One thing a great mentor taught me is that a police manager doesn't make their organization succeed; it is collectively the people of the organization that make it succeed. Managers give inspiration, support and leadership, from that the staff will make the organization a success or a failure. Another thing a good police manager should do is give credit where credit is due. As an executive officer, I don't have time to create and build programs, my staff builds those programs. I support, endorse and guide their work. It is my responsibility to work for my staff to get them what they need so they succeed in their assignment. Their success makes our communities safer, smarter and more prepared. Sheriff Dave Weaver promotes this among his staff.

Castle Rock Police Captain John Anderson has made many statements in his bid to get himself elected that on face value assert that he has a wealth of great ideas and "visions" that he can offer Douglas County. Just like a stereotypical politician, he assumes voters are ignorant to the truth that most of "his visions" are already realities, instituted by the Douglas County Sheriff, because they are good for the community and make fiscal sense. He also has other "visions" that are poorly planned and ineffective for Douglas County. John needs to stop taking credit for the hard work of others.

The jail car system that he proposes was evaluated and would burden the county budget with minimal returns. Officers taking their prisoners to jail spend time completing agency reports, processing evidence and completing other statutorily required paperwork. These officers are who we strive to get back in service quickly. What he fails to consider is that when a person is arrested and the officer is sitting idle in their district with a prisoner waiting for his "jail car," they still cannot respond to calls for service. Plus, the true number of arrests each day simply does not justify a full-time around-the-clock transport unit. Ultimately, the idea translates to a large expense, which should be directed to proactive and responsive patrol officers.

"Strike forces", task forces or collaborative sessions all amount to more than one person getting with others to address a problem. Anderson's "vision" of bringing the drug unit back to Douglas County doesn't make sense either. Since Castle Rock Police Department (the agency that Anderson helps manage) contributes no officers to the program (just a few thousand dollars annually) they don't see the full impact. Drug users get drugs from suppliers. Those suppliers get drugs from other suppliers or manufacturers. Most of that distribution comes from areas outside Douglas County. South Metro Drug agents and officers assigned to the other organized task forces attack the problem at all levels if it impacts our community. I am glad they just don't wait for a load of methamphetamine to arrive in Douglas County, especially since they don't mark their transport vehicles so a "strike force" can easily spot them.

Assigning deputies to 6 districts so they get to know their area was done years ago. Only problem is the population grew so the Sheriff's Office has 10 districts now designed around population density and travel routes. Since we don't mandate the officer's stay within their confined district to handle calls, we are more flexible in assigning the closest unit, which realistically cannot always be the assigned district car. Are we busy serving the citizens? Sure we are. Would we like to be at every location within 5 minutes of the time of call for service? YES. It is just as important to manage the officers in the ever-changing dynamics of calls from citizen's as it is to respond to the events that are life threatening or where the chances of apprehending criminals are greater.

Douglas County Sheriff, Parker Police and Lone Tree Police already share staff on our SWAT and HAZMAT Teams (or strike forces). Plus our agencies share many other resources to make those taxpayer dollars stretch.

So what did Anderson build? "His" Victim Assistance Program was built after the Sheriff's Office program started 20 years ago. "His" Emergency Response Team (SWAT Team) was built after declining to assign staff to the existing team among the policing agencies. "His" canine unit was not the first in the county. "His" Explorer program came after Douglas County had a program for over 10 years.

"His" communications system is NOT HIS. The real story is that Douglas and Jefferson Counties joined forces to build a state of the art radio system for county-wide government use. Castle Rock Police specifically did not want to use the system as they had their "VHF channel that work's just fine for us." Ultimately the quest for radio interoperability prevailed and CRPD reluctantly joined. This radio system started in 1998 and was the catalyst of what is now the Statewide Digital Trunked Radio System. Today, the system serves 500 agencies and over 24,000 radios at local, State and Federal levels. These radios can talk to any other radio from almost anywhere in Colorado. I am glad his "vision" was corrected. Oh, and the grants "he" obtained for modernizing the communications system were Homeland Security Grant monies that the county radio technicians and emergency manager fought to get for "him." Truth be told, he never came to a meeting to ask for the money.

If Anderson is so dedicated to juveniles, why did it take CRPD over 30 days to say "Yes" to their participation in the Unified Sex Offender listing on the internet? The other two towns said "Yes" in less than 30 minutes.

In closing, Anderson's "vision" is what he see's through everyone else's eyes. Please open your eyes and see the vision of our community under the protection of the wonderful and talented staff at the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff David Weaver is making a real difference, is working to address real issues, really cares about Douglas County, and deserves your vote to continue as your Sheriff. Please vote to elect David Weaver as our Douglas County Sheriff this Tuesday, August 8 th. Visit http://DouglasVotes.com to see where you can vote early or on election day.

As a "command officer" of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office I feel it is important that the people I serve each and every day now, and for the last 22 years, get my perspective. I started as a young officer for Sheriff Zotos in 1984. I worked my way through various areas of the department and spent a lot of time in communications. Currently, I work for 217 dedicated staff assigned to the Administrative Services Bureau. Contributed by Douglas County Sheriff's Office Bureau Chief Michael D. Coleman.