Sheriff candidates speak to Republican Women meeting as election nears

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - After 11 years with Kevin Thom at the helm at the Pennington County Sheriffs Office, it’s time for voters to pick a new Sheriff. Brian Mueller and Ryan Mechaley, the two candidates, were guest speakers at the monthly meeting of Pennington County Republican Women.

Mueller, current chief deputy with the Sheriff’s office, says one of the major issues facing local law enforcement is drug-related crimes.

He says the office has made strides in that front, and as Sheriff, he’ll continue to focus on the problem.

“We’ve been hitting that head-on, we’re continuing to arrest drug offenders at a record rate, and we’ll continue to do that if I’m elected Sheriff.”

Mueller says there’s been a drop in overall crime between 2020 and 2021. Mechaley however says that drug related crime is still an ongoing and growing issue.

He says he looks forward to finding solutions to this, and other issues from an outsider’s perspective.

“I’m going to be able to bring new stakeholders to the table and bring new vision and goals and ideas of how to take this approach to get crime, substance abuse, mental health issues to the forefront and finding tangible solutions for them.”

Mechaley says under the current leadership of the Sheriff’s Office, fewer criminals have been put in jail.

The election to select the next Sheriff takes place June 7th.

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