Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Longtime lawman, and chief investigator for the Greenlee County Attorney’s Office, Eric Ellison, wants to be your next Greenlee County Sheriff.
By Jon Johnson
GREENLEE COUNTY – There’s a new sheriff in town. Come November, that is.
The office of Greenlee County Sheriff is up for election and the incumbent Tim Sumner was beaten in the primary by Republican challenger Dale Sloan. In the Democrat’s Primary, Daniel Medina was selected to be that party’s candidate.
But it is a third-party candidate who is making waves and getting people talking as Independent candidate for Sheriff and current Chief Investigator for the Greenlee County Attorney’s Office, Eric Ellison has big plans for the county if elected.
Background
Ellison was born in Globe and spent his formative years in Willcox before heading to Safford for his teens. He graduated a Bulldog in 1994 and went on to work as an automotive tech at Walmart while he was attending Eastern Arizona College.
He began his career in law enforcement at the Arizona Department of Corrections State Prison in Globe, where he became the youngest work crew officer supervising inmates working at Roosevelt Lake.
Ellison spent about five years at DOC and spent time on its version of a S.W.A.T. Team learning riot control. After rising to the title of Assistant Commander of the T.S.U. Team at the DOC, Ellison left to join the Arizona Highway Patrol of the Department of Public Safety in Globe.
He began working in law enforcement in Greenlee County in 2006 when he became stationed there for DPS. He worked as a trooper until 2017 when he was recruited by then newly elected Sheriff Tim Sumner and became Greenlee County Chief Deputy.
Ellison retired in July 2019 for two days and then became the chief investigator for the Greenlee County Attorney’s Office, a job he still holds.
Why run for Sheriff?
Ellison said he believes the sheriff’s office needs to be more proactive instead of reactive.
“If you really believe in cleaning up the streets from crime – drugs, rape, murder, all those things – you have to be proactive. You can’t just be reactive and respond to calls. You gotta take care of crime before it happens.”
One way to help achieve that, he says, is through proper investigation, especially for complex crimes. To do that, Ellison said he would hire or train investigators to handle such crimes instead of having regular patrol deputies attempt to do so on top of their everyday jobs.
“In years past, it (the Sheriff’s Office) always had two to three investigators in the Sheriff’s Office,” Ellison said. “As time has gone down – I don’t know what the reasoning is – but the Sheriff (Sumner) has eliminated the investigation program. We don’t have any investigators. In matter of fact, I’m the only investigator in this entire county – Clifton (Police Department) doesn’t have one and the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t have one. So, those major crimes, such as child molestation, sexual assault, rape, murder, fraud, any of those crimes that are complex crimes that put people in prison for years, and years, and years, there’s nobody to do that. There’s no investigators to do that. Complex crimes are very complicated, and he (Sheriff Sumner) is expecting his deputies to do that.”
Ellison added that law enforcement is a seeker of truth and investigations can prove guilt or innocence.
“We have to be thorough,” Ellison said. “We have to be complete. We have to give justice.”
Community Policing
Another way Ellison plans to achieve his goals if elected Sheriff is to institute more community policing with deputies patrolling neighborhoods and being friendly with the residents.
“That’s intelligent policing,” Ellison said. “You use your resources where they’re needed. And at the same time, you’re earning the trust of the people. Because right now, I don’t believe the citizens trust law enforcement. So, we owe it to them to earn their trust.”
School Resource Officer
Another aspect of Ellison’s platform is to return a deputy to the schools. He said a lot of crimes are crimes of opportunity, and a school resource officer would deter crime. The current policy has a deputy spot-checking schools.
“I think it’s very important and imperative that we have a school resource officer,” Ellison said.
He said an SRO would be an extension of community policing and create a camaraderie with students. Such deputies receive specialized training to become school resource officers.
“Some kids don’t have a mom or a dad at home – they don’t have anybody to lean on,” Ellison said. “There’s that big brother there, that deputy that can come up with a bond and have that camaraderie with that officer, and at the same time showing kids in schools that law enforcement is good. We’re here for you. We’re not the enemy.”
Ellison added that the Morenci School District already has the grant money for an SRO, but that he would have to find funding for an SRO in the Duncan School District.
Respect of the citizens
The final key factor in Ellison’s plan is to earn the respect of the citizens. He said one way he has started to do that is by listening to the concerns of the citizens.
“Can I solve the problems of Arizona as the Sheriff of Greenlee County?”Ellison asked. “No, I can’t. Can I solve all the problems in the United States? No, I can’t. But I can make Greenlee County the safest county in Arizona. And that I can do.”
