The candidates for Klamath County Sheriff spoke at a debate in Chiloquin last week, both offering similar views on how to run the office.
Retired Operations Captain Brian Bryson said that reducing the strain on the sheriff鈥檚 deputies will help them focus on rural parts of the county.
"I have a plan for that, that's to include community service officers to take call loads off a deputy, so that we could take deputies and scatter them throughout the county, not just drive up, handle a call and then drive back home," said Bryson.
Bryson retired in June this year, claiming that he was pushed out by the current sheriff, Chris Kaber, as an act of retaliation for reporting unethical behavior. That's the feature of a lawsuit by Bryson against the current sheriff.
His opponent, Shane Mitchell, wants to rebuild relationships with community partners, like the Oregon State Police and the U.S. Forest Service.
"We got to build those relationships back, to start building back as one," Mitchell said.
Mitchell is also an enrolled member of the Klamath Tribes.
The current sheriff fought with county commissioners last year over the management of his two sons, who also work at the department. A complaint with the state government ethics commission was eventually dismissed in May.
The two candidates for sheriff both want to move the county past that drama, and focus on the future.
That includes addressing budget and staffing shortfalls for the sheriff's office.
The starting pay for the Oregon State Police, the Klamath Falls Police Department and the sheriff's office of Jackson and Josephine counties are all higher than becoming a deputy in Klamath County.
Mitchell wants to address the problem by making the office a more inviting place to work.
鈥淟aw enforcement is a dying breed right now, but we got to build it here, make it a family, change the culture within our department, so people want to come," said Mitchell.
Bryson said that empowering staff to provide input on the office and giving them the tools to succeed is important. Both candidates want to improve the relationship between the sheriff and the commissioners.
Ballots head out to Oregon voters this week. They should be returned to a drop box or postmarked by 8 p.m. on election day, November 5.
