The Editorial Board: Elect Kim Beaty for sheriff

The good news for Erie County voters is that with three strong candidates running for Erie County Sheriff, the office is almost guaranteed to show a vast improvement over the reckless way it's been led for the past 16 years.

The candidates – Republican John Garcia, Democrat Kim Beaty and independent Ted DiNoto – all pledge to run the department professionally. All have significant law enforcement experience. All express genuine concern for the safety of the public, the deputies and inmates of the two jails. All want to restore trust in a department that has suffered under the mismanagement of outgoing Sheriff Timothy B. Howard.

The challenge is to differentiate – to find the criteria that distinguish one candidate over the others, and there is one: Only Beaty has commanded a large company of officers. A former deputy commissioner in the Buffalo Police Department, Beaty has managed more than 800 people. That’s a potentially significant benefit for voters looking for a sheriff who can immediately take charge.

It’s not that the others lack valuable experience. Garcia co-owns a private security firm and is retired from the Buffalo Police Department, where he was a narcotics detective, homicide detective and commander of the crisis management unit. DiNoto is a detective lieutenant and narcotics squad manager in the Amherst Police Department. Both candidates bring valuable experience to their campaigns.

Garcia says he is committed to developing a “modern, 21st century” operation, and understands the needs to improve working conditions in the department and to resist political appointments in the sheriff’s office. He would bring what appears to be genuine “compassion and empathy” to an office that sorely lacks those qualities.

DiNoto, unlike the other candidates, continues to work in law enforcement, with nearly 30 years in the Amherst Police Department. He is a certified master instructor with the state Division of Criminal Justice Services and, like the other candidates, pledges to keep politics out of the sheriff’s office.

But leading a contingent of officers is different from heading an operation the size of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office. Only Beaty has the kind of command history to document a ready ability to lead so large and sprawling an agency. What is more, as a Black woman, Beaty’s election will send an unequivocal message that change – in culture, in practices, in expectations – has arrived.

What is uncertain is how well Beaty fulfilled her duties as deputy commissioner. It’s odd and a little worrisome that her ultimate boss, Mayor Byron Brown, hasn’t endorsed the candidacy of a fellow Democrat.

Still, she made her way from supervising lieutenant to Chief of Patrol to Deputy Commissioner for Operations and Homeland Security. She also is a certified master instructor for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. Those facts confer credibility. She pledges to restore leadership in the office and says those in the county’s jails deserve to be treated with “dignity and respect.” All this would count as radical change from the past 16 years.

Here’s what is certain. Howard has mismanaged this crucial office for years. All candidates say morale is low and leadership’s indifference to professionalism is surely a leading cause. So is tolerating and even encouraging misconduct and even criminality by rogue deputies such as Kenneth Achtyl, who quit after he was convicted of assaulting a civilian and then lying about it in official reports.

Any of these candidates would count as a significant improvement, but only Beaty has the background to suggest she can quickly take charge and make a difference. We endorse her.

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