I have rewritten a letter to the editor several times over the last six months to try and express some important things about the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office. I don’t want to see my co-workers upset and under the stress that we are all experiencing. I don’t like to see Bob Kindler distracted from important things taking place in our sheriff’s office and its expansion.

Last Tuesday I attended the District 27A debates and listened to the common ground of Peggy Bennett and Shannon Savick. They expressed disgust for third-party interest groups’ negative campaign ads. For the first time, we witnessed the same thing in the Freeborn County sheriff race with a website and public comments. The candidates don’t have full control over what others say and do. The candidates are responsible only for what they say themselves.

Candidates should not publicly criticize the people they are trying to get elected to lead. The Sheriff’s Office is a family and sometimes we disagree. Our sheriff’s office is made up of people that are exercising their “inalienable right” to “pursuit of happiness.” We are made up of mostly professional and sincere employees. Many of them have worked closely with me, and each other, to achieve professional goals and good, working relationships. I am lucky that Bob Kindler has put me in a position to be a part of my co-workers career development and be in a position to be there for staff when experiencing hardships. I, for one, truly care about my co-workers and their lives, including both the candidates for sheriff.

Rather than have one person who has done all the firearms, use of force and field training duties, we have nine trainers and are working toward more. Yes, we have newer patrol sergeants and a newer detective and they do require a lot of training, just like a new sheriff requires. For the first time, all supervisors in the Sheriff’s Office have the same leadership training through the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. For some, that was the first training in supervision in 10 years.

We have computers in our cars for the first time and have increased the budget to more than two times what it once was for training. We also sent two people to extra investigative training, which included Kurt Freitag one year ago. We have made big improvements toward preparedness and government center safety, but there is more to be done. There is more training yet to come for all staff, but a little more time is needed.

Thank you, Kurt, for helping me to be a better leader when we have talked. Thank you, Sheriff Bob Kindler, for instilling pride, professionalism and customer service. Thank you, Sheriff Bob Kindler, for all the opportunities, past and future, for me and the other 68 employees of the Sheriff’s Office. Keep up the good work.

Glen Strom, chief deputy, Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office

Albert Lea