What is Your Party Affiliation and How Will You Ensure the Law is Enforced Equally For All?

This is a question from a blog page that people are allowed to post questions of the candidates anonymously. This is the question exactly as posted and Don's answer.

Question

“What is your party affiliation? And how will you make sure the people in trailer parks, pig farms and prestige cattle ranches are all given the same service from your office? Thank you “

Answer

I am a lifelong Republican and have never changed my party affiliation for political expediency or personal gain as some other candidates have done in this race. I’m also a lifelong resident of Laramie County which gives me insight few others in this race have to make positive informed decisions to benefit the lives of its citizens.

No matter what you do for a living or where you live within the community, you should be treated with dignity and respect, not just by the Sheriff’s Department, by all law enforcement agencies. Managing the Victim Services Unit for the Laramie County Sheriff’s Department for over eight years and managing the jail have given me a unique perspective no other candidate can claim, when it comes to interacting with victims of crimes. As the Victim Services Lieutenant. I often reviewed cases for consideration for assistance; every case, whether the victim had a long criminal history or none at all, received the same services available to them.

Crime does not discriminate and it affects people who have never been in trouble with the law as well as people who tend to cross that line often. In each one of these scenarios, it is incumbent upon law enforcement to treat both groups with the same due diligence.

Our current partnership with the LEAD program gives us another option in effecting change in the lives of people who have not always made the best decisions. As I’ve stated in previous posts, this program allows us to assist those with addiction and mental health issues to get back on their feet and once again become productive members of the community. I’m also the only candidate with a wide breadth of experience in “working” with the mentally ill, within the criminal justice system and not just arresting them. One of the other candidates has claimed to be heavily involved in mental health issues within Laramie County but if you take the time to talk to the directors at Volunteers of America, formerly, the Wellness, they will inform you that he never interacted with them on a personal level to benefit those with mental illness in the community.