COUNCIL BLUFFS, Ia. (KMTV) - For Andy Brown, becoming the new Pottawattamie County sheriff is the product of lifelong goals.
"It's always been my dream essentially, it's one of those childhood dreams that I wanted to be in law enforcement," Brown said.
Brown acknowledges he has some big shoes to fill now that Jeff Danker is retired. Still, he promises to bring a fresh perspective.
"One of my biggest things in my campaign was community outreach. I wanted to get out there more, get involved in local city council meetings, fire meetings," Brown said.
Brown also wants to explore the idea of placing school resource officers in school districts.
"There's a lot of kids that could easily be on that edge where they don't trust law enforcement and don't think they could get into any kind of trouble when it comes to that, maybe decide to break laws in some way, so maybe it could be a good deterrent for them," Brown said.
By getting kids to develop relationships with school resource officers, Brown says it could be used as a tool to recruit more people for law enforcement. He says the amount of applicants vying for positions is dwindling.
"When I tested in 2003, we had approximately 100 people show up for the test just for this department. Last year, we had 26 people show up," Brown said.
The new sheriff recognizes he's taking over during unparalleled times. Still he hopes people realize his profession is a force for good.
"There's times where it's very tough on all of us, but I mean for the most part, I feel like I've had a very successful career, it's been rewarding, it makes me who I am," Brown said.
