and community priorities.
What do you believe is the biggest public safety challenge
facing Garfield County right now
and how would you address that as sheriff?
Two minutes.
Thanks Ron. That's a great question.
In my opinion, the biggest priority right now
is the drug issue.
As you guys saw just recently, Eagle County,
we seized over 500 Fentanyl pills that came
through Garfield County in the nineties.
We had the crack issue. Now we have the fentanyl issue.
That can be devastating.
That's the root of all evil that goes to car break-ins,
issues at home, construction sites being broken into.
We gotta get our handle on that.
I've created a team in in Eagle County
that's been nationally recognized for that.
It's a lot of work created by highly motivated individuals.
We work closely with everybody in the state.
I think that's a big focus
that we need here in Garfield County.
I would get constant compliments of the things that we see
and the loads that we see.
30 years ago we used to get small amounts,
maybe half a pound if we're lucky.
Now we're getting car loads, 40, 50 pounds of drugs
that are coming through the state.
That's gonna continue and we gotta get a stock to it.
That infiltrates Garfield County,
the problem's only gonna get bigger.
Brent, Thanks. Yeah, great question. I would agree.
Drugs are a problem. I think we disagree on how we go about
enforcing drugs, right?
If you any of you have a drug house next door to you,
where do you want your deputies?
Do you want them focusing on the drug horse house next
to you or do you want 'em on the interstate?
I want 'em focusing on my neighbors
who are causing me problems.
That doesn't mean we should ignore the interstate.
The interstate brings us a lot of crime
and it absolutely does
and I am super proud of what the Spear Task Force has done.
Two weeks ago they took off over 50 pounds of drugs.
You didn't see that in the paper.
You know why you didn't see that in the paper?
Because they made it a bigger case Because we are integrated
with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA.
So we work as a team with the DEA,
so that case is gonna go bigger.
I don't want just the drug mule
driving up and down the interstate.
I want the person who sent it from the border
and I wanna catch them and make sure they go
to federal prison where they get real time
and I want to catch the distributor who's in Denver
and make sure they get real federal time.
And I wanna catch all that.
We don't put a lot of the big drug bust Spear does out in
the news because it's a continuing investigation.
You might see it a year later.
But we wanna catch all those people, not just the drug mule.
And I'm super proud of the work
that the Spear Task Force has been doing.
Again, they took off a huge load here a couple weeks ago.
I can show you pictures, but it's not in the news
because it's still a continuing investigation.
So excellent work by them.
But again, we need to focus on neighborhoods
and we need to focus on county roads
and your neighborhoods
where crime is occurring in your neighborhoods.
And that's where people wanna see the deputies
and that's where I wanna put 'em.
The other thing about public safety
and community priorities,
people just wanna feel safe in their neighborhood, right?
We don't wanna focus just on drugs,
even though I agree drugs are 80 to 90% of crime
is backed by crime somehow.
But also we have to focus on other things.
Domestic violence, child sex, assault, child abuse.
We have to focus on all that, not just drugs. Thanks.
Second topic deals with code enforcement
and inter-agency cooperation.
Mr. Baker, how would the Sheriff's Office work
with the police department's, state agencies, schools
and neighboring counties to address
public safety challenges?
It really is a team effort. It really is.
And we have to approach it as a team.
No single agency can do that by themselves.
That's why the Spear Task Force is a task force
and not just a Sheriff's office unit.
It's a task force. 'cause we need all that help
and we need all that experience from other agencies.
I have been very fortunate
to grow up here in Garfield County with
the chiefs and the sergeants and the lieutenants
and the deputies and the police officers
here in Garfield County.
So I know them. I call them friends, I call them colleagues
and I'm proud to have their support.
I'm proud to be supported by chiefs.
I'm proud to be supported by fire chiefs.
That's a huge job that the Sheriff's Office takes on is
as the fire marshal.
And I'm super proud
and honored to have endorsements from local fire chiefs,
local fire unions because they trust me
and they believe in my leadership
and they know I've been on the front lines
with them fighting fires, fighting bad guys.
Again, it's a team effort.
I'm really proud of the sheriff's office
and what we've done when I first started here 24 years ago,
and Lou can speak to this,
but we did not get along well with a lot of the PDs
and that has come a long way in the last 24 years.
And we do really well and we work with all of 'em very well.
Thanks
Mr.
Loy. Two minutes. Yeah, I'm, I'd
Like to refer back to the public safety
and clarify my drug task force also works in neighborhoods.
It's a tier tier task force.
I have two members that work the interstate with canines.
And then I have four other members that are doing
investigations about your neighbors working informants.
So just to clarify, they don't,
we don't just work on the interstate.
They actually are also working undercover
narcotics with informants.
So add to that, back to cooperation with local law,
emergency services, it's priority
and it's more important now than ever during a major event.
There's a catastrophe, a wild land fire.
You have to have those partnerships in place.
You can't have 'em without the, the school districts
as well have been protecting our children
with school resource officers.
I've just met with local school officials here.
They have reached out to me.
They want to continue to move that.
I've spoken with local law enforcement chiefs
personally in their command.
They want to do that. I don't know if I agree
with Mr. Baker about the working relationship
that they have, especially
with the current issue they've had
with Glenwood Springs Police Department.
However, I think that's imperative.
We need to continue to build those relationships.
Not one single agency has enough resources
to cover the entire county
and everything that happens on, we gotta work together.
There's a big event in any municipality.
We have to create partnerships and a brotherhood
and a sisterhood to come and work
and help one each other out.
We do that in Eagle County. It's been great.
We have multi-jurisdictional task forces,
our special operations unit
and that is for your safety and public safety.
Ultimately we have to have those relationships,
put the egos aside, come work together.
So make sure everybody's safe. Thank you. Ron.
Third topic is school safety and youth.
Dan, how would you approach balancing school safety
with positive interactions
between law enforcements and young people?
Well, as we all know, we have school
resource officers in all the schools.
That's something maybe at our
generation thought we'd never have.
And I think that's a priority.
I think selecting the right school resource officer,
putting him in that school is important
that they can build relationship with the kids.
Let them know what law enforcement's about.
There's more, there's nothing more important than that.
Building those relationship with law enforcement
that at young age, I'm a firm believer that when you're
interacting with a young 14, 15, 16-year-old kid,
that's an important time in that children, that child's life
that you can build that relationship.
You stop that kid for speeding,
doesn't really need a ticket.
What a great opportunity to build
that relationship and educate them.
So public safety or school safety is a priority.
It should be for everybody in this room.
I think Mr. Baker probably feels the same way.
However, it's make sure you're vetting the right school
resource officers to put 'em in there.
That represents the agency well
and has a very well understanding of public safety.
But along also building relationship with children.
That's a must. You gotta build trust with the parents.
You have to build trust with the students.
'cause they're the ones that they're gonna go to.
If there's anything that's gonna be planned,
they're gonna go to that school resource officer first
and they may stop an incident.
But you gotta also have good relationships
with the school district, the board,
and all the officials at that school.
I think we have a great program in Eagle County.
The sheriff's office and the county commissioners have
chosen to fund some of that
and we absorb some of those costs.
I know that's maybe not always feasible
depending from jurisdiction to jurisdiction,
but I think public safety for schools, events
and children's safety should be a priority.
Brent, two minutes. Thanks.
I'll go back to the interagency real quick.
We have got a great relationship with Glenwood pd.
I was just in a meeting with him two days ago.
They help us, we help them.
The politics in Glenwood, I would say is difficult
and we have nothing against the PD
and the PD has nothing against us.
But the city council might be a different story.
So I, I will leave it at that.
But I would encourage you to talk to the Glenwood PD
and ask 'em if they get along with the sheriff's office
and we consider them brothers just like they consider us.
I know you probably didn't mean it mean it
as a shot at our SROs, but I kind of took it as a shot.
Our SROs are great.
Both our SROs, one who works in Garfield County School,
district 16 has more than 20 years of experience,
more than 10 years as an SRO.
He is great with the kids.
He's coached football, he's a great guy.
And then our SO who works in RE two out at Coleridge,
another guy who's got more than 20 years
of experience in law enforcement.
Really, really, really great cop
who is also on the SWAT team.
A hurt and just highly trained great guy
who do great things in the school.
They put on classes really, really great guys.
And so I, I know, but I just wanted to reach out to them
'cause they are some of the best deputies we have
and that's where we should be
putting some of our best deputies.
The second thing I would say on that is we need
to get another SRO in re one.
Politics are rough up there.
Not gonna sit up here and tell you
politics or anything else.
It's rough up in re one.
But we have a working relationship with them
and we need to continue that and we need
to get an SRO back into re one out at Riverview school.
So that's one of my main priorities starting day one.
The second thing is I believe completely in making sure our
deputies are engaged in your community.
Our deputies need to be out
and they are out coaching, baseball, coaching, football,
coaching, wrestling, being involved in the community,
being part of your community and that helps with the youth.
Thanks.
Next topic. Jail mental health and crisis response.
Brent, what role should the sheriff's office play in
responding to mental health crises?
We don't have a choice. We have to respond
to mental health crises 'cause nobody else is going to.
There is not a fail safe in Garfield County for
the mental health crisis.
Years ago, we probably both agree on this.
Years ago the state invested a lot
of money into mental health because that was the topic
of the day and a couple years ago
that dried up and went away.
And so we've had to take that on ourselves.
We currently partner with Aspen Hope
and they have had some really great numbers here recently
in 24 they deployed with us 31 times in the county,
12 in 25 and only four times this year.
But I'm sure that'll increase as the weather gets hotter.
48% of these times, Aspen Hope was responding
with us directly to the client's home.
And we have to continue that relationship
and probably expand that relationship.
Those keep the mental health crisis out
of the ERs and that's what we're shooting for.
Keep it outta the er, keep it out of the jail,
keep it back in the community
with community resources to help solve that.
As far as the jail goes, we have some
of the best programs in the state in our jail currently.
We just did a audit slash staffing survey in the jail
and the company came back to us
and said, we are gonna use you as an example
for the programs you have and the engagement you have.
75% of our inmate population engages
with our programs, which is huge.
It reduces those people coming back to jail,
especially when they get out.
If we can keep them connected with those programs,
then we have a 75% chance
of them not coming back to our jail.
As long as we can keep them in those programs outside.
And that's what we're looking for is
that reduces crime overall.
Makes the community a better place.
Dan, two minutes jail have mental health
and crisis response.
Sure. So we have a similar
crisis response unit in Eagle County,
but we also have 'em respond with community paramedics.
Sadly, mental health is not a law enforcement issue,
but at two o'clock in the morning, one on one
of your loved one calls and we have to respond.
Who else is gonna respond? It's gonna be law enforcement.
The key is that we have mental health services to provide
and deescalate that situation.
We respond with our, our Hope center
and then also a community paramedic.
Once the situation is deescalated, we leave
and they have ongoing services
and they continue to follow up with that individual.
All with the hopes that we don't have a repeated offense
or a repeated incident.
And oftentimes we may have that.
So we, we have a very good solid program.
We, we started ours about 10 years ago.
It's been very successful in our detention center.
We also have three contract mental health providers.
Our mental health provider
or our, our medical provider has a staff member.
We also bring somebody in separate from them
that we contract with that provides dependency therapy.
And then we also contract with a separate company
that provides crisis management.
Somebody comes, comes into our facility
and they're in crisis, they're evaluated
and then we put 'em on what is called a step program.
And as they move through that step program,
the professional decides where they're gonna be placed
and provides services
and ongoing services upon while they remain with us.
And then provide services or,
or sends them forward to where they need
to continue services upon leaving the center
Leadership accountability and transparency.
Dan, what would transparency look like
under your administration?
As most of you saw my flyer, I think accountability
and transparency for everybody, including myself.
It starts with me. You set the example as a leader
and you have to have your command staff
and your sergeants follow in that same rule.
There's, it's not an option.
And that follows down to your front line and to the public.
In today's day and age, I'm sure Mr.
Valerio would agree if he would've said We're gonna be
wearing body cameras one day,
we would've probably disagreed with everybody.
I, I mean he's laughing
'cause I think we would've never
thought this day was coming.
But you need it more now than ever.
And body cams don't cover it all.
But you gotta be fully transparent to the public.
No, no options. There's some things you can't discuss.
Personnel matters that are just not privileged to you.
But everything else needs to be fully transparent.
You're the people we serve.
You're the taxpayers, you're the ones
that we're providing the service to.
So when you call, we need to respond, we need
to provide you answers.
Might not be the answers you want,
but that also calls down to our staff.
If somebody's misbehaving, whether we like it
or not, we're the only profession
that has an off-duty policy.
How we behave off-duty reflects on your profession
and it could cost you your career.
That's what we sign up for and that,
and that's the standard that needs to be set.
I started a program hiring employees
based off character, not skill.
We can teach you the skillset,
but character's not something you can be taught.
And we hire based off that. And it's been successful to us.
And accountability is not for everyone,
but there's the standard needs to be set
'cause that's what's required by the voters
and the citizens we serve.
Brent, Oh, I was excited for this question.
So I just wanna touch on something Dan said real quick.
And hiring is a huge thing in what we do.
Leadership, accountability and transparency.
That's why we have a 12% turnover rate at the Garfield
County Sheriff's Office, which is national average.
And we're proud of that even though we live in one of the
very high standard of living, high cost of living area,
12% turnover rate in law enforcement's
almost unheard of in this area.
That's because people wanna work at the Garfield County
Sheriff's Office because we hold people accountable
and they know we want transparency and character.
People wanna work here. People are not flocking.
The patrol divisions fully staffed right now.
They're not flocking to the counties around us that pay more
to the cities that are offering a $30,000 hiring bonus.
They're working at the Garfield County Sheriff's Office
'cause they wanna work there
because they wanna work with me.
They wanna work with Sheriff Valerio
and they've wanna work with what we've built.
I was an executive development class a few years ago
and they listed the four top traits of a leader.
Honesty, competency, inspiring, and forward-looking.
That is why the majority
of employees at the Garfield County
Sheriff's Office support me.
Thanks for coming guys. Appreciate you.
I, I know, I know this is important to you guys too.
They've seen my integrity on display every day.
They know my competence, they know how forward looking I am.
They know where we're headed.
I've been in the trenches fighting
with them day in and day out.
That's what really separates us.
I think we, we can both agree public safety,
being aggressive on crime, school safety,
crisis response, that's all important.
But having true integrity, accountability to the public
and being transparent is what separates me.
I've been campaign campaigning for nine months.
Those nine months have been attacked.
A deep dive, deep, deep dive on me has been done.
And on my family as well.
You know what, they found nothing
because I've lived my life with integrity.
I've lived my life with character.
Come at me, come, come dig into me please.
I've lived a good life
and I've lived in a life full of integrity and character.
Thank you.
Community trust and civic responsibility.
Brent, describe what being the newly elected Garfield County
Sheriff means to you and what your responsibility would be
for the department and community.
What in the departments would remain the same
and what would be different in four years?
First thing I'm gonna do is take a big deep breath
because it's been a long nine months
and we still got another months to go.
And then we got six months after that. So,
And we, we didn't get a $30,000 hiring
bonus when we got hired.
I'm no, we did not.
So that's one of the first things I'm gonna do.
Some changes coming to the Garfield County Sheriff's Office.
Staffing issues. We've been working 12 hour shifts
for 24 years and we are the busiest from four
to 6:00 PM Anybody in this valley knows that, right?
If you're on the roads from four
to six, it's hard to get around.
And that's when the sheriff's deputies are flying
around trying to get to calls.
We have to look at doing something different.
We are looking at 10 and a half hour shifts.
So we have a swing shift to cover that busiest time.
So when our deputies are trying to go home at 6:00 PM
they're not taking all these calls,
we will have a swing shift in there to help
that swing shift will also o off obviously overlap,
which will allow some deputies
to be able to work out on duty.
We're gonna take an hour on duty
and get the deputies some wellness,
some physical wellness, some mental wellness.
And so that is something I'm gonna implement day one.
Those are some of the big changes coming, some
of the long-term changes that we need to start planning for.
Now. The jail's almost 30 years old
and anybody that builds a jail
or a prison will tell you
that having multiple floors is a bad idea.
We got three. That's why when you see a prison
or a jail anywhere that's really big, they expand out.
They don't expand up because when you put inmates in a
elevator and you rely on an elevator to take people places,
it's not a good solution.
So here in five to six to seven years, we need
to start saving now and we need to start planning
for a new jail for Garfield County
because the current one we have is not gonna work
with current jail standards coming July 1st,
which the state's putting on us
and it, it needs some updating.
So that's some of the big things coming.
I'll repeat the question for our listening audience.
Describe what being the newly elected Garfield County
Sheriff means to you and what your responsibility would be
for the department and the community.
What in the department would remain the same
and what would be different in four years, Dan?
What it means to me, it'd be just a complete honor
to be able to serve where I grew up, what I call home,
where my family lives,
and where my parents have been laid rust.
That'd be an honor and that's what it means to me.
I think it's a civic responsibility
to every law enforcement officer
that wears a badge in Garfield County.
That that's why they do it.
It it's, it oftentimes can be a thankless job.
It's not something easy, but we do it because we care
and we wanna serve the public.
I can't predict the future of
what it's gonna look like in four years.
I don't know what legislator is gonna pass,
but if I'm elected, I think it's important
to get my hands on the budget.
I would like to see some things reimplemented.
I think animal control is a big, a big issue
that we need back in rural Garfield County.
I think that's a priority.
One thing I'm proud of in Eagle County is we do over a
hundred community events a year.
That could be something from very minor
to our biggest event, which is Shop with a Cop.
We raise over $50,000 of donations
to take less fortunate kids shopping.
Community engagement is, is is big to me.
And getting our community engaged, involved in our children
and making that connection is important to me as well.
So that civic responsibility goes back
to committee engagement, connecting with the people
that we serve and being out in the public.
The jail is your biggest liability
along with your employees.
So you gotta get a grasp on that.
A 30-year-old jail is a problem.
We gotta address those issues
and make sure that we're within
the standards that are coming.
I'm overseeing a jail now. I don't have a jail commander.
I'm, I'm overseeing the jail so I know what that's like.
That's a big liability.
And if anybody tells you different, they're,
they're not being honest with you.
But the jail and your employees are your biggest liability.
Employee health is big to me as well.
We implemented an employee health wellness program
and mental health program for our employees.
You gotta take care of your employees and
and that's the key is make sure they're valued
opportunities given to them and
and make sure they, they're taken care of.
Budget, staffing and resources.
Dan, what investments in training equipment
or technology do you believe are most important
for the future of the sheriff's office?
All of the above. I think technology,
I'm a big technology guy.
We just implemented AI at our office where our,
our officers can, when they get back to their office,
they can dock their body cam, it writes the reports.
The key is to get them back on the street serving you.
We don't want our officers sitting in the patrol room
typing, we want them back being visible to serve you
and responding to calls for service.
So that's important to us. Training is also big to me.
I think cutting training, I know budgets can be tough.
I know Garfield County has struggled
with their budget issues and it's probably not gonna get
any better in the near future.
However, training is is essential.
You gotta keep your guys trained.
You gotta ke meet the state mandates that required by post
and keep them fresh
because they gotta be prepared to respond
to calls when they go to you.
Budgets. I'm overseeing
all the budgets within my organization,
not just parcel budgets.
Nothing gets purchased
through our organization without our
financial team improved.
The first year I was the undersheriff,
we cut our overtime rate by 75%.
Not that we're cutting overtime,
but we're holding our staff accountable.
That needs to be justified.
Articulate why you need the overtime,
that's big, that's your money.
So holding our staff accountable,
holding the budget accountable.
It's not an open checkbook, it's my money.
It's your money and we wanna make sure we have those
services to provide to you.
And we're, we're watching the bottom line of the dollar
and making sure our staffs are being paid fair, right?
That they're comparable to other agencies
so we're not losing them
to another law enforcement agency in the valley.
I have staff that drive Diego County if I'm sheriff,
I'd love them to be serving here.
But budgets are are difficult but they gotta be managed
and I'm proud that I've been doing
that for the last six years.
I see a multimillion dollar budget, I see every line item.
I meet with my staff and go over every line
item once a week.
So Brett, what investments in training equipment
or technology do you believe are most important
for the future of the Sheriff's office?
So I would love to see the Eagle County guys come
down and work in Garfield County too.
'cause we have great environment.
I would agree that equipment
and training is really important.
We implemented AI a year ago for the deputies via Axon
and draft one and it's been working
out really, really well for us.
But there has to be controls on that.
We are continuing, we are on the cutting edge
of law enforcement in Garfield County
and that's due to the investment that
Sheriff Valerio has made.
And there's been a lot of attacks recently on our
budget and our equipment.
And I find that hilarious in
that the guy who's run the office for the last 24 years,
who gives back a million dollars every year is
being attacked for his budget.
Gimme a break. Our equipment is second
to none here in Garfield County.
And the deputies want that. That's why deputies work here.
Yes, our cars are expensive
because we give them the best equipment they have.
If you're on Douglas Pass at two in the morning
and it's snowing sideways,
you want the best equipment you can have.
If you're in a fire and you're running from a fire
that's licking the back of your patrol car,
you want the best equipment you can have.
That's what matters to our deputies.
That's why our pay is great,
but we don't have to pay Eagle County Pickin County rates
because they wanna work here
because they get good equipment, they get good support.
Training is huge for us. Unfortunately due the budget cuts.
Last year we had to cut back on training,
but we're gonna get back to where we were.
We, we were doing four times
what the state required in training
at the Garfield County Sheriff's Office
and we're gonna continue that.
There's two ways you make and, and Dan will agree with this.
There's two ways you make a deputy
a good law enforcement officer.
One's training and one's experience, right.
If you can't gain experience, you gotta get 'em training
and you put those both together
and you get some really, really good
law enforcement officers.
We get audited every year by the same company
that Eagle County uses McMahon and Associates
and the outside audit comes in
and audits the Garfield County budget
to make sure we're doing right by with your money.
All right, we're gonna get to some public questions,
but first we're gonna take about a 10 minute break,
allow people to stretch a little bit, use the facilities,
get something to drink and then we'll come back in 10
minutes and resume this with some questions from the public.
Alright? All right, we will continue now with some
questions from the public that have been examined, read.
Some of 'em are redundant,
some subjects have already been covered
and some aren't questions at all.
Just statements. So I took
my black pen and just, no offense,
you can make your statement,
but this is not the time or place.
We will continue with Brent.
This is about guns and gun rights.
What are your thoughts on some of the red flag laws
that have been passed by the state legislature?
The state legislature in Denver continues
to pass laws that do nothing for crime
and only make it harder for the citizens of this state
to exercise their constitutional rights.
And it's ridiculous.
We need a sheriff who will continue to be boisterous
and to be loud and to what I tell everybody,
go yell into the void.
'cause sometimes it's like yelling into the void.
Perry will tell you that he worked over there.
It's like yelling into a void.
But you have to have somebody that's gonna go over there
and stand up for your constitutional rights.
And we need that. We have
discretion in law enforcement
and we have to exercise that when it comes
to these crazy laws that are coming outta Denver.
I am committed to that and I'll stay committed to that.
And since day one, that's been one of my top priorities
as a Second Amendment and making sure we protect that
for the citizens of Garfield County.
Thank you.
I, Dan Red flag Laws.
I agree with Brent. I echo that.
I'm a gun advocate, gun owner, a firearm instructor.
And you know, the Second amendment's dear to me,
I'm a, I'm a concealed weapon instructor
and I've been teaching firearms for since 97, 98.
I so long I can't remember,
but they continue to pass laws this year they
actually passed another law ex expanding the red flag
to other people to submit that.
However, we've had one
or two instances in Eagle County
where a red flag has been signed
by a judge in a court order.
And I will tell you if it's done properly, it's effective
because the gentleman that they submitted to
was extremely dangerous.
That was three years ago, I believe.
And we're still in possession of his firearms.
So if it's used properly, the judges read it
signs the court order and vetted it has a purpose,
but it needs to be done right.
So it continues.
I'm, I'm with Mr. Baker on this.
Go down, we fight with the legislators, we get
with the county Sheriffs Colorado.
We team up with them, we team up with the other sheriffs
and we, we stand up for your rights.
We may not always win it, but it won't be without a fight.
The budget wa came, came up during some
of your comments from both of you
and over the years the budget continues to,
has continued to shrink
and the commissioners have made some difficult decisions
and I've, I've, I cover all the meetings
and I know Sheriff Lou Valerio has
been forced to make some cutbacks.
How would you, with oblique forecast over the next five
years or so, how would you manage to continue
to meet the, the needs of the,
the community law enforcement needs
with a shrinking budget, Dan?
Well you're gonna have to, you know,
unfortunately I was part of oh eight
and we, we struggled all just like probably everybody he did
here in Garfield County.
The budget restraint, you're gonna have
to prioritize what's important, which is public service,
having cops responding to calls for service
and make sure your safety's protected is the number one.
The jail's also number one priority by statutorily
where the sheriff's required to maintain a jail.
So you gotta maintain that.
You're gonna have to trim the fat, you know,
really justify your overtime.
Things that aren't needed, you know, are gonna have
to cut back and, and get by with the, the bare necessities.
I'm not a firm believer
that you turn one thing about government,
there's always a set of money coming the next year, right?
And it's not to, hey, let's turn to the taxpayer
and ask for a tax increase.
Nobody else gets to do that. Why should government?
So I think is we have to run a tight budget,
hold each other accountable,
the taxpayers hold us accountable
and make sure that we're meeting the basic services.
If we get to that point where we have
to just maintain services, we have to be responsible
and good stewards of the budget.
And I know everyone
and anybody that's elected will tell
you how they're gonna do it.
But every sheriff has their own priorities on
how they want things done.
But my main focus would be public safety.
I want people to make sure they feel comfortable going
to the store, walking in a park, safe at home.
So you're gonna have to streamline some things
and make sure your budget is accounted for
and cut back on some things.
I've been through that in oh way. It wasn't pleasant.
But the key is to make sure everybody stays employed
and maybe through attrition you just don't fill some
positions and you wait and you move on
and see if it balances back.
Brent, future budget challenges.
Thanks. I'm gonna go back real quick
to the Second Amendment
and some statements made about the red flag law.
I don't believe it serves a purpose at all.
It's not due process, it's not in the second Amendment
and it's a violation of our constitutional rights.
We've had one, we've had one red flag law
come to the Garfield County Sheriff's Office here
and we handled it appropriately
and that we didn't go enforce it.
We went and talked to the family
and said, Hey, your dad's having a rough time having some
mental health issues, let's go help him.
And the family reached out and went out and helped him
because as soon as you put law enforcement
with guns against a person who's mentally unstable
with guns, you're gonna end up with a horrible outcome.
And we don't want that on the onto the budget.
Yes, we have to protect core services, patrol, detentions,
emergency operations, fires, search and rescue.
We have to protect all those within the budget.
We've started already started making
moves in the sheriff's office.
We took a admin spot and moved it over to patrol
because it could be better served there
and we needed it there to provide better services
to the citizens of Garfield County.
I'd be curious to know what's not needed.
What are we gonna cut from the budget We've made cuts
to the budget to balance it this year
and if we're forced to do that again next year,
which it doesn't sound like we're gonna be,
sounds like we're gonna be status quo,
but what are we gonna cut?
We've made cuts and we can do it again.
We made cuts to training and overtime
and that's where we save that money.
So if it's needed to do it again, we'll do it again.
But again, I think again, what's important to the citizens
of Garfield County is those core services
and we have to continue funding those.
Thanks.
This is another interesting question from the public
residents in some of the more rural
or outlying parts of Garfield County
have concerns about patrol coverage and response times.
How would you address those concerns? Brent
Garfield County is 3000 square miles
and we're just north of 63,000 people currently.
We have a large county to cover
and that's why we need so many deputies.
We are fully staffed currently in the patrol
division, which really helps.
I just got an email last week
or two weeks ago from a county resident saying, Hey,
I really appreciate seeing the deputies back out on the
county roads and that's because now we can staff that
and get the guys out to where they need to be.
We are looking into the future to
take the emergency operations division
and put them over a rural patrol unit to
where we put deputies out on the flat tops out on Douglas
pass out in those areas during busy times
to make sure we're getting coverage out there.
But I don't disagree with the comment that we need
to get more deputies back out on the county
roads and off the interstate.
Yeah, Well it's my,
it's my philosophy, it's real simple.
You give that directive to your leadership
and if that's not being done, you address that.
If you're fully staffed shouldn't be an issue.
You tell your rank, we need officers in these areas.
We're having a traffic issue
or speeding issue in this areas.
I know it's not always feasible when calls
for service are maybe a priority,
but we encounter the same things in every law enforcement.
I think one of the biggest issues in every law enforcement
locally is parking and traffic.
Probably the complaints that come in quite regularly, right?
I mean we get a lot of those people calling in
neighborhoods, people are speeding, parking on the street
and that can be very bothersome to a lot.
But when time there's downtime, you get out there
and you run radar and you contact the public
and you enforce that.
And those people out in those county roads are just
as equally important as anywhere else.
And we should be out there.
Every law, every municipality in Garfield County has its own
law enforcement agencies.
So there's no reason we shouldn't be
out there enforcing those.
Next question for Dan,
what role should the sheriff's office play in cooperating
with ICE Spear
and local municipalities on immigration related issues?
Well, as much as we would all want to, that rolls outlined
by our legislators.
We have very limited enforcement, which was set out
by our legislators and government.
There's laws on the books that we as law enforcement can't
take enforcement action if that that's gonna cost.
Our fully staffing levels are gonna drop.
And the way that legislators are passing laws now is they're
holding those officers personally liable.
They can hold that officer up to 50,000 personally liable.
We all know officers don't make a lot of money
and then we don't wanna put 'em in that position.
So we gotta know our lane.
We have to respect our lane
and stay within our laws whether we like it or not.
We have to comply with that.
This may not something we, we may want to do,
but we have to stay within our laws and,
and you know, I'm all about working
with our federal partners.
I think we've all done that. They live in our communities.
They want safe communities just like everybody else,
but we also don't want to be violating our federal,
our state laws and getting
and jeopardizing our deputies and our officers.
So I think that's important.
Brent, two minutes. I agree
that legislation has totally hamstrung us as it comes
to immigration enforcement.
It's not our job
and it's not something we're allowed to be involved in.
I would say, and I'll steal this from a,
for a former opponent
and a really good guy, that we
have to continue to work as a team with our federal partners
and we have to make sure we're working with them
to steal a line from my former opponent.
We are still allowed to work with ICE
and HSI on criminal investigations.
That hasn't stopped. We're just not allowed to work
with them on immigration issues.
But when there's really bad people in our community doing
really bad things, we're gonna work
with every federal agency we can
to remove them from our community
and we will continue to do that.
Spear has done a great job.
They are co-located again with DEA and HSI as well
because we wanna do those joint criminal investigations
to remove bad people from our community.
Whichever way that takes.
If they're doing crime, they need to leave. Thank you.
We've touched a bit on, on mental health
for guests of the Garfield County Jail.
What about the, the deputies, the staff,
how important Brett is mental
and physical health when you're serving the community?
Super important. We have a very strong peer support team
at the Garfield County Sheriff's Office.
The second to none, it's led by a doctor.
We have a doctor employed within the sheriff's office thanks
to Sheriff Valerio.
I mean you won't get that anywhere else
but here we provide our people
with the best mental health support that we can find.
We contract with what's called Code four counseling
and they provide counseling sessions free
of charge every month to any deputy that wants it.
We have to take care of our people.
Second to that is the physical side.
And you know, I have a plan already put forward
that we are gonna start making deputies not making,
we're gonna start letting deputies work out on duty
and making sure their physical side's taken care of as well.
That's, again, I, I keep going back to it, the climate
and culture at the Garfield County
Sheriff's Office is a great place.
People wanna work here, they wanna come work for us,
they wanna come work with us because we have these programs
and because we support 'em.
Yeah, I,
I think physical fitness is highly impor important
and a priority along with mental health Peer support's.
Great. I think every agency has it. It's nothing new.
But one thing we do more
and above that is we require every one of our employees
included administrative staff
to do a mental health wellness check
with a mental health professional
that is required every once a year.
We just did it two weeks ago.
They meet with their mental health professional.
They don't tell us anything about it.
They just sign a document that they met.
It's signed by the doctor.
We put it in our, and we, we chart it
just like a doctor's physical is
important, so is the mental health.
It's just not about peer support,
but our officers see a lot,
we can't just ask 'em to bury it.
So they go and see with a, a mental health provider
of their choosing and they meet with them once a year.
On top of that, law enforcement officers are having heart
attacks between 46, 43 to 49 years of age.
Corrections officers is three times that.
We contracted with a company called Sigma.
They come in, they draw your blood, they,
and this is offered to staff their spouses as well
because of the work we do.
They send your blood screen into the Cleveland Heart Lab.
They do a seven page panel.
They come back to your office, our office at this last year
and they do artery ultrasounds to see
what your plaque buildup is.
They put you on a bike
and collect your breath particles
to see what you should be eating.
To make a long story short,
law enforcement average is at 42%
at risk for a heart attack.
That should be concerning to everybody in this room.
Our agency was at 38% at risk.
We don't do it to scare officers.
We do it to catch that early and reverse it.
Officers been caught for cancer based off this screening.
We save longer on insurance,
but that's a priority that we need to implement now.
Not peer support, that's important as well.
But so is that physical wellness.
Final question. Let's do deals with
incident command response.
For those of us who've lived in this county long enough,
we've experienced some incredible devastating
natural disasters.
Fires just every summer
and we're anticipating a rough year ahead.
Storm king, coal seam, grizzly Creek,
and the list goes on and on.
Brent, what have you learned over the years
about incident command
and what could be improved when in terms
of interagency cooperation, when it comes to
natural disasters or protecting the public
and keeping people informed?
Yeah, so we unfortunately are experts here in Garfield
County on disasters.
It's just, unfortunately we live in a beautiful area
and a great county, but it comes with a price
and that is wildland fires, mudslides
and all the rest of the stuff.
And so we have become experts on responding to those.
I would say what we can improve on and we need to improve on
and if you've seen any of my stuff online
or anything else, is we need to do better
with communicating with our public.
We don't do a good job of communicating
with our public what's going on when those emergency
disasters are help are happening.
And so we need to do a better job on that.
And I'm committed on day one again to improving that
communication with our public
and make sure if the public knows why what we're doing
and why we're doing it, they're always supportive
and we really appreciate that.
As far as fires go, that's our biggest disaster
that we usually see as,
and again, unfortunately we're experts on it.
We have an emergency operations division staffed
by three highly trained, really excellent deputies
who do a great job with that.
They are all NIMS instructors,
national Incident Management systems.
So they actually go out
and teach the incident management system to other
agencies and they do a great job with that.
We have a great working relationship
with our fire departments.
So if a fire starts in a local fire district, it's on
that local fire district to handle that fire
until it becomes a outside of their ability
and then it gets turned over to the county,
it gets turned over to the sheriff's office
and then we take over managing that fire.
When it gets too big for us, then it goes
to the federal government and they come in
with their million dollar a day teams and take over.
I've been fortunate to be incident command on several
of our large fires here recently.
The one in Ruralton that took,
unfortunately took out a house.
I was the first incident commander on that scene
and am proud of the work CRFR, grand Valley Fire
and the rest of the fire departments did there.
Thanks
Dan.
Sure. You know I've lived in this valley, I've seen those,
but I've also been the, I was one
of the first ones on scene on the Lake Christine, which is,
you know, that was a huge fire along
with Grizzly Creek Derby Mesa Fire last year.
But one thing that we discovered
that's a flaw in the system, Eagle Garfield County overlaps
with Eagle and Pickin County.
The evacuation procedures are a flaw at this moment.
'cause there's no communication.
Everybody uses a different evacuation system.
That's a problem that needs to be addressed.
We don't wanna lose a life because people aren't getting the
messages to be evacuated.
How can we have so many incidences?
And that hasn't been addressed yet.
I know where I live, I have one way in and one way out.
I agree with Mr. Baker Ridge.
We live in a beautiful place,
but there's no reason we shouldn't be all getting together.
And that's, and and sitting down
with all these other agencies and federal partners
and our local partners of creating one evacuation system
because our counties overlap and talk to one another.
One thing that I would implement if I was a,
is an incident management team.
We created that in Eagle County and that has been great.
We work together and you work things out
and you troubleshoot.
Not after an incident in the middle of an incident.
We've been fortunate enough that we haven't lost lives.
Nobody wants to do that,
but we have to have great messaging to the public.
But it's not a PIO report or a social media report.
It's you need to pack and you need to go.
You need to message the public
and have things ready so they can get out.
But one thing during these major incidents, one thing
that we've recover discovered is the messaging
on the outlining skirts of the county where it overlaps.
They're not talking to one another.
And that can be problematic.
And an incident management team, if created,
doesn't cost more money.
It's just getting the partnerships together
can communicate and resolve that.
Before we get to closing statements, I wanna thank
the Colorado River Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Thank you, Aaron. That our timers,
the City of Rifle, pat Dupre,
and his staff here at the Ute
for providing us a wonderful venue.
This form has been carried live on
Rifle Community television.
Thank you to Michael Churchill and his staff.
And it'll be available for replay.
It's been carried live on kts.com
and on K MTSS Facebook page.
So it's covered.
If you miss something, it it'll be available,
it'll be archived and very important information
that's gonna do it.
Oh,
Three to four Minutes.
Okay. Okay.
We're gonna get to closing statements now.
And I want to, again, thank the, the candidates
for your willingness to serve the community
and put yourself out there.
I wanna thank the audience for their participation
and the good questions.
Since we have a little extra time,
we're finishing a bit early, we will start with Dan
and each of you'll get I'll,
I'll just give you, you know, three or four minutes.
You can just kind of take your time
for your closing thoughts.
Ooh,
Thanks Ron.
I appreciate it. You know, I'll start off by these last four
or five months has just been
something I'd never thought I'd ever do.
It's been humbling.
I want to thank all the supporters
and everyone that I've interacted with
through the whole entire Garfield County area.
It's, it's, it has really pushed me
To the levels I didn't think I had.
I've learned so much as myself.
Watching my wife go through it
with me has just been humbling and, and an honor.
Along with my campaign team, I've gotten to know people
and supported by people
and encouraged by people
that I never thought would be in my corner.
And after 30 years in law enforcement to start
to realize a few things that after this career, what's next?
And I've been here my whole life.
I grew up here, raised my family here.
I also wanna recognize Mr. Brent Baker.
This is not something that I will tell you.
I've been through a lot of battles in my life.
I've been drug through a lot of things in my life
and working cases.
I've been in the courtroom with some
of the best attorneys in the country
and been cross examined.
Kobe Bryant put me through the ringer.
I'll tell you that right now. And we think we've both
learned a lot about ourselves, our family,
and it's been an honor to, to run this campaign and,
and be a part of it, and interact with everybody here,
to my friends and my family.
I can't thank you enough. I, I really can't.
You kept me motivated
and pushed me when I, I didn't think I'd be pushed.
But with that said, I'd be honored to be your sheriff.
I got 30 years. I started at the bottom pushing a room.
I've worked myself through the ranks.
I've seen the worst cases of humanity
that you could ever see.
I've sat around
and I've, I've sat in interview rooms,
interviewing murderers,
and still try to leave there, trying to make that family
that day better, which you can't.
And those, the last six years of my career,
I continue to learn and to grow.
And I've vowed to myself is, as long as I continue to do
that, I'm gonna continue to try to serve.
And I want to serve Garfield County
where it's my home, where I live here.
I'll live here my whole life.
And I'm sure I will make mistakes along the way. We all do.
But it's how you recover from those mistakes.
But one thing that I can tell you is I'm proud of
where I've been and what I've learned.
I've been promoted under three different sheriffs.
Sadly one of 'em passed away today.
But we're still gonna move forward.
That's one thing about this profession.
When you encounter some of the worst things
that you could ever imagine, you still gotta get up
and put your, pull yourself up from your
bootstraps and move forward.
But I will tell you, we wanna represent one another
and represent the badge in the best uniform that we can.
Because of you. We wanna
provide a service to make sure you're protected.
And when you call that, we respond.
But I want to be able to learn and still grow.
I also want to be able to serve
the other part of our community.
We have Latinos in the community
that they don't feel they have representation.
And regardless of where you're at with the ice
situation, there's fear in there.
And that's a cultural thing.
They would like someone that they can speak to.
I work major cases in where they would only speak to me
'cause I could speak their native language.
And they're here and they live in your community.
They go to school with your kids, they're your neighbors.
And I would like, and I'd be honored to serve
as your Garfield County Sheriff.
I'm not gonna sit here and give you the rhetoric.
My experience, I think you've all heard it for the last,
well, five months and not this last hour.
But thank you for your time. Thank you for your efforts.
Thank you for listening.
And thank you for all those that have stood beside us,
not just me, but also through Brent Baker
for the last nine months in my race since January.
Thank you,
Grant, you have the floor.
Thank you. I would like to start
by thanking the Colorado River Valley Chamber, KMTS,
the Ute Theater and Rifle Community TV
for hosting this forum
and providing the opportunity
for the community to hear from us.
I would second like to thank my supporters.
They work really, really hard
and I appreciate everything they do.
So thank you, thank you, thank you so much.
My wife, Gina, my kids Marshall and Kimber.
Shout out Marshall, wherever you are, buddy.
But thank you so much. It's been, whoa,
it's been a crazy nine months.
And lemme tell you, I've learned a lot about
politics in the last nine months.
But let's talk about the election, the election's,
about leadership trust
and the future of Garfield County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff, whom the people
of Garfield County have elected a record six times.
Trust me to carry forward the legacy he has built,
the dedicated men and women
of the Garfield County Sheriff's Office.
Trust me, to lead this organization into the future.
Most importantly, the people
of Garfield County have trusted me for the past 24 years
to protect this community.
And today I'm asking for
that trust once again from the Garfield County community.
As your next sheriff, I'll continue to lead a professional,
accountable, and exceptional sheriff's office
that puts the safety and needs of our citizens.
First, I'll be honored
to earn your vote in the Republican primary here in June 9th
through June 30th vote.
Brent Baker for Sheriff, thank you
Once again.
Ballots will go in the mail on Tuesday, June 9th.
You should be receiving them next week.
And the primary is June 30th. Thank you for attending.
Have a great evening.
I even
want, I don't
Ever,
Yeah,
Yeah, that was good,
Aaron.