La Plata County Sheriff Duke Shirard and Sean Smith, one of his deputies who wants to be sheriff, will present their positions today for the November election.
The debate, sponsored by the Violence Prevention Coalition, is scheduled from 8:30 to 10 a.m. in the Animas Room of the Extension Building at the La Plata County Fairgrounds.
Former state Sen. Jim Dyer will be the moderator.
Shirard, who is looking for a sixth term, is beginning his 20th year as sheriff. He has been in law enforcement for 40 years.
He cites his accomplishments, among them: construction of a 911 dispatch center in Bodo Industrial Park, bringing a juvenile detention center to Durango, overseeing a big expansion of the county jail and promoting programs that keep people out of jail, including ankle-bracelet monitoring and intensive classes to change behavior.
Smith, who became a La Plata County sheriff’s deputy in 2000 and came back in 2012 from two years in a Department of Justice job in Oklahoma, wants to reallocate the department’s $14 million budget.
He says it doesn’t make sense to have a half-dozen deputies on the road and have 10 watching over a jail population that has decreased from 200 inmates a day to 120 per day.
He was a member of a team that acquired hybrid vehicles for the department. The research found a car that requires little maintenance and is fuel-efficient.
Smith also wants to introduce other sustainable practices.
Gail Lovell, former coalition financial officer, said the exchange of each candidate’s position is more than political. It’s educational in it will allow some 20 coalition partners to gauge the man who will be the face of the office.
Other law-enforcement agencies in the 6th Judicial District and organizations that provide services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault form the coalition, which was created 20 years ago.
Lovell said the coalition is dissolving in the next few months because it has prepared the way for law enforcement agencies and violence-response organizations to carry on without coordination.
Funding also is becoming harder to come by, she said.
daler@durangoherald.com
