In five weeks, voters will decide the winner in what’s quickly become a heated race for Pima County Sheriff, but they won’t have the opportunity to hear the candidates debate the issues.
Current Sheriff Chris Nanos, a Democrat, told the Arizona Daily Star in September that he won’t be participating in any public debates with his Republican challenger, Mark Napier.
“I don’t have time for that,” Nanos said, explaining his decision. “It doesn’t do any good to argue with Mark.”
Nanos, who was appointed by the county Board of Supervisors in July 2015 to complete the term of Clarence Dupnik, is seeking his first full term as Sheriff.
Napier ran against Dupnik in 2012, earning 46 percent of the vote to Dupnik’s 51.
Over the past month, Napier’s campaign has sought to shine light on issues Sheriff department employees have brought to his attention, including complaints of retaliation against employees who don’t support his candidacy.
“I understand all the fears, but no one is being punished,” Nanos said.
Years of experience
With nearly 70 years of law enforcement experience between the two candidates, each man believes he has what it takes to best serve the citizens of Pima County.
Nanos says he’s done the job well, citing his active involvement in the community, the return of the school resource officer program and his negotiation of a raise for many employees who had fallen behind on the pay scale.
“Our deputies and sergeants just received a five to 20 percent raise,” he said. “For the first time ever, our new-hire deputies make more money per hour than Tucson Police Department’s (new officers).”
Napier said that during his 21 years with Tucson Police Department, he has the leadership skills to bring the department back together.
“As a patrol division commander at TPD I personally met with every officer in my division receiving discipline, no matter how minor. The purpose was not to berate the officer, but rather to affirm the importance of the disciplinary process and convey expectations for future performance,” he said. “Positive interest in discipline and genuine interest in the officer coming from my level helped make discipline more effective. It also served to enhance my relationship with line-level personnel.”
Nanos has been dealing with the overpopulation of Pima County jail since he was named sheriff, at which point the jail was at full capacity. If elected, he says he plans to work closely with local agencies that deal with mental health and substance abuse issues in order to keep the affected individuals out of jail and get them into appropriate treatment programs.
He’s also hoping to reduce costs by using electronic monitoring for low-level offenders, and looking into the structure of how bond amounts are set.
“If a crime is so low-level that the person is not a danger, shouldn’t that play into the conditions of release?” Nanos said. “A person shouldn’t have to sit in jail because they can’t pay $50.”
One of Napier’s goals if elected would be to work closely with TPD Chief Chris Magnus to develop ideas for cross-jurisdictional collaboration and information sharing between the two agencies, of which he says the senior administration have had a strained relationship for decades.
“I would like to centralize a Street Squad (within the Sheriff’s department) consisting of a sergeant and 4 to 5 deputies to proactively address crime and quality of life issues across the county,” he said.
The Pima County Deputy Sheriff Association and the Pima County Corrections Officers Association voted last week to endorse Napier. Nanos received the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police, Pima Lodge 20.
The general election is on Nov. 8, with early voting beginning on Oct. 12.
