John P. Simonds: Dennis Crawford would make an excellent sheriff

To the Editor:

Why I believe you should support Dennis Crawford for Sheriff:

I write this to you as a New Hampshire law enforcement officer with 31 years of law enforcement service, the last 6 years of which have been as Sheriff in Sullivan County. I am pleased to write this letter of endorsement for Dennis Crawford.

When I first met Dennis, I was working as a police officer in Merrimack County. As a local officer, I had many chances to work with deputies from the Sheriff’s Office. Dennis was one of those deputies. I always saw him as a complete professional and I saw examples of that on a regular basis.

Dennis has been with the Sheriff’s Office for over 35 years, ultimately working his way up to the rank of lieutenant. He has supervised several areas within the Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office is unique from other police agencies in that it works with both the civil side of law and criminal law. Additionally, The Sheriff is responsible for the safe movement of inmates from around the state and New England to courts in and out of Merrimack County. Dennis’ experience would allow him to take over the Sheriff’s Office with a complete understanding of what the Sheriff does. With anyone new coming into the Office, there is a learning curve. With Dennis, there will be no learning curve as he already possesses a complete understanding of the operations.

A county sheriff cannot be political in carrying out his duties. It does not make a difference if the sheriff is a Republican or Democrat in how he performs his duties. As you prepare to vote for sheriff, I ask you to step outside of political parties and cast a vote for whom you believe will best carry out the duties as sheriff. In my opinion, Dennis already possesses the knowledge to give him the ability to hit the ground running. Thus, allowing him to immediately begin working on his vision for the long-term plan of the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office.

The office of sheriff is the oldest law enforcement entity in the United States, and even more importantly, it is the only direct link that people have to their law enforcement community. The sheriff is elected and can be fired directly by the people. He answers directly to you, the people.

I encourage you to view his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CrawfordForMerrimackCounty. There you can learn more about his experience, achievements and his personal goals for the Merrimack County Sheriff's Office. You can also view his “Meet the Candidate” video that is presently being broadcast on Concord Community TV. Because I respect his continued dedicated efforts and his career achievements, I am proud to endorse Dennis Crawford for Merrimack County Sheriff.

John P. Simonds

Sullivan County Sheriff

Newport