For the first time in almost two decades, Jefferson County voters in the Democratic Primary will be selecting a candidate for sheriff without one of the choices being incumbent Mitch Woods, who is retiring at the end of his term. Three candidates have tossed their hats into the ring and of those three, Rod Carroll, assistant deputy chief/corrections, would be the best choice for Democrats to elect to face Ray Beck in the general election in November. Beck is uncontested in the Republican Primary.

The police officer associations for Port Arthur, Port Neches, Nederland, Groves, Beaumont and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department have all endorsed Carroll, as have the Beaumont Firefighters Local and Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas. His 27 years of experience along with two Officer of the Year awards and two Life Saving Awards plus numerous other commendations are strong indications that Carroll has the passion for law enforcement needed in the county’s top law enforcement position.

The safety of Jefferson County’s residents and meeting the required standards for the jail would be Carroll’s priorities as sheriff. He believes that sheriff’s deputies must do a better job of communicating with the public and wants to bring a community policing program to the department. He believes having experienced deputies in high schools teaching criminal justice would build relationships with teens that would be beneficial to the students and to law enforcement far into the future. He also is a proponent of a law enforcement Explorer program for teens that would train the people who would be the future work force for law enforcement agencies throughout the county.

The Sheriff’s Department has a $41 million budget and of that, $27 million — about two-thirds —is for jail operations. Carroll is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a master’s degree in public administration, strong qualifications for protecting taxpayers’ dollars in the county’s largest department. Carroll is a graduate of the Texas A&M Regional Police Academy and also has a master’s degree in criminal justice leadership from Sam Houston State University. He also earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering from Texas A&M University.

Degrees and endorsements don’t necessarily qualify a person for a position like Jefferson County sheriff, but Carroll’s lifetime of learning and applying the lessons as CEO of State Care EMS, as a volunteer firefighter, as a paramedic, as a police officer and as a sheriff’s deputy have given Carroll the experience needed to serve the people of Jefferson County and the vision needed to lead the Sheriff’s Department into the future.