Both of the candidates vying for the position of sheriff are Garfield County natives. Brent Baker was born and raised in Parachute to parents who worked in emergency services.
"They would run on fire calls and ambulance calls, and they'd go drop me off at the local dispatch center in Parish at the police department," Baker told KDNK's Mike Lemmer. "And so essentially, I was raised in the police department."
At 15, Baker enrolled in the Police Explorer program.
"I went out east for a couple years, worked on an ambulance out there, came back to get my POST certificate here locally to become a police officer. I got hired with the Parish Police Department for six months, then got hired by the county, and been there for the last 24 years, and it's been great. Worked my way up to the rank of patrol lieutenant, and again, the sheriff's office is a great place to work. I really enjoy working there.
"I have always focused my career to take over one of the local police departments as a police chief. And so I went back, got my degree in business, and took a lot of executive development classes And thought I was going to go be a chief somewhere.
"And then Lou decided he was gonna retire. And I said, "Well, now's my opportunity to run for sheriff and take over the agency that I love, and move it forward, make some positive changes, and do some great things for Garfield County."
Dan Loya was raised in the Roaring Fork Valley, was a Glenwood Springs High School graduate, and is now a longtime Rifle resident.
"Well, I got 30 years in law enforcement. Out of those 30 years, six of those years I've been the undersheriff of Eagle County. I'm the only candidate with executive leadership, budget manager experience, policy writing experience. I write and implement policies now.
"I've spent 20 of those years in major crimes. I started in major crimes, sexual assaults, sexual abuse cases, narcotics, undercover narcotics, and then moved up the ranks to oversee those cases which are the most heinous cases that you could ever work and oversee.
"And in 2020, I was promoted to the undersheriff, where I absorbed the position of undersheriff and patrol captain of our operations division, because they both retired, and I've been doing both since. And over the last year, I've been overseeing our jail. So I think my experience is head and shoulders above any other candidate in this race, especially the last six years of it in the executive level."
Current Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario is retiring after 23 years in the office. Both of the candidates looking to replace him say they will bring changes to the department. Baker says that some changes are already being implemented, and more are being planned.
"One of those is kind of investing back into our core services of patrol and detentions. We've moved an admin spot over to patrol to get more deputies out on the road, out providing service to the citizens of Garfield County. One of the big changes I'm looking at is some of the shift changes. We've worked 12-hour shifts for 24 years, as long as I've been here, and we need to look at doing something different. Our deputies work 6:00 to 6:00, and we're busiest from 4:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon. So those deputies are trying to go home, trying to finish stuff up, and they are just getting hammered with calls.
"And so we need to look at something like a 10-and-a-half-hour shift, to where we're overlapping some of that, and there's a new crew of deputies who have the time and energy to go out and service all those calls where they're really busy.
"And so that's one of the first changes we're looking at implementing. Along with those shift changes come some benefits. There's some overlap there, so we can let the deputies take a little bit of time to go work out on duty. I think it's really important that we get our deputies physically fit, mentally fit as well, and so we're going to invest some time and energy into that as well."
Loya says that changes to the Garfield County Sheriff's Office should start with accountability and community engagement.
"I think we just need a higher level of accountability. I think we need more community engagement. We have a lack of trust within the Latino community. There's fear right now. I mean, it's not a secret. Read the papers. Look what SPEAR has done.
"That fear, it resonates through our community, and we need to ... They're here. They go to our schools. There's nothing more traumatizing than a child going to school and not knowing if his parents are going to be home when they get back. That is a fact, and that's not right.
"These people are here. A lot of them are legal citizens. They pay taxes. They own businesses. So that fear needs to be connected, and I can do that, being bicultural and bilingual. I had to learn English. Spanish is my native language."
Topics discussed during the forum included public safety challenges, community trust, training and technology, budget needs, rural response time, as well as gun rights.
Applause greeted both candidates' vocal support of the Second Amendment. Loya said that Red Flag laws that limit access to guns for those with mental health issues and others who pose a danger can be effective, if implemented properly. Baker stated that those laws may infringe on constitutional rights.
Another top issue was the role the sheriff's office has in immigration laws and in dealing with ICE. Baker reiterated that immigration enforcement is not the duty of the sheriff's office. "You know, the law's pretty clear on that, in that we're not allowed to do immigration enforcement in any way. The law is also pretty clear in that criminal investigations, we can work with our federal partners, and we will continue to do that. But immigration, we're super limited, and, you know, that's not our job anyway. That's the federal government's job, and we got enough on our plate that we don't need that as well. And so I would reassure the community that we're not a part of immigration enforcement. We never will be. But we are going to continue to enforce the law and go after criminals in our community and do what we need to do to make sure they're removed out of our community."
Loya agreed that immigration is not the role of local law enforcement and is a violation of state law.
"We don't have a role. We're not immigration. That's a civil matter, and I'm not going to jeopardize my certification or any of my deputies' certification to enforce that. I mean, no one's going to...I would like to think none of my officers would do that. We have a policy in Eagle County - You will not violate federal law or state law because you'll lose your certification. Who wants to lose their livelihood? Our job as law enforcement officers is to be unbiased of our personal beliefs and enforce the law and hold to the Constitution. Regardless of how you feel about something, you've got to set that apart and do what's right. That's good character and good leadership. If an officer violates that law, he should be held accountable."
To learn more about the candidates for Garfield County Sheriff, you can go to baker4sheriff.com and danloya4sheriff.com. Both Republicans and unaffiliated voters can vote for the candidates in the primary election. Early voting begins June 22, and primary election day is June 30.
