Boulder County sheriff candidates vie for support at Latino community forum
May 26—While both candidates vying for the position as the new Boulder County sheriff were ready to unveil their plans for policing throughout the county, at a community forum hosted by the Latino Chamber of Commerce, questions about gun control and recent school shootings were asked.
The online forum was organized to allow Louisville Police Chief David Hayes and Boulder County sheriff's deputy Curtis Johnson a chance to speak directly to residents about issues important to Latinx business owners and the community.
"Yet another tragedy in the great state of Texas. One of several in my career and most of our lifetimes," Hayes said. "I think we do need to address gun control, unfortunately I'm not sure it's going to come from Washington."
He said there are a number of cities in Boulder County, as well as the Boulder County commissioners, that are considering adopting gun control measures and he does support them.
"I also understand that we have a Second Amendment ... we have to be careful with that. At the time when that was created we were talking about muskets ... now we're talking about automatic weapons," Hayes said.
Johnson said he believes the best gun control laws come from the federal level of government and he agreed they have failed to act.
"Even our state legislators struggle to pass bills that effectively control guns in our community. I am all for common sense gun control measures," he said, adding that even though it has been more than 20 years since the Columbine shooting, the United States still has not done enough to keep gun violence out of our communities, in particular, mass shootings.
"We've experienced it locally just over a year ago at our King Soopers store on Table Mesa and that impacted us directly. It's a challenging issue, especially here in Colorado," Johnson said.
Berenice Garcia Tellez, chair of the Latino Chamber of Commerce and who moderated the forum, one of the most important things both candidates can do is learn more about the Latino culture. She asked both candidates their engagement strategy with Latinos and how they plan to outreach to diversify their workforce.
Johnson's solution is to find the right people to work through recruitment. He said he believes people want to work with people who are like them and he's committed to bring more Latinos into law enforcement. He'd like to set aside at least two employees to work full-time, connecting with traditionally underserved communities.
"The more we can broaden the scope of people in our organization, that people feel comfortable and have peers that are like them, the better we can do. And the better recruiting we can do," he said.
Hayes disagreed that recruiting should only be handled only by a couple of people.
"I think that's all of our jobs. I think it's from the sheriff's job on down. We need to make sure our staff knows what we're looking for, who we're looking for, the qualities we're looking for."
Hayes also said he wants to get officers back into the Boulder Valley School District, admitting there have been some missteps by officers in the past, but that is where they are able to make contact with youths.
When asked why there is a high Latino population on average, Johnson said the jail is one of the biggest problems at the sheriff's office.
"The first thing we have to do is address the inherent biases that exist in the criminal justice system. As a leader of the sheriff's office, that begins with teaching and training," Johnson said.
Hayes said he agreed the jail is a big concern and said they aren't arresting people unnecessarily.
"I think the jail is really designed to make sure that No. 1, the community is safe, the victim is safe, and that the person is going to make a court appearance," Hayes said.
The primary election is June 28. More information can be found on Hayes at hayesforbouldercountysheriff.com/meet-dave/, and Johnson's information is available at johnsonforboco.com/about.
