Boone County Sheriff candidate interview: Charles Blair

BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Nia Hinson: Alright, so to start I'll have you just tell me a little bit more about yourself?

Charles Blair: Yes. So my name is Charles Blair uh I've been in law enforcement for 36 years. I've worked for four different law enforcement agencies uh I have a mast, I'm sorry, a doctorate degree in criminal justice, and a Class A Missouri peace officer license. Um I'm married, I've been married for 33 years. I have two adult children. Uh I moved to Missouri about nine years ago from the state of California after retiring from my law enforcement job out there and I came out here to really kind of relax and live a comfortable lifestyle. But no one really prepares you for retirement. After doing 32 years, I spent my entire adult life in law enforcement. Um I felt like I didn't, and I was able to retire at a young age 52. So, I felt like I had a lot more to give and I tried to join the sheriff's, or a law enforcement agency here as a reserve. I would have volunteered my time uh but nobody has a reserve program out here. So um I actually joined full time the sheriff's department as a deputy. And I wanted to do that, because I had a lot of knowledge and experience for more I, my past employers and I thought I could share that with others, and pass on that knowledge. So, I joined the Sheriff's Department and in my 32 years, at that point of law enforcement I had seen things there that I had never seen at any of the other places that I've worked before. As far as uh money being spent uh resources, equipment being used um for things that didn't benefit the community, as far as safety, or crime prevention. I also saw a lot of constitutional rights being violated there. And um surprisingly, I actually talked to some people to see if anyone would be interested. One of the good things about working there not needing the job and not needing a paycheck, was I could speak my mind freely, without fear of being fired. Because this is an at will state and believe it or not, I heard a lot of people while I was there um that were told, if you don't like it, go look for another job or stuff like that... where they had control over the employees. In the mean, in the way of employment. You either toe the line, you know, do what we say, or you'll be looking for a job elsewhere, which surprised me because, you know, as a law enforcement person, you expect some type of protection. Like if you do stuff that's, you know, um kind of against what management but you know, it's the right thing or the lawful thing to do, that you're protected when you do the right thing from being fired for no reason. And I saw a lot of people there get fired for what I thought was trivial, or just downright wrong. I mean, when I ran for sheriff in 2020 uh a deputy that was there before I even got hired and we had been working there for five years. Because he was, we were close friends while we were working there and we work the same shift and everything the day after the election, he got fired. And he showed up to work thinking everything was normal. And he was that morning, they said oh uh yeah, here's a letter your you've been terminated. And at the time, uh he's the sole income of his family, a wife, two kids, and uh a pregnant wife. So, he lost his health care and his income. Because why? Because he was associated with me? He was my friend? I just don't understand that. So, seeing the things I saw there um I decided to run for sheriff because I wanted to change, hope to change uh the way things were being operated. The current sheriff has been in office for a really long time. Uh I was the first person to oppose him in a long time uh last cycle, and I just don't have the name recognition in this. He's been around he has the name recognition and so, it, you know, I lost the election quite badly. But it's hard to convince 99% of the population who are law abiding, and never have any contact with the sheriff's office of what's going on there because they don't see it. And unless you're involved in the system some way, whether you're a victim of a crime, or you're a perpetrator of a crime, is the only way that you really have any experience with the sheriff's office. And I'm sure that even as a television station, you have experienced when you contact the sheriff's office, that you can't get ahold of anybody, that nobody wants to talk to you. And they have no comment or, you know, you're unable to reach them for comment and that's wrong. I mean, he works for the people, he answers to the people. That's why the sheriff is an elected. It's not like a chief of police, where they're appointed by a city or town council, and they work for the city or town council and if they don't abide by the council's rules and stuff like that they're fired. The sheriff answers to the voters. And I don't think he's been transparent, I don't think that he's been available. I've never since I worked there, I've never seen any kind of meetings, public meetings, forums, where the sheriff invites the public to come there and ask questions um look at things, check out equipment, see what their tax dollars are being spent on. That's another reason why I I I think it's important that they the people elect somebody who is open to that. Uh Since I've run, I actually surprisingly, because the county has uh my information, telephone number, address and stuff like that on a website Uh I am contacted a lot by people who want to speak to me about stuff that's happened to them, that their personal experience at the sheriff's department and want to tell me what's happened to them, and that they hope for a change, and what can they do to help me get elected because they believe there should be change.

Hinson: When you kind of talk about that name recognition, and how people are a little bit more familiar with Dwayne, why do you think this time will be different around um in 2024? And why? What is kind of motivating you to run again, even though you did lose uh four years ago?

Blair: So, my motivation or the reason I'm running again this time and the reason I because in 2020, I ran as a Republican and uh at that time, I I was kind of new to the county. I'd been here only few years. And uh actually, the, the Republican Party told me uh that you you won't win, you won't win an election in Boone County if you run as a Republican. And I said, Well, I can't start my campaign on a lie, you know uh and and the vote truly did go party line. Uh this time I'm running as a Democrat. First of all, I don't even know why the sheriff has to claim a party. As far as I'm concerned, it should be nonpartisan. He's supposed to work for everybody, regardless of party. But apparently, it's state law. So, I complied with state law and that's the party I kind of more aligned with. But I know, in the last 32 years, I've never chosen a party. I've never been able to express my my political views or any of my views in any kind of a form because I need to maintain neutrality. And you can't be in law enforcement, you know, they say first amendment right. You can do whatever you want, you can say and speak of what you want. But when you're in law enforcement, you can't do that because public perception whether it's right or wrong, your opinions can be used against you. So, you have to completely remain neutral and and that's what I've done. And so, this time, I figured um I would run as a Democrat, because actually the Democrat um ideology on on law enforcement, it really kind of fits more what I'm what I stand for, as far as transparency. Um I really would like to start a um citizen review board. There's a lot of Democrat ideology or our policies or thoughts that really do align with my ideas for law enforcement, you know, community policing, uh a lot of things. So, since those policies and those beliefs kind of really aligned with what I believe should be incorporated in law enforcement uh I've decided to run as a Democrat. Um it doesn't change my core values of what I truly you know what I believe in. But as far as law enforcement, I do agree with a lot of the things that the Democrat Party believes as far as law enforcement. And so now I have a more, I believe ab even playing field when it comes to the current sheriff and, and I, on running the for our campaigns. Whereas before, um I I didn't get a lot of inquiries uh about my, my campaign. A lot of people endorsed uh the current Sheriff without ever speaking with me, getting my points of view or anything like that, because of the party, the party line, which again, I don't understand why it's a partisan position.

Hinson: While we're kind of on the subject of things that you stand for, what are some of the other things that you do stand for and things that you would hope to implement if you were elected?

Blair: So again, the citizen review board uh the governor just signed some legislation just a couple of weeks ago on citizen review boards, uh and I'm all for having a citizen review board. It makes no sense to me that you would give the persons, the people that you're making complaints against the ability to investigate those complaints and make a determination whether your complaints valid or not. I mean, that's like having the fox Guard the henhouse. I mean, honestly, I mean, it makes no sense. Uh I want to get the community more involved uh the reserve deputy program that was eliminated years ago, um brings in members of the community to actually work side by side with deputies out in the field, and have some type of um they have the ability to see what the sheriff's department's doing. You know, everybody that's currently there is under the control of the sheriff. So, they do it because their paychecks depend on it. If you're a volunteer, you have no stake in losing income or anything like that so you can have a more honest view of what's happening and you can share that view with others without fear of being fired or anything like that. Uh I want to reimplement the Explorer program that was eliminated. The Explorer program is great a program for young men and women to learn about law enforcement, to actually participate in law enforcement activities. And hopefully, um where they can decide whether or not they want to even start a career in law enforcement. I got started as an explorer. And I didn't explorers for like six years and that's literally how when I graduated from high school, the agency I was working for as an explorer, they hired me as a full time employee. It creates a place for you to um pull new hires from the Reserve Program and from the Explorer program. Um I want to bring back the school resource officer program. Um I thought it was eliminated but what he did was he gave it back to the local control. In other words, like Hallsville, now the Hallsville police department's responsible for having the SRO. Ashland is uh their police departments responsible. They have an SRO in Harrisburg and Sturgeon. But I don't understand why he gave the control away. Uh It's great public relations to have a school resource officer in the school. Kids get to see the human side of of police as as they grow up in, you know, are absorbing information. And based on how that school resource officer um acts in school, they might even decide that they want a career in law enforcement. Um what else? I'd like to, like I said, I'd like to have like public forums where the like, say, I don't know if it quarterly or semi annually, something where we have like an open house, and I can invite people to the sheriff's office and I can answer any questions, concerns. Uh I don't think we've ever heard from the sheriff. I don't think people hear from him at all. He usually has like a public affairs person that speaks for him. And quite frankly, when I was working as a deputy, a lot of people every day, uh when I was out on uniform, they would approach me and say, are you the sheriff? Because of my age. You know, they're like, why is this old guy out on patrol? And I'd say no, I'm not the sheriff. And I would ask them, you know, how long have you worked at the sheriff's office, I mean how long have you lived in Boone County? And they'd say, Oh I've lived here all my life and I'd say you don't even know who your sheriff is and they're like no. So, I mean, there's a lot of things that need to be changed. Uh I think that he should be going to all he's the chief law enforcement officer for the county. He should be going to everybody's city or town council meetings. Those are the people he works for too. He should be listening to their concerns at those meetings and addressing concerns, or be available to ask questions to by those people and he's just not doing it.

Hinson: And then um kind of a big thing for any county is crime. What ways would you look at driving some of the crime down in Boone County?

Blair: Well, we have to get people out there. I mean uh patrol deputies in view, handling calls, responding to people's needs is number one. I mean, there's a lot of places where I drove in Boone County as a deputy where I drive down some street because I was new to the area so I was curious, and I would drive all over the county. And I drive down the street and people would flag you down and they're like what's going on? I'm like, What are you talking about? and they're like, we haven't seen a deputy come down this road in like two or three years. So what's going on? And I'm like, nothing. I'm just patrolling. And they're like, oh my gosh, Really? We haven't seen anybody, you know? Um you got to get people out there. You got to get people out there in the communities talking to people. I mean, the police departments qne the sheriff's department is useless without the people other than on view stuff. And we just don't have that many deputies to patrol. You know, I think it's some 400 miles, or 400 square miles or something like that t he county is. There's just not enough deputies to cover it all. But you got to get people out there first and you got to get people who are also willing to call and feel comfortable about calling and asking the you know sheriff's department to investigate things. Or I saw something that looks suspicious. And not being brushed off or feel like that you're being minimized, like you're bothering them. And I know it's even happened to me. I you know, I've called they don't know who I am on the phone. And I I feel like sometimes that they feel like I'm I feel like I'm bothering them. The questions that they answer me or ask me and stuff like that, I feel like I'm bothering them. And you should never feel that way. I mean, after all, they work for you and they're they're supposed to um attend to your needs and your wants and if that's not happening, people aren't calling.

Hinson: And then you kind of spoke to it already but what things kind of separate you from Dwayne? I know you mentioned he's been in the position for quite a while, so why should people feel okay with voting for you now and kind of taking that step away from Dwayne?

Blair: If you're okay with tax dollars being spent on accreditations that mean nothing? Uh covid de-sanitizers that the state said don't use it, we don't recommend it. There's no scientific proof it works. Um equipment like I said equipment that doesn't help prevent crime or make things safer, wasting resources that don't make the county safer or, you know, decrease crime uh stay with Carey. If you're for transparency, accountability as far as spending of tax style dollars, not wasting money um using all the resources that we have to benefit the citizens that live here to make it safer and to prevent crime, then I'm the candidate for that.

Hinson: Is there anything else that you want to add? I think those are all my questions.

Blair: So uh just something that interesting that came up and and one of the barriers that I have as far as the election and and what I think is like unfair advantage is last night at the library we had a league of women voters um candidate forum. And I thought it was awful odd that my opponent last night admitted to the public last night that uh the Boone County Democrat Party um endorses him. They refused to accept my $100 candidate filing fee and that I am a uh MAGA Republican. And I find it interesting that one person, the chair at the Boone County Democrat Party, has decided who's going to be the candidate for sheriff. When I thought that was the voter's decision, that the voters are the ones who decide who's going to be their candidate, and that's the way it should be.

Hinson: Anything else?

Blair: No, I think that's it.

Hinson: Thank you, I appreciate your time.

Blair: Not a problem, thank you.