Rod Carroll officially announced his candidacy for the 2016 election to fill the seat of retiring Jefferson County Sheriff Mitch Woods Monday afternoon in Beaumont.

Carroll, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office assistant deputy chief of corrections, is entering the race with John “QB Stevenson, a former constable who ran in the Democratic primary against Woods in 2012.

Carroll said his 27 years experience in law enforcement — 22 of which spent with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office — and his status as a former business owner give him a unique perspective encompassing both the daily operations of the Sheriff’s Office and the financial knowledge to responsibly manage the department’s $41 million budget.

“The next sheriff must understand that he must be efficient and effective with tax dollars and above all else he must be a good steward of tax payers’ money while providing the best service available to the community that we serve,” Carroll said in a statement Tuesday.

In his law enforcement career, Carroll has worked in patrol, criminal investigations, field training, SWAT, the public information office, community oriented policing and assistant chief deputy. He holds two Officer of the Year awards and two Life Saving awards.

Stevenson, who held the elected Precinct 6 Constable position from 1996 to 2012, was the first to announce his candidacy for sheriff after Woods said he would not run for re-election in 2016, the end of his fifth term — although Stevenson said he was running regardless of Wood’s announcement.

Stevenson is now chief deputy in the Constable’s Office for Precinct 1 in Beaumont.