Tuesday is Primary Election Day in Michigan. Early voting comes to an end on Sunday. In Washtenaw County, the biggest race to be decided is who will almost certainly become the next sheriff. It’s been a heated campaign featuring three candidates in the Democratic Primary.
When current Sheriff Jerry Clayton announced his fourth term would be his last, it kicked off the race to elect his replacement. All three candidates have an extensive background in law enforcement.
Alyshia Dyer is a former Washtenaw County Deputy Sheriff spending nearly a decade on the road and working marine patrol. She is also a community organizer, licensed clinical social worker and mental health practitioner. Dyer says seeing the way administrative polices work out on the streets is what motivated her to get into politics and to focus on the root causes of crime.
“The more that we criminalize childhood and criminalize misbehavior and low-level offenses at young ages, the more likely young people were going to get into more serious trouble.”
Derrick Jackson has been the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office Director for Community Engagement since 2009. He says the Sheriff’s Office has gone far under Clayton with programs to better serve the community and to prevent crime. He says he doesn’t want to see that come to an end.
“The thought of someone taking that apart, taking us in a different direction or even taking us backwards just didn’t sit right, so it felt like the right time for me to stand up and instead of working an elected official to become that elected official.”
Ken Magee has over 30 years of experience in law enforcement. He is an Ann Arbor native but has served in numerous police assignments around the world, including as head of the University of Michigan force. Magee says he has serious concerns about the problems facing the community, from the opioid crisis to gun violence.
“I also have concerns about some of the accountability and transparency issues at the Sheriff’s Department. I come with so much experience in the last three decades. I know that I can make effective change and do a great job and make our community safer.”
Dyer says one of the biggest issues the next sheriff will face is building more community trust. Dyer says, she believes the first step is having the Sheriff’s Office admit there is a problem.
"One reality for the Sheriff’s Office is that we have extremely high racial disparities in traffic enforcement, and you can’t earn trust if you don’t take actionable steps to reduce harm.”
Jackson says improving community relations has been his job for the past 15 years with the Sheriff’s Department. He says he’d like to see more community involvement, not only the creation of district policy but also in the hiring of personnel.
“When you’re part of designing the system and hiring that officer that wears the badge, now you’re picking people who you know come in the agency who value you, but you also have a say-so in what happens.”
Magee says one policy he would implement is to do away with fines for traffic citations and replace them with required online traffic education classes. He says the next sheriff needs to think outside of the box.
“Think differently, maintain your true values as a law enforcement leader, but think differently in how you interact with society, how you interact with your own personnel, what policies you’ve implemented.”
The three Democrats are the only candidates who filed to run for Sheriff. There are no Republicans in the race, so the winner of Tuesday’s primary will most likely become the next sheriff of Washtenaw County.
Non-commercial, fact based reporting is made possible by your financial support. Make your donation to WEMU today to keep your community NPR station thriving.
Like 89.1 WEMU on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
Contact WEMU News at 734.487.3363 or email us at studio@wemu.org
