It was very disturbing to me to read letters from readers who are either ill informed or have a concealed political motive to injure the integrity and good name of individuals. With the election for sheriff coming up this year, I'm sure there will be those who will make many misguided and false comments about harassment at the Sheriff's Department. Their hope is to confuse the voters in hopes that their unknown candidate can steal the election.
I'm glad the county finally allowed one of the sexual harassment suits against the sheriff's office to go to trial. We saw how fast the jury threw out all the allegations. I must say that the county acted stupidly by allowing the previous settlements, over Sheriff Christianson's objections, especially when they knew the election for sheriff was coming up this year. They opened the floodgates for all who want to abuse the system for political and monetary gain.
Even with our depressed economy, Sheriff Christianson's department has lowered the crime rate in the area they patrol to the lowest rate since 1981.  The auto thefts are amazingly down 46 percent since 2005 and property theft is down 30 percent since 2005. They also have more successful rural crime and gang suppression programs. There are many other achievements that are too numerous to mention here. I would like to thank the sheriff, and his department, for a job that is being well done.