Erie county voters will have a number of options when voting for county sheriff in Tuesday’s primary.
This four-year term will be handed off by current sheriff John Loomis, who is retiring after serving two terms.
Brian shank will be running unopposed on the Republican ticket. Meanwhile Democrats Anthony SanFilippo and Chris Campanelli will both be on the ballot.
SanFilippo has worked in the sheriff’s office for 20 years and said he has the backing of many fellow deputies. We caught up with him as he was door-knocking one final time Monday afternoon. The number one thing he wants to change in the department is the level of training for deputies.
“The training we received 20 years ago when I first started isn’t the same training that you need nowadays,” SanFilippo said. “We need diversity training; we need sensitivity-type training.”
Chris Campanelli has spent 25 years in the Sheriff’s office, eight as a supervisor. The current sheriff is endorsing him and he said his biggest goal is to reach the youth in Erie county.
“Through the PAL program, through our school resource officer program, we need to reach out to these children and start them young, make them realize the police are not their enemy,” Campanelli said. “Law enforcement is their friend.”
Brian Shank, who currently serves as a county councilman doesn't have experience in the Sheriff’s office but feels his experience elsewhere makes up for it.
“I am a veteran, former city police officer, retired state corrections officer, and proud member of a Volunteer Fire Department,” Shank said.
A big goal he has is to modernize the sheriff’s department.
“That bridge of communication needs to be reconnected so the people of Erie County know what the Sheriff’s department does,” Shank said.
We know policing in America has become a topic of discussion nationwide in recent months. Erie is not left out, so we asked each of the candidates what they would do to bridge the gap between police officers and the community.
“Our men and women down in our office need to have better training, sensitivity training, communication, Campanelli said. “We have a very diverse community with people of all races, all creeds, all politics. We need to communicate to them and be able to talk to them and get along better.”
More training is also what SanFilippo finds important in the Sheriff’s department.
“It’s the training,” he said. “That way deputies have the tools they need to make their job easier everyday. It also makes for a safer community and they can go home every night to their families and I think that’s very important.”
Shank said he think the solution is body cameras for all deputy officers.