BENNINGTON — Bennington County Sheriff Chad Schmidt is seeking another four-year term as head of the department he has led since 2009.
Previously a Republican, Schmidt said he will run as a Democrat in this campaign.
“I don’t like the discourse and rhetoric at the national level,” he said, “and I don’t want that to creep into my campaign because I think that my position is more apolitical than political and I want to make sure my position is seen as one of inclusion.”
He said he believes his views on community policing dovetail better with the positions of the Vermont Democratic Party,” but in general he thinks “the race should be more apolitical and about who is more qualified.”
As a newly minted Democrat he faces a challenger in the Aug. 14 Democratic primary in James Gulley Jr., a former Bennington police officer and current law enforcement instructor with the Southwest Vermont Career Development Center.
Schmidt, 42, was appointed by former Gov. Jim Douglas in 2009 to fill a vacancy created when former Sheriff Gary Forrest retired. He won election to his first term in 2010 and was re-elected unopposed in 2014.
“I feel that I have delivered on the promises and that I’ve led this agency in a good direction, and that my leadership shows results,” Schmidt said during an interview.
Citing his 24 years in law enforcement, beginning as a part-time Sheriff’s Department deputy at age 18, Schmidt said he has compiled experience at all levels of the department while also pursuing training and educational opportunities. He said those factors helped him oversee an expansion of programming and deputy training and in improving department facilities, equipment and procedures.
The most striking physical change, Schmidt said, involved securing the new department headquarters — in a former auto dealership building on Route 7, just south of downtown Bennington. The building, which the county purchased, replaces leased office space on Lincoln Street.
The purchase in 2014 is saving the county $10,000 a year over the lease costs, he said, and the property will be owned outright in about 10 years.
The remodeled interior spaces include staff offices, locker room facilities, a vehicle maintenance area and a classroom for training or meeting purposes.
The former car lot has ample parking for department vehicles, Schmidt said, and he has plans — dependent on receipt of grant funding — to renovate an adjacent showroom building into a training center for police officers, which would include an indoor shooting range.
Among other improvements, Schmidt said, were conversion of 12 of the 20 primary department patrol vehicles to propane, along with installation of a propane station on the property, allowing the purchase of fuel in bulk; and an agreement with a developer to install solar panels at the back of the headquarters site, providing lease income for at least the next 20 years.
The department also has re-established a K-9 unit, following a fund drive, Schmidt said.
“Now, we have K9 Millie,” he said, “and she is used for search and rescue, tracking suspects who flee scenes, and she also can search for drugs.”
Among other initiatives or upgrades, Schmidt said, were establishing a model prescription drug return program; expanding deputy patrol service agreements to now encompass nine communities in the county; and expanding the Safe Rides Program to reduce drinking and driving on New Year’s Eve, and more recently Super Bowl Sunday, by contracting with Bennington Taxi and having deputies drive vans loaned by local colleges or organizations to drive revelers home.
“Those are the types of things we have tried to implement here,” he said.
Within the department, Schmidt said the county has increased the training budget to offer more classes to deputies, including training in prevention of bias or the perception of bias in the community. He said the department also is expanding online training options; implementing an automated billing, scheduling and time card system online, along with new internal financial controls to meet accounting standards; and has increased fingerprinting services, including for Transportation Security Administration airport flight pre-check or hazardous materials transport driver certification.
The revenue to fund the department comes from contracts with governments for policing services and traffic control contracts with government or private entities, along with some grant funding, Schmidt said. There currently are 34 full- and part-time deputies and three office staff members.
As of July 1, Schmidt said, deputies also will have an online repository for filing reports remotely, including details about their patrol activities, which can then form the basis of online reports to the communities that hire the department to patrol.
And on July 1, he said, a pay grade and step system, similar to those in place for Vermont State Police, will be implemented, providing some upgrades and a format for progressing within the department by uniform salary steps.
Schmidt said his goals include “engaging the community in nontraditional policing, is what I would call it … Not judging our success on how many tickets we hand out or how many arrests we make. It’s how many engagements we make that are positive with the community.”
Among the more successful efforts, he said, was the Secret Santa program, during which deputies pulled over drivers only to talk to them about what they wanted for Christmas presents. Some of those stopped were given gifts or gift cards, and the program generated several letters of praise, Schmidt said.
Schmidt said other roles he has filled in the community over the years “give me sort of a broad range of people in the community to network with and bring resources to them, and they bring resources to me; so it’s really served us well to be able to serve in those capacities.”
He has served on several community boards, including the Bennington Rescue Squad, 204 Depot St., the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce, including a year as board president; the Bennington Elks lodge, and the Sacred Heart School board.
He also is secretary/treasurer of the Vermont Sheriffs’ Association.
Schmidt holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Southern Vermont College; attended the Vermont Police academy, the National Sheriffs’ Institute and the FBI National Academy. In 2016, he received a master’s degree in public and business administration from Columbia Southern University.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Bennington County sheriff seeks new term, this time as a Democrat.