[T]he wait for a rematch in the race for Orleans County sheriff didn’t last long.
That’s because the two candidates vying for the sheriff’s post in Tuesday’s general election faced off in August in the Republican primary.
In that GOP contest, incumbent Sheriff Kirk Martin, who has held the job for a decade, bested challenger Jennifer Harlow Jacobs, a detective with the Newport Police Department, by a vote of 1,307 to 914, according to results from the Secretary of State’s website.
However, Harlow Jacobs gained enough write-in votes on the Democratic ticket, where no one ran for sheriff in the primary, to secure that party’s nomination in the general election.
In fact, that Democratic primary proved to be a race between Harlow Jacobs and Martin, too, with Harlow Jacobs receiving 313 write-in votes to 293 for Martin.
Harlow Jacobs said Tuesday that she’s hopeful a greater turnout of voters in Tuesday’s general election can propel her to victory.
“There are a lot of people that don’t go out for the primary and vote,” she said, adding that she sees the post of sheriff as a nonpartisan position.
Martin could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
However, after the primary Martin told the Caledonian Record, “I am surprised she jumped parties to the Democratic Party.”
He added, “Other than that, we’ll see what happens in November.”
The Orleans County race is one of six contested sheriff’s races across Vermont’s 14 counties in the elections on Nov. 6. Other races are in Addison, Bennington, Caledonia, Franklin and Rutland counties.
And while top of the ballot races from governor further down to seats in the Statehouse typically garner greater attention, the post of the county’s top cop holds significant power and sway.
“The office of sheriff is a major law enforcement agency in each county and carries out various enforcement actions,” said Jay Diaz, a staff attorney for the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “The fact that we can elect that person is very meaningful.”
Sheriff departments do everything from serve eviction notices to investigate crimes, he said, and in some of the most rural of Vermont’s counties they are among the few law enforcement agencies available to residents.
Diaz also referred to a recent Seven Days report regarding finances of sheriff’s departments, and a state law that permits sheriff’s to pocket up 5 percent of revenue from contracting services.
A sheriff should be “transparent and accountable in their contracts,” Diaz said. “I think it’s important they are held accountable to ethical standards to ensure they are not wasting not taxpayers money.”
Who is elected sheriff can have an effect far beyond the county that votes for the person, he added.
“I really can’t emphasize enough how significant their voice is in the Legislature and the policy world,” Diaz said. “They are involved and their voice holds a lot of weight.”
Harlow Jacobs, the challenger in Orleans County, said, if elected, one of her long-term goals would be to make the rural, northern Vermont sheriff’s department a 24/7 force. “So that when people call they know that police are going to be responding to those calls,” she said.
“Obviously, there could still be a lag in response depending on what’s going on,” Harlow Jacobs added, “but it would be much more efficient having somebody on the road than having somebody on call who would have to get up.”
Currently, she said, the Newport Police Department is the only 24/7 department in Orleans County.
Harlow Jacobs added she would also like to pursue grants to broaden the department’s coverage.
She has worked for the Newport Police since 2004, and is assigned to the Orleans County special investigations unit. In that job, she investigates cases of child and domestic abuse and sex offenses.
Martin, her opponent, has served in the position for 10 years, first appointed to the post in 2008 by then-Gov. Jim Douglas.
In another hotly contested race, Addison County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Peter Newton is running against former Bristol Police Chief Kevin Gibbs.
The two men are seeking to replace longtime Addison County Sheriff Don Keeler, who is not running for re-election to another four-year term. Newton defeated Ron Holmes, a former deputy in the department, in the Democratic primary in August.
Gibbs, 58, is running as an independent.
“I think that the sheriff’s department is a resource for the county that is really under-utilized,” Gibbs, who retired about a year ago after 25 years as police chief in Bristol, said Tuesday. “They could be, to use a military term here, a force multiplier for the state police.”
If elected, Gibbs said, he would push for increased training for deputies in the areas of detecting illegal drug use, trafficking and drugged-driving.
“The focus has always been for as long as I’ve been here on just doing traffic patrol, just writing tickets and generating revenue for municipalities,” Gibbs said.
“You can still do the traffic enforcement,” he added, “but I think looking for things beyond the traffic stop is something that’s really lacking and something that can be improved upon.”
Gibbs also talked of “researching” opening a jail in Addison County to serve as a short-term lockup for lodged prisoners before they make their initial court appearance following an arrest.
“We could save a lot of time for officers throughout the county who are transporting prisoners from their local jurisdiction to places outside the county,” he said. “Instead of being out of service for up to three hours, they could reduce that down to an hour.”
Currently, the closest such facilities are in Rutland or Chittenden counties.
Newton, 46, started at the sheriff’s department in 2012, working his way up the ranks to lieutenant. He previously worked for the Middlebury Police Department, beginning there in 2003 until moving to the sheriff’s office.
He said he wants to keep the department on the same path it’s currently on under Sheriff Keebler, who has endorsed his candidacy.
“We’ll make a few minor additions and changes here and there along the way, but nothing major,” he said. “I think for the most part we run as a pretty good department.”
Newton talked of wanting to add a canine to the department to help in a variety of areas, from tracking down fleeing suspects to detecting drugs.
Also, he supports boosting commercial motor vehicle efforts and establishing a countywide school resource officer for schools around the county without one.
“Everyone tells me to relax, I got this, but it’s kind of hard to relax,” Newton said of the race. “This is a big job and it’s not to be taken lightly.”
In Franklin County, Roger Langevin, a Democrat, and member of the St. Albans Police Department, is competing against Republican Tom Oliver, a captain and chief deputy in the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department. They are vying for the position held by Sheriff Robert Norris, who is not running.
Elsewhere the incumbents are still in the race.
In Bennington, incumbent Sheriff Chad Schmidt is running against challengers James Gulley Jr. and Beau Alexander Sr., both independents.
In Caledonia County, Sheriff Dean Shatney, a Republican, is facing a challenge from Scott Keene, an independent, who works for the Stowe Police Department.
And in the Rutland County sheriff’s race, incumbent Steven Benard, a Republican, is up against Scott Goodhue, an independent.
