A new face will lead the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office after November 8, but the names vying to fill the top-spot aren't unfamiliar.
There's Joseph Banks, a former Chief of Police with the Upper Sioux Police Department, who ran for Hennepin County Sheriff in 2018 but ultimately lost to Dave Hutchinson.
Opposite of Banks is Major Dawanna Witt who oversees court security and adult detention, the two largest divisions at the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.
Regardless of the results, the Hennepin County Sheriff's election will be historic as voters elect the first Black sheriff since the county was established in 1852.
"I think I thought about trying to become a sheriff a few years back when Dave Hutchinson first ran and I got into that race late," Banks said. "After the situation with George Floyd I decided that maybe I should try and make another run at it."
Banks added that the lack of transparency surrounding the death of George Floyd is what stood out to him.
"I have been saying in the past that there wasn't enough transparency going on and George Floyd's death just kind of highlighted exactly what I was talking about and the changes that I wanted to make moving forward."
Major Witt started her career with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office in 2000 before moving to the Dakota County Sheriff's Office in 2004. She returned to Hennepin County in 2019.
Running for sheriff is not something Major Witt envisioned during that time.
"I've always just prided myself on doing a good job and trying to keep people safe and being very involved with what's going on in our communities," Witt said. "Here I am nearly 23 years in this profession and it surprised me, but I know now more than ever that I'm ready and very well prepared to take on this role."
Violent crime and public safety are the top concerns for both Banks and Major Witt.
"Collaboration is key right now," Witt said. "With the staffing shortages it's not going to be a snap of a finger where we're fully staffed right away. This means law enforcement agencies locally, at the state, and federally have to work together in order to curb this increase in violence in our community."
Banks believes working with the community is critically important, especially when it comes to gun violence.
"The community has a really good idea where these guns are, who has them, and where they are coming from," he said. "It definitely has to be a collaborative effort between law enforcement and community."
Witt points out that the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office already has specialty teams working to address ongoing crime and violence. Those teams include the Violent Offender Task Force which works with the City of Minneapolis to help curb crime specifically within the city.
The responsibility spills out to suburban areas where the HCSO provides assistance.
"We have to acknowledge that we're doing this without the full compliment of our staff. So the recruiting and retention have to be a priority. People who wear this badge and uniform are people. They have lives of their own. When we're talking about mental health for law enforcement we have to make sure we're giving them that time so they can stay healthy to do one of the most dangerous jobs there is to do."
Banks believes adding more deputies to the HCSO patrol division to support law enforcement on the street.
"I think right now the sheriff's office says the have a staff of 800 people and I think a good 500 of those folks are civilian correction deputies and court staff," he said. "I think they have a couple hundred folks in the patrol division. We need to increase those numbers in terms of logistics because it really makes a difference when you're trying to adjust manpower to keep that level of safety up."
Both Major Witt and Banks are vying to replace Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson who announced that he wouldn't be seeking re-election after pleading guilty to DWI in December 2021.
Hutchinson was arrested earlier that month after he crashed his county-issued vehicle outside of Alexandria and faced calls to resign.
"We already were as a community reeling from George Floyd and to find out that the top cop had some things going on, I think the key is to rebuild the trust and the confidence so they can rally around us and support us as law enforcement," added Banks.
Many of those relationships, according to Major Witt, are already being repaired.
"I do believe that the image we have at the HCSO is good," Witt said. "I do think we aren't different what other agencies are enduring. Unfortunately there's a lot of stereotypes going on out there. There are a lot of people acknowledging the good work they've been seeing."
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