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David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and perhaps the most closely watched local race in this primary election cycle was the one for Washtenaw County Sheriff. Current office holder Jerry Clayton decided not to seek reelection, and three Democratic candidates made their way to the ballot in hopes of becoming the successor. I'm David Fair, and voters had to choose from former sheriff's deputy and social worker Alyshia Dyer, longtime law enforcement officer Ken Magee, and current Sheriff's Office director of community engagement Derrick Jackson. The voters have spoken, and, in a very close race, selected Alyshia Dyer. And after a long night, I believe we have Alyshia Dyer on the other end of the WEMU live line. Congratulations on the win!
Alyshia Dyer: Thank you so much!
David Fair: It became quickly apparent last night that this was going to be a two-person race. You developed an early lead in the evening over Derrick Jackson, and it did hold up. But it remained close all night long. And in the end, the margin of victory was less than 400 votes. Did you suffer some anxiety?
Alyshia Dyer: Oh, yeah! You know, we were all celebrating together at the Ann Arbor Elks, and, throughout the night, I was really excited. We were getting really good feedback, actually, at the polls all day. But it was definitely nerve wracking, waiting for the results to come in. And we hadn't had a definitive answer, actually, until well into the night. So, probably around, I think, 12:30 or 1 AM is when we got more of a definitive answer that I was most likely to have won.
David Fair: And I want you to take us to that moment when you learned all the votes had been counted, and, at least until they're certified, you have appeared to have won the race.
Alyshia Dyer: Yeah. Just excitement and a deep appreciation for grassroots organizing. I started this campaign as a working class underdog in the race. And there were so many people early on in the community that were spreading the word. And even on Election Day, people at the polls talking to people before they went to vote, down to some of the people that worked on our campaign that were extremely dedicated. We definitely, I think, proved to the county that organizing is really important in the political arena and also don't always count off the underdog. Because I would say, two years ago, there were people that said that we had no chance to win. And then, those same people in recent months have said how impressed they are with everything we've done. And we also really centered the issues in a way that I think helped really motivate voters to get involved. And I think that was useful as well.
David Fair: And I want to talk about some of those issues in just a moment. But just as a matter of curiosity first, did you get a congratulatory call from Derrick Jackson?
Alyshia Dyer: I spoke with Derrick, actually late night, when we were more sure of the results, and he wished me good luck. And so, we were able to have an exchange late last night.
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and we're talking with Alyshia Dyer. She won Tuesday's Democratic primary race for Washtenaw County Sheriff. Now, most expect that, whether there's a challenge in November or not, you're going to become the next sheriff of Washtenaw County. Throughout the campaign, you stressed you intend to, among other things, put a focus on accountability and transparency. How would that look different from the leadership we've seen from current Sheriff Jerry Clayton?
Alyshia Dyer: So, I really want to increase our data transparency. And so, one way to do that is follow what the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office did with their data transparency report, but not just road patrol data. I also want to share more data around our jail. I learned a lot on this campaign trail that the community did not have a lot of information about what was going on in our jail. And so, it is my intention to make sure that we are sharing our disparities, the data involving traffic enforcement, but also things like how many educational classes are in the jail and more detailed data on what's going on with use of force violations. And so, I really believe this is a really powerful opportunity to work together with the community, as well as experts in this field to make sure that we create a dashboard where people can really more understand what's going on at the sheriff's office and where we are present day. And then, I'll also say that it is my goal as sheriff to make sure that we are extremely transparent with our fiscal spending. And I would like to follow the same model, so, that way, people understand where their dollars are being spent at the sheriff's office.
David Fair: Well, I certainly don't need to tell you you were a Washtenaw County deputy for a decade. There is, among many, a mistrust of the law enforcement community, and that can be particularly true in communities of color. It's also true for some members of the LGBTQ-plus community. And it's an issue nationwide. It's certainly not exclusive to Washtenaw County. But how would you go about improving community relations and moving forward the process of building that trust?
Alyshia Dyer: So, I have been pretty adamant on this campaign trail that, in order to build trust, you have to first admit you have a problem. And then you have to work with the people impacted to fix it. And that is going to be my goal as sheriff. I'm going to bring in people from all across traditional lines, whether it's people that work in the sheriff's to people that have been impacted by policing. I want to bring everyone together to actually start getting to work on the policy priorities I have. And doing that work, I hope to earn the trust of the community as sheriff. And even on the campaign trail, I had people that really do not care for the police involved in my campaign alongside people that believe in a more traditional policing model. And the the level of depth and growth we have been able to have in conversations. Traffic enforcement was a big one that I talked about. And I really hope to build trust in this arena. It's hard to build trust if you're constantly pulling over people in the same neighborhood for low level offenses--things like that. And so, I think implementing the policies that I want to implement and changing things is one way. But I also think another way is to make sure that we are actually working together. We're building relationships. And it is my intention that the community believes that, even when we don't always agree, they'll have somebody that's going to be honest with them about what's going on and willing to work with them to figure out if there's a way that we can reach a solution that will make sure everyone's protected.
David Fair: Our post-primary election conversation with Alyshia Dyer continues. Alyshia won the Democratic primary race for Washtenaw County Sheriff on Tuesday. You're also quite acutely aware that gun violence has been on the increase, particularly in the Ypsilanti area and eastern side of the county. The sheriff's office is already providing supplementary patrols to the city, while Ypsilanti works on training new officers to address understaffing. How would you approach the problem of gun violence?
Alyshia Dyer: So, as an officer, this is very near and dear to my heart as somebody that responded to shootings in our community, but also someone that lost young people I deeply cared about to gun violence. And I will have a short and long-term plan to address this. And, in the short term, we're going to have summer safety plans. I want to work with the community around more education involving guns. I mean, there's a number of calls I responded to as an officer where gun owners would leave their guns in unlocked cars and young people would get their hands on them. And so, there's a number of things I want to do on the education front. I also want to make sure we have plans in place every summer, because that's when typically we see things heating up. And then, long term, and I talked a lot about this on the campaign trail, we have to end the criminalization of childhood--most of the street level gun violence, which is very different from domestic violence. There's another approach to protect survivors in that situation. But for our retaliatory shootings and our street gun violence, we really have to do more to make sure that we are supporting people in the long run, because the majority of people that were involved in shootings in our community, that I saw myself as a deputy, were young people. And the majority of those people, when I looked at their contacts in the system, when they had these really early contacts for low level offenses, they weren't given support. And I have watched young people go one way or the other, depending on how much support they got in these critical time periods in their life. I have been pretty public, too, that I ran away from home at 17. I had my own issues when I was growing up. And mentors and people that looked out to me have really forged the ability for me to be who I am today. And that's my intention, long-term, that we are making that more possible in Washtenaw County, because if we do that effectively, we are going to prevent future violence. We're also going to make sure that we're really actually supporting young people especially. And so, there are other models across the country that have used community violence intervention, but also youth mentoring and job employment opportunities. All of these things are shown to work in the long term if you can effectively make sure that you are getting it to the people that need it in the community. And then, on the short term, we're going to continue to respond. We're going to do thorough investigation. And I also am going to make sure I'm very present in the community, and we have a plan in place for the times when you're going to see an increase.
David Fair: Well, I appreciate you taking time to talk with us today. And we will have occasion and opportunity to talk again as we move toward and beyond November.
Alyshia Dyer: Excited! Thank you so much!
David Fair: That is Alyshia Dyer, a former sheriff's deputy who is now likely to become the next sheriff of Washtenaw County--that after a Tuesday win in the Democratic primary race. I'm David Fair, and you can find more of our election coverage at your convenience simply by visiting our web page at wemu.org. This is your community NPR station. It's 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti.
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