Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - There's a new sheriff in town, and that happens to be John Garcia.
For the first time in 16 years, Erie County will have a new Sheriff, as Garcia takes over to Tim Howard to become the 54th Sheriff in the 200-year history of the Erie County Sheriff's Office. He was officially sworn in as Sheriff of Erie County on Thursday at Tewksbury Lodge on Ohio Street.
Garcia was elected as the new Sheriff this past November, but had spent 25 years on the force with the Buffalo Police Department. While with Buffalo Police, he served as a narcotics detective and also a hostage negotiator before retiring.
Now that he's back on the job as Sheriff of Erie County, Garcia knows there's plenty of work to be done.
"It starts with the culture, and it starts with the leadership," Garcia said. "Getting out there and having boots on the ground, the sheriff walking through the correctional facility, through the holding center, visiting every town and village of Erie County and seeing what the needs of the people [are]. We are here to serve and protect, and that's the direction I'll go in."
Among the issues that Garcia is looking to address as soon as possible is helping the people currently at the Erie County Holding Center and the Alden Correctional Facility.
"There's a lot of illness out there, mental illness, physical illness. People are coming in with issues we have to assess, and we need to get better there," Garcia said.
One way that Garcia is hoping to help the inmates of each facility is by expanding on the programs in place to try and improve their quality of life. Not only in their time at the facility, but also preparing them for life after and getting integrated back into society.
"There's programs such as Project Blue, and I want to expand on those projects. That is getting people the right tools so when they come out of the correctional facility, they could succeed. Otherwise, we're setting them up to fail. Getting people an ID, teaching people how to interview for a job, setting up with employers - everybody's needing help everywhere - for people coming out. First-and-foremost, what we have to do is make sure that people are coming off the street, they're at their lowest point, they have a lot mental health issues, physical issues. We have to stabilize that and then give them the tools to become better citizens, employment, housing and so forth.
"It's not just a law enforcement issues, this a community issues. But I will do everything possible to work with the community to improve everyone's lives inside the correctional facility and outside the correctional facility."
By expanding on programs that help set people up for a better life after their time served, Garcia is hopeful that they will serve the community well enough where the county does not see the same people coming back.
"It's not a business where we want to see return customers," Garcia said. "We want to set them up for success, so whatever we could do with the community and work, where they set up bank accounts, life skills, a lack of education. There's a lot of things that we could do to make it better, and I'm open for all and every suggestions, but that's a very important part of it. And our special services do an amazing job throughout the county, and I'm very, very proud of them."
One of the reasons why Garcia feels it's important to help those with mental issues in the community dates back to a previous experience he had while with the Buffalo Police.
"In my role [as] a narcotics detective, I also wore another hat as a hostage negotiator. And being the only hostage negotiator that spoke Spanish, being that I came here when I was three from Spain, it was my first language," Garcia said. "There was a barricaded individual that was threatening to kill himself and anyone that entered. He shot at Buffalo Fire and Buffalo Police when they did a welfare check on him, and while we were negotiating, it was a very cold day on Feb. 1, 2010, I needed to get closer. I lost cover and I was shot in the face. I thank the Lord for being here for many reasons, and that's one of them. ... We have to take care of people, but we have to take care of people as a community."
Garcia added he's looking forward to working with the clergy, in any way, and granting them 24-7 access to go to the Erie County Holding Center and the Alden Correctional Facility to work with the inmates of each facility.
There are other issues in the community that Garcia wishes to address as he takes office as Erie County Sheriff, including the problems people are dealing with surrounding opioids.
"We're facing a very tough time with the opioid epidemic," Garcia said. "I know COVID has hit us hard, but there's young men and women that are dying every single day overdosing. We can't forget about that. 300-400 deaths a year, we can't have that happen. There's a mental health crisis that's happening too that's fallen on the laps of law enforcement, because a lot of places are cut back or just shut down. We need to train our people better, and they will be training. People will know what's expected of them. They are going to be held to the highest standards, and nothing less."
Also as part of Garcia's swearing in to his role as Sheriff of Erie County, he also officially appointed the members of his administration on Thursday. This includes a number of experienced members of law enforcement that have served in several different roles in law enforcement for 25-30 years.
Garcia believes it was key to assemble a team that not only got the job done, but also brought good character and integrity to the group.
"We are so fortunate to have such a deep pool of talented law enforcement professionals throughout Western New York," Garcia said. "With that being said, I feel very comfortable about every position that's been filled. Now the culture of Sheriff Garcia and my administration is going to filter down through the troops."
Another area where Garcia is looking to improve internally with the Erie County Sheriff's Office is diversity, especially with the Road Patrol Unit.
"I worked for 25 years in the Buffalo Police Department, and I believe the department is diversified. The Erie County Sheriff's Office is lacking diversity on the road side of it, however, the correctional deputies and jail deputies, there's a good amount of diversity," Garcia explained.
"What I want to propose is a promotional exam, where the jail deputies and corrections officers could take a promotional exam to them work the roads. Because right now, we have about a 150 road patrol deputies, and we have 12 white females, one black male and one hispanic. So do we need diversity? Yessir."
You can listen to more from Garcia in the player below:
