In the election for sheriff in Ada County, Clifford and Traubel face each other again

ADA COUNTY, Idaho – Sheriff Matthew Clifford seeks re-election with plans for new technology and mental health initiatives; Challenger Doug Traubel is pushing to restore the program, saying his constitutional views and experience in policing will help residents defend quality of life and their rights.

• Ada County voters will decide between incumbent Sheriff Matthew Clifford and his challenger Doug Traubel.
• Clifford wants to address mental health, implement new technology and create an in-house DNA crime lab.
• Traubel suggests restoring county programs such as the gang unit and improving the reserve deputy program.

(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)

It's a repeat in the race for Ada County sheriff – incumbent Matthew Clifford and challenger Doug Traubel are back on the ballot.

Sheriff Clifford has been with the Ada County Sheriff's Office for 24 years, the last three as sheriff, and is seeking re-election.

Clifford says: “I started here in my early 20s and worked my way through the ranks of all these different agency offices. I definitely don't want to make a U-turn and give up something that I've helped build since I was a teenager. “Dude.”

Traubel's 32 years in law enforcement began in California, but since 1994 he has lived in Idaho, where he worked for several agencies, including Ada County.

He has been open about his beliefs, so I asked him to explain some of the ideas presented in his books.

He tells me he feels sheriff's offices are steeped in Marxist philosophies, forcing deputies to “choke implicit bias training.”

Traubel is running for sheriff for the third time and says he doesn't like the direction the county is headed.

“I have that lens, that constitutional lens, and I have the real police experience. It's a mix; it's a balance between defending your rights, fighting crime and not becoming a police state, and that's why I say that people came here out of nowhere.” Areas where there is crime, and they want to a sheriff who defends the quality of life and their rights,” says Traubel.

Clifford says he would prioritize mental health in the sheriff's office, implement new technology for the county jail and dispatch center and create the county's own DNA crime lab.

“Nothing for the state, but they do it for all of Idaho, so it's a big burden on them, but we're doing it internally, and by the end of next year I'll have DNA technology in our crime lab. “That said. “A big project of mine that I'm most excited about is establishing our own DNA crime lab here in Ada County so we can solve crimes and find suspects faster than ever before,” says Clifford.

To combat crime, Traubel wants to create new programs and restore the county's gang unit, warrant team and reserve deputy program.

Traubel says, “It’s healthy because it gives us more staff, but it also bridges the gap between citizen and sheriff. You know, think about the treaty cities of Kuna, Eagle and Star, if I only had a handful of reserves. “If I put a reserve deputy in the car with a full-time deputy in those contract cities, I have doubled the performance of that car , without doubling the burden on taxpayers.”