Election results: San Bernardino Sheriff Shannon Dicus elected to first full term with 73% of vote
Shannon Dicus has won his first election bid as incumbent sheriff of San Bernardino County and will embark on his first full term in the position he took over by appointment nearly a year ago.
With 100% of precincts reporting Dicus had accrued 73.9% (77,920) of the vote compared to about 27,528 (26.1%) of such votes for his challenger, retired deputy-turned-private investigator Clifton Lee Harris.
“I am completely overwhelmed with the support from the voters of San Bernardino County,” Dicus told the Daily Press in a statement Wednesday. “Votes are still being calculated but based on the current ballot returns, we are confident that we are going to win. I want to thank the voters of San Bernardino County for their support and trust. I’m excited to get back to work and address the critical issues in our region.”
The sheriff’s race has been a particularly contentious one-on-one bout this year with Harris leveling numerous critiques against not just Dicus, but the current law-enforcement regime more broadly. He publicly sparred with District Attorney Jason Anderson over the issue of officer shootings he felt should’ve resulted in prosecution of deputies.
Local results: 2022 Victorville-Area Election Numbers
The early results Tuesday night indicate that enough voters this year may fall on the opposite end of Harris’ pitch for “top to bottom” change, instead favoring Dicus’ platform as an incumbent promoting institutional knowledge, community engagement, and vigorous enforcement on behalf of the traditional law-abiding citizen.
Dicus has been a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s employee since 1991 and served as undersheriff before being appointed as the county’s 36th chief law-enforcement officer on July 16, 2021, when former Sheriff John McMahon’s retirement took effect.
According to his campaign website, Dicus served earlier as a military policeman in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division and a federal officer with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He says these pre-Sheriff's Department stints bring his total law-enforcement experience to 34 years.
Dicus has staked out goals since taking over as sheriff that include getting body-worn cameras on deputies, cutting down on repeat offenses by individuals who serve jail sentences, and using civil penalties to crackdown on a proliferation of illegal pot farming in the High Desert.
His challenger, Harris, would be the county’s first Black sheriff if elected. He previously ran for sheriff in 2010 and 2014.
Harris worked for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department from 1974 to 1990 in various roles, including patrol officer, jailor, and homicide investigator. He joined the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department until 1998, then became a training sergeant for the San Manuel Department of Public Safety from 2000 to 2004, and has been a licensed private investigator since 2007 “working on high-profile officer-involved shootings of unarmed citizens,” as he describes it.
A core piece of evidence Dicus sold to voters this year is his role at the helm of Operation Hammer Strike, which launched late last August and has seen the Sheriff’s Department seize hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cannabis and a likely similar dollar-value of other illicit goods such as guns and vehicles.
Dicus also pitched his experience in lobbying, and getting law-enforcement goals to the forefront of the legislative process.
“The difference between my opponent and me is I’ve had command-level and executive-level experience, which is critical to understanding how law-enforcement agencies are funded,” Dicus told the Daily Press last month. “It’s an $800 million business. You just can’t walk into it.”
Charlie McGee covers California’s High Desert for the Daily Press, focusing on the city of Barstow and its surrounding communities. He is also a Report for America corps member with The GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world. McGee may be reached at 760-955-5341 or cmcgee@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @bycharliemcgee.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: San Bernardino Sheriff Shannon Dicus elected to first full term
