History was made on Election Day when Hennepin County elected the first woman and person of color to lead the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department in Major Dawanna Witt.
Hennepin County Sheriff-elect Witt joined News Talk 830 WCCO’s Adam Carter and Jordana Green to discuss her plans for the role.
Witt says she's ready to lead the sheriff's office and that it's important to keep pressing forward, especially after the legal issues involving former sheriff Dave Hutchinson.
“There have been bad choices made by the current sheriff. But you know what, there’s bad choices made by people every day,” Witt said. “What we need to decide is how long we are going to stay stuck on those problems.”
Witt was referring to Hutchinson's drunk driving wreck that has placed him on medical leave for the remainder of his term.
Recruiting more deputies is among the top priorities for Witt. She says that increasing the staff will help meet county-wide demands and that she plans to create civilian positions to recruit more officers.
While it seems a dark cloud has been over the sheriff’s office for some time, Witt means business and is looking to get to work bringing change to the community as quickly as she can.
“We have to continue to move forward, we don’t have time to get stuck with distractions,” Witt said.
