The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

James Baker wants to be the new sheriff in Grant County, and feels that his having not worked for the sheriff's office in the past would benefit the county.

"A new perspective can get the office on track," Baker, who has spent most of his life in the county, told The Star. "A new fresh set of eyes, a new perspective, can get the office on track. I have administrative and office experience that the other guys don't have as much of. They haven't started or ran their own business."

Baker, a third-generation Grant County farmer, runs a business farming potatoes on land throughout Grant County, working with different landlords and their crop rotation, with potatoes only being able to grow on a chunk of land every four years.

Baker says he has experienced first hand the issues of suffering from crime in Grant County, and has seen the shortcomings of the sheriff's department.

"I've had the experience of being the victim of a hit-and-run accident and had to wait two hours for a deputy to arrive to write up a report because the Grant County Sheriff's Office is over worked and understaffed," he says on his website. "I've had multiple experiences of property theft at my farm and on job sites and then told by the sheriff's office that they can take a statement over the phone because property theft is a victimless crime due to my ability to file an insurance claim.  The sheriff's office doesn't understand that business owners and agricultural workers who don't have government insurance can only file two to three claims before we're dropped from our insurance - which means we can't operate. I've had the experience of dealing with deputies who are worn out, unmotivated, and who feel unsupported by their community and their agency. That's been my experience."

He told The Star that morale is a huge issue facing Grant County in terms of law enforcement, as well as staffing shortages. "It's hard to police without people," he says.

"The whole state and country is having problems," he said about issues facing law enforcement. "I think it has to do with culture and morale inside the department. We need to put officers first, and less emphasis on administration and more on the officers on the street. We also need to work more on community involvement."

"I am purely doing this for Grant County," he said about his campaign, "not for financial gain."

"I think the attitude in the county is that people are fed up and tired of feeling like not enough is happening," he said, adding that people's disappointment in law enforcement sometimes leads them to taking the law into their own hands.

"We can't afford to be a lawless society," he said. "We have law and order for a reason."

"We need to switch from being a reactive sheriff's office to a proactive sheriff's office," he said about his ideas for the office, adding that the department needs to get "more involved with legislative process and advocating for more legislation.

"What I think about reform is, regardless of whether we agree or disagree, Grant County is not getting out of the state of Washington. Unfriendly laws are part of it. We need to adapt our sheriff office into the future and find the new era of police work."

He said that focusing on mental health and getting people in touch with mental health resources is a key change that needs to be made, and that there needs to be a focus on mentoring youth to stay off drugs.

Having more staff would allow the department to be more dedicated to more rural areas of the county, such as the Coulee area, he said, and more community involvement from officers, such as in schools, would also benefit the community.

His website at bigjamesbaker.com goes into greater detail on his stances on key issues such as drugs, property crime, and homelessness.

He is running for the position against Joe Harris and Joey Kriete in the Aug. 2 primary that will narrow the race down to two candidates before the Nov. 8 general election.

The Star covered Harris' campaign in the June 22 issue., and the Kriete campaign in a separate article next week.