Issues

As far as the responsibilities of overseeing Saunders County Corrections, I don't see it as a problem in the future.  Currently the county has an administrator (Brian Styskal) who oversees the complete operations of our corrections department.  While Sheriff Stukenholtz does oversee that position, the normal day to day operations and management are done by Brian.

If it were to become too much with growth in the county, I would probably recommend that the two departments become a separate entity that have totally separate budgets.  This would allow a more transparent view by taxpayers of to what area their money actually is going to.

Our deputies are currently required to receive training yearly on implicit-bias based training.  With that being said, I believe in finding training that is both meaningful and beneficial to our staff.  It is so easy to "just get the hours in" and not actually have it be too beneficial to the individual deputy.  Finding training that interests the deputies and that truly educates them to a higher level of service to the community is crucial.

With the numbers of gun sales being up and the concealed carry licenses going up every day that does cause more concern for law enforcement when responding to calls, conducting traffic stops, and dealing with individuals.  With that being said however, we very seldom have issues with concealed carry permit holders and legal gun owners in the county.  I think that responses to these situations also can be de-escalated by the proper training to each of our deputies.  I believe that in this situation "knowledge is power" certainly stands true.

To address the situation of your two nephews, I can certainly say that as both a current Sergeant or the next future Sheriff, I will make certain that every individual is treated the same no matter what gender, race, or ethnicity they are.  I have always felt that no matter what the situation you are dealing with an individual, they deserve the same respect as you would want yourself.  As an example to this, I have actually had individuals that have reached out to me for yard signs that I have arrested even for serious charges.  I feel that this is because of the way that I have treated them in their situation.  If I ever hear of one of our deputies treating someone differently or unjustly, you can be assured that I will address it immediately.