JON ANDERSON FOR SHERIFF

My name is Jon Anderson, and I am running for Sheriff of Ottawa County. I am a resident of Grand Haven Township and love everything about living here. I want to be your next sheriff for a couple of reasons. First, I have chosen Ottawa County. I did not move here due to family obligations, a job, etc. I moved here because I love the area, the people, and the safety. I also still have a strong desire and ability to affect the necessary changes to boost morale and increase the recruiting and retention of quality personnel.

I moved to Michigan in 2016 from Southern California, where I worked 30 years in law enforcement, retiring as a Sheriff’s Captain/Commander from the Riverside Sheriff’s Department. The Riverside Sheriff’s Department is a large, complex law enforcement agency with nearly 5,000 employees, five regional jails with over 7,000 beds total, multiple special teams, and an annual budget of nearly $1 billion.   The county encompasses 7,300 square miles with approximately 2.5 million residents. In my final assignment, I was the commander of our Joint Terrorism Task Force, and we participated in 287g, the program to identify illegal immigrants in the county jail and work with ICE to remove them, and I was the commander of our Human Trafficking Task Force. I also taught Community Policing at a community college and the sheriff’s regional academy.

Since my retirement from the sheriff’s department, I have gained valuable experience in both the private sector as well as Michigan law enforcement agencies, working for the Detroit Tigers Security, the Livingston County (MI) Sheriff’s Cold Case Homicide Team, Spectrum Health Security/PA 330 police, General Motors, and currently as the co-owner of Bullet Hole Firearms and Training in Holland.

The experience I have gained in the private sector since retiring from the sheriff’s department has given me a much broader perspective on law enforcement. I have worked with other law enforcement officials over the past several years to create a “rebranding” of the profession. Law enforcement officers have historically been seen as warriors for their communities. While the time will still come for them to act in that role, law enforcement officers should be view as the ambassadors of their communities, identifying the stakeholders in those communities in order to marshal resources to solve problems and create a better quality of life for themselves and their communities.

I am a conservative Republican. I am fiscally conservative and conservative when it comes to crime and our constitutional rights. I sincerely believe in constitutional and personal rights. I will be a sheriff for all people in the county. I possess two college degrees and have numerous certifications. I enjoy spending time with my grandkids, participating in all the great events in the county, and traveling in our RV with my wife and dog.

It is long past time to bring the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department into modern times by reducing the excessive management/executive ranks, updating the out-of-date uniforms, and providing the tools and policies needed to keep Ottawa County safe as we become the fastest growing county in the state. Many have used a variation of this quote for decades: “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” I believe I’m a good man, and I intend to do something! This is why I am running for sheriff.