Adam Frerichs - Cheyenne County Sheriff

Why did you choose to run for office? With Sheriff John D. Jenson retiring this year, the opportunity presented itself for me to step up and continue with some long term goals that I have had for myself.

What skills do you have that you will bring to the office? I am a lifelong resident of Cheyenne County, so I have a vested interest in the safety and security of my community. With that I bring 16 years of law enforcement experience, all with the Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office: nine years as a Sergeant, seven years as a K-9 handler, seven years on the Cheyenne County SWAT Team ( one year as Team Leader and two years as Team Commander).

What do you hope to accomplish if elected? My goal is to continue the legacy of former sheriffs Darrell J. Johnson and John D. Jenson. That is one of professionalism, courtesy and integrity. As far as I am concerned, we have one of the most professional and well respected offices in the country and most definitely in the State of Nebraska. My goal is not to make any drastic changes to an already well-oiled machine, but to continue with our day to day business, and most importantly in our fight against illegal drugs. I know that everyone says it’s a fight we cannot win, and to some extent they are right. However, to me, every life saved and every person helped is a victory for those of us in law enforcement.

What are some challenges you hope to overcome? One of the biggest challenges facing us today is the mental health system. It is broken. We have so many people, even just in our small community, who at times are in need of emergency help. Right now, the closest place for us to take those folks is Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff. The problem is, RWMC services the whole Nebraska Panhandle, and as such, there aren’t enough beds at this location to serve the need. We are then forced to travel east across the state to distant locations to get them the help that they need.

Another problem with the lack of facilities is that many of the mentally ill end up in jail for minor law violations. They actually need to be in a facility that can help them and treat them, but due to a lack of bed space and financial support, these folks end up out on the street and it’s only a matter of time until they eventually end up in jail. My goal is to help and support putting practices and services in place locally that will greatly alleviate the need to travel so far for services and to help people get the services they need, so they can avoid going to jail.

What are the most important issues to be addressed by your office? One of the most important issues facing all of law enforcement today is the influx of dangerous and illegal drugs into our communities. My goal is to continue to fight this influx. During my career, I have seen everything from marijuana in all of its forms, methamphetamine and labs, prescription drug abuse, to the new drug of choice, heroin.

I will continue to be very vocal, as Sheriff Jenson has, about the need to be united as a state to keep fighting the legalization of marijuana. The hype that is being sold to the states of how great it is, is just that, hype. If you take an unbiased, open minded look at all of the information out there, you will see that it is a fake bill of goods. We need only look at Colorado itself and you will see just how detrimental that it’s legalization has actually been to Colorado as a whole. The arrests involving marijuana have gone up, not down. The tax revenue from it accounts for 2 percent of their total tax revenue. Traffic accidents involving marijuana are through the roof. Emergency Room visits involving marijuana, and more importantly children, have increased exponentially, and the homeless population has exploded, etc. In a nutshell, marijuana consumption is not a victimless crime.

In closing, Cheyenne County has and always will be my home. I cannot think of anyplace I would rather live and I look forward to continuing in my service to this great community.

Thank you.

Adam E. Frerichs, Republican Nominee for Cheyenne County Sheriff.