By Tom Watt for Sheriff of Grayson County
I hope this finds you enjoying a great start to 2016! It has definitely been an unusual week between Christmas and New Year’s Day in the race for Grayson County Sheriff. The big news is the resignation of David Russell from the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office due to, in his own words, a pending investigation.
As a 32-year law enforcement officer and retired Chief of Police, I know that effective law enforcement requires that the people trust those sworn to uphold the law and those sworn to uphold the law must live up to that trust. Integrity, transparency, wisdom and competence all play a part in establishing this trust. Secrecy, aborted investigations and veiled explanations destroy that trust. For example, when a high ranking official resigns pending an investigation, the public has an expectation to know what the complaint was, or at least what the complaint is about.
Early in my career as a law enforcement administrator I served as the Operations Commander at Sherman PD. My mentor, friend and supervisor, Chief Jerry Caylor, engrained in me the understanding that difficult situations arise in law enforcement all the time. The public will judge you not in regard to the difficult situation, but in how you handle the situation and whether it is handled openly and honestly. “It’s not when the bad thing happens, it’s how you respond when it does.” That has been proven to me many times throughout my career. The public wants and needs the chief law enforcement officer of the county to be a leader who can deal with stressful situations in an open, honest and transparent manner. After all, as public servants, we are doing the people’s business and the people have the right to know.
I’ll be the first to acknowledge the major contributions Sheriff Keith Gary has made to our county. He has served the citizens with pride, dignity and respect. Unfortunately, his leadership team has not. His leadership team failed to fulfill their duties to the citizens of Grayson County. His leadership team has simply not lived up to his high standards. We have all witnessed their failures in the recent past. Whether it be the theft of confiscated weapons by the supervisor responsible for overseeing them, the falsified training reports made to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, or the undisclosed investigation aborted by the recent resignation of Mr. Russell, it’s time for a reassessment of the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office leadership team. I will always respect Sheriff Gary, but we must recognize the shortcomings of his current administration for the good of the people of Grayson County.
I will continue to focus on my proven track record of integrity, experience and professionalism throughout the remainder of this campaign. I promise you I will never forget that my job as Sheriff is to protect and serve the people of Grayson County openly and honestly. If you would like to follow my campaign, please ‘like’ my page. Thank you for your support. I appreciate you.
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