×

Sheriff continues to get job done

When the Herald-Star first endorsed Sheriff Fred Abdalla on May 6, 1984, he was running against an incumbent sheriff, but he presented a no-nonsense, man-of-law alternative who spoke in schools of the needs to combat drug abuse and sexual abuse.

He had been mayor of Stratton for 13 years and had fought for coal and had worked to feed the hungry at Christmas.

In the 32 years since, he has done what was expected in that editorial. He has built the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department into “a first line of defense against drug trafficking,” and provided Jefferson County “with a law enforcement agency that residents can respect.”

He has investigated more than 800 cases of sexual abuse with convictions of more than 350 people. He notes that in not one was the case a stranger-danger situation but abuse by someone known to the child.

He’s gone after dozens of senior-citizen ripoff schemes, trying to get help from law enforcers around the country to try to get money back for the victims or justice against the perpetrators.

He’s investigated nearly 50 murders, and we mean he has done that largely by himself. When there is a murder, Abdalla works around the clock until he’s got some suspect in his sights or in handcuffs. He says he investigates homicides himself because he doesn’t want to see some deputy take blame if something goes wrong in the case. Abdalla truly takes those cases personally, investigating in a way that shows the family that law enforcement truly cares.

It’s a far cry from the time in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Jefferson County was a body dumping ground, a place where people literally could get away with murder.

That experience, alone, is enough to give Abdalla one last four-year term in the sheriff’s office. He still is healthy, the mind is always a step ahead and he maintains that he wants to continue to work to help people.

“It’s not so much about arresting people,” he says.

He has learned to live with the Jefferson County Justice Center, a flawed jail building that never lived up to the anticipation of the planning and construction during the 1990s. He has become adept at managing his budget and has a rapport with the county commissioners in their budgetary oversight capacity.

While opponent Mark Clark has good ideas about solar power for the jail as a way to save money, and the use of body cameras and training, we think Abdalla’s front-line experience as the leader of the county’s law enforcement agency weighs greater in terms of doing the job people expect.

In short, Abdalla has done what he set out to do 32 years ago. He has provided Jefferson County with a respectable, capable law enforcement agency that protects senior citizens and children, in on the front lines in the fight against drug trafficking and achieves justice for victims of crimes.

He solves murders and quietly still helps the needy and the downtrodden, often in ways known only to Abdalla and those he helps, as a matter of being a good man, not a man who seeks the world to know his charity.

Fred Abdalla deserves your vote to be returned to the sheriff’s office for one more term when you go to the polls Nov. 8.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today