Two Democratic candidates will face off in March for the opportunity to become the next Hays County sheriff in November.
Both candidates say that operations at the sheriff’s office under Republican incumbent Gary Cutler need to improve, though they differ on their solutions.
Candidate Dickey Haverda worked at the Hays County Jail for more than 22 years — 15 of which were in a supervisory position — before he retired as a captain.
Candidate Alex Villalobos is the current chief of staff for the Hays County Commissioners Court and a current Kyle City Council member — positions he said he would leave if elected. He is also a staff member for BCFS Health and Human Services, a San Antonio-based private emergency management company.
Previously, Villalobos was the chief of staff at the Texas State University Police Department. Before that, he owned a private insurance fraud investigation company.
Haverda said the sheriff’s office struggles to retain employees because of low morale. If elected, he would improve communication within the office and focus on team building, he said.
“I don’t believe that Gary Cutler is there enough to see what’s going on,” said Haverda, citing Cutler’s time spent on vacation. “You’re hired by the people — you have to be there for the people.”
Haverda also said he would institute more community policing programs.
“The sheriff’s office has become isolated, and currently, there is little to no community involvement,” he said. “This will be a priority.”
Villalobos said his priority is to modernize the sheriff’s office’s equipment, technology, training and policies. The sheriff’s office needs to undergo the same rural-to-urban transition that Hays County itself is undergoing, he said.
For example, the county needs to institute an electronic monitoring system for released inmates and needs to more frequently employ cite-and-release policies to keep low-risk offenders out of prison.
“I believe that both cite-and-release and cite-and-diversion are policy initiatives that can save time in the field and promote visibility by reducing time used in arrest and detention,” Villalobos said.
Additionally, to improve retention, Villalobos said he would create a professional development program for deputies. He would also assess deputies’ salaries “to understand where we are in the market.”
During his campaign, Haverda raised the issue that Villalobos has been placed on a register kept by Hays County prosecutors to flag people whose character could be questioned if they are put on the witness stand in court cases.
The Texas Tribune reported last year that Villalobos had received “verbal counseling” after a 2013 university investigation found he used a law enforcement search tool for personal purposes.
Travis County District Attorney Wes Mau confirmed that his office retains such a list, but declined to confirm whether Villalobos is on it.
“There are people on that list who have committed crimes, there are people on that list who have done nothing wrong, but who have been accused in some way. … That’s why we don’t disclose those names,” Mau told the American-Statesman.
Villalobos said he did run a personal address of a relative’s through a database the police at Texas State uses.
“It was going to come under some financial issues, and I wanted to understand how we could possibly protect our assets in that particular situation,” Villalobos said.
The university’s police chief approached Villalobos, asked him if he ran a personal address, and Villalobos said he did, Villalobos said. The chief asked him not to do it again, Villalobos said.
“I’ve never been disciplined,” Villalobos said. “My license is untarnished. I have an honorable license by the state of Texas to practice in law enforcement.”
Texas State University officials declined to comment on the matter and said they do not comment on personnel issues.
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