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Race Profile: Douglas County Sheriff - Democrats

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OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — As longtime Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning retired after two years, halfway through his term, the sheriff’s race in 2022 is wide open.

The two men running on the democratic side, Wayne Hudson and Greg Gonzalez, both have over 25 years of experience in law enforcement. They have been leaders at their respective agencies—Hudson at the sheriff's office and Gonzalez at the Omaha Police Department—and the two have been out and about in the community for decades.

Both also believe their experience separates them from the pack.

“I’ve been a part of hiring 450 officers, I’ve been a deputy police chief for the past nine years, I was a deputy, I’m the only candidate that wore both uniforms,” said Gonzalez.

“With me on day one, I’m ready to go, there’s no learning curve, there’s no learning on the job,” said Hudson. “It’s time for us to continue what we were doing and expand on it even more.”

Hudson currently is Deputy Chief at the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, the number two at the office behind Sheriff Tom Wheeler, who didn’t run for election.

He sees hiring and retaining deputies as a top priority and while the office oversees around 85,000 residents in unincorporated Douglas County he wants to reach out to east Omaha to find talents in all parts of the city.

“If we’re going to be a part of the entire community then we need to be throughout the entire community. So I’m going to increase community engagement and hopefully what that will turn into, is people will look out at the department and see this is a good place to work,” said Hudson.

Gonzalez largely shares that opinion and wants to go to North and South Omaha to find future deputies but also wants to build trust in those communities.

“And so what’s the better deterrent oftentimes is when you have police presence and so that’s an important piece of really bringing back deputies to the neighborhoods to make sure they’re patrolling the neighborhoods,” said Gonzalez.

Gonzalez was with Omaha Police for decades; he was promoted from street cop to Deputy Chief before leaving the job last year. He also teaches classes at UNO and says all those roles prepare him to lead the sheriff’s office of the state’s largest county.

“So while you compile all of that and really be involved in the community and bringing police and the community and the expertise, to start day one and step up in that role,” said Gonzalez.

Hudson is running not only on continuing the services of the sheriff’s office, but expanding them too. One example, while the sheriff's office has one embedded mental health professional—he wants more.

“So what I plan on doing is expanding that program to make sure my department has 24/7 access to a mental professional.”

The winner of this race is going to face off against the winner of the Republican primary—that’s between longtime Omaha Police officers Aaron Hanson and George Merithew.

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