County sheriff candidates face off in online debate

Oct. 5—CHEYENNE — Two candidates for Laramie County sheriff focused mainly on improving agency culture and efforts to reduce crime at a Tuesday evening forum hosted by the Cheyenne League of Women Voters.

Independent Jeff Barnes, a former Laramie County sheriff's deputy, and Republican Brian Kozak, who served as Cheyenne police chief for more than a decade, alternated answering questions over Zoom. Candidates were given two minutes to answer each question. A recording of the forum will be posted on the league's Facebook page.

Democrat Jess Fresquez did not participate in the forum, but submitted a statement that was read at the end of the event. Fresquez directed voters to his website, fresquezforsheriff.com.

In August, Kozak defeated fellow candidates Don Hollingshead and Boyd Wrede in the county's Republican primary. He will face Barnes and Fresquez in the Nov. 8 general election.

Current Sheriff Danny Glick announced his retirement last summer after two decades in the position.

The debate began with both Barnes and Kozak saying their top priority, if elected, would be to improve the culture within the Laramie County Sheriff's Office. Recruitment and retention has been a much-discussed issue throughout the sheriff's race. Kozak said there are currently 55 vacancies within the department, and that 62% of employees are looking for a different job. (Barnes later said there are currently 56 open positions, and 27 of those are with the Laramie County jail.)

Both candidates said they would work to engage employees in efforts to improve the LCSO. Kozak emphasized what he said was his experience in past positions improving morale within agencies — first at the Mesa, Arizona, city jail, then within the Avon, Colorado, and Cheyenne police departments.

Barnes said his top two issues would be recruitment and retention. He said a "turbulent political climate" was contributing to law enforcement officers leaving metropolitan areas. Under his leadership, Laramie County would implement a "robust" recruitment program, including hosting job fairs, recruiting at college campuses and having involvement in high schools, and having a strong social media presence.

"We're going to emphasize our way of life here in Wyoming: the freedom, the wide open spaces, respected by the community," Barnes said.

Kozak said his top two issues are crime reduction and community engagement. The two issues go hand in hand because the way to reduce crime is through community engagement, the candidate explained.

A big part of lowering crime is reducing drug addiction, Kozak said. He spoke about his plan to implement drug addiction treatment programming within the Laramie County jail, and to work closely with community treatment centers for continued care.

"We need to stop the revolving, spinning jail door that's out of control right now," he said.

Barnes later brought up a similar point when asked about how to reduce property crime, which has increased in both the city and county in recent years. The former deputy said he hoped to further engage community members in crime prevention, teaching residents to become "trained observers."

Barnes added that he'd work to implement COMPSTAT. He said this computer program would help track what parts of the county are being hit hardest by crime so LCSO could direct more deputies to those areas.

Kozak said putting a drug treatment program in the jail would greatly reduce recidivism, as well as property crime. Drug addiction is "a driving force with property crime," the former police chief said. He said most property crimes are currently not assigned to a detective, and that staffing in the LCSO's detective bureau needed to be increased.

Additionally, improving communication between detectives and patrol deputies is vital in solving a greater number of property crimes, Kozak said.

When asked what training the candidates would prioritize for deputies, Kozak said LCSO tends to have the same trainings year after year. If elected, he'd emphasize things like use-of-force training, with hands-on exercises and tests, which he said was done on a monthly basis during his tenure with CPD. It would also be important to make sure deputies are trained on constitutional issues, especially search and seizure.

Kozak said there is a culture of sexual harassment within the sheriff's office, so training on that topic, a "zero-tolerance policy" and accountability is necessary.

Barnes said he was "extremely concerned that every day more and more of our constitutional rights are being eroded," and that under his leadership, LCSO deputies would "never violate your constitutional rights." He said he would provide training "on all aspects of the Constitution, especially those that relate to law enforcement." He said it was imperative for deputies to not only understand the U.S. Constitution, but "to believe in it."

There would also be an effort to better train deputies — both on patrol and in the jail — on interacting with people who are mentally ill, Barnes said. There would also be an increased emphasis on collaboration in all areas with other agencies.

Barnes said it was his "dream" to "have 100% of our deputies specialized in crisis intervention training."

Hannah Black is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's criminal justice reporter. She can be reached at hblack@wyomingnews.com or 307-633-3128. Follow her on Twitter at @hannahcblack.