Abigail Salas:
Byron, can you tell us about how your background has prepared you to serve as sheriff?
Byron Hollister:
Well, it's kind of a diverse and long background. I started out in the Army, came from California, was in the Army for four years before I went to New Mexico State, which is where I played baseball there for four years. Graduated with a criminal justice degree and went right into the Las Cruces Police Department where I was a regular street cop for two years. Became a detective. After seven years there, I was made an offer by the US Marshal Service. I took it. I lived in Georgia for almost a year for training. Sometime in there around '99, I bought a business, a local business here in Las Cruces called Hacienda Carpet. And then when I retired in 2014, I worked at my business full-time. I did become a county manager, and I was also a judge in Luna County for about a year. And that about sums up my background and business experience. And I think it's all of those things have helped me be able to run a business or run an entity by myself without any problems.
Abigail Salas:
And why are you running for sheriff?
Byron Hollister:
So, this is my second time I ran last time I won the primary and I lost to her by 4 percentage points. I believe in the general election. I have a lot of friends that are still with the Sheriff's Department that worked for me on task force and things like that and before they came to me and said that they were just miserable and they knew I was a good leader and they wanted a change. And I still have people in the sheriff's department calling me, telling me how bad it is morale-wise, and things they don't do, like get into any grants, that they don't work with people. So, things like that. I definitely... would be taking a cut in pay. But to me, it's worth it because I've been there before where you go to a job and you really don't enjoy the job. So, I want to turn the morale around and make sure that the deputies enjoy it and that we do some things that make everybody in the county safer.
Abigail Salas:
What are the top issues in the county and how would you successfully address those issues?
Byron Hollister:
So, the two that stick out to me the most are recently it's a juvenile crime. And I have a plan for that. So when I was head of the Marshal Service, I had a cyber unit and it was my people and the LCPD people and they'd work in the basement of the federal building and they would get into social media and other things and they would arrest a ton of sexual offenders. They used to be called the wolf pack and all they would do is go after like juvenile drinkers and parties on Friday and Saturday nights and they called them the wolf pack. So, my idea is to bring that back, but a cyber version of the wolf pack. So, we go into all these social media sites and infiltrate them under different names, different, as a girl, as a guy that's, 17, 18 years old. And we do a lot of proactive work and find out where these meetups that they have, where they end up shooting each other or where they're drinking or where they're partying at so we can prevent some of this crime. Another one that I'm absolutely adamant about is we need to take every school in Doña Ana County and check it to make sure that there's no cracks in the security. And I don't know if you know much about the Marshall Service, but that's kind of our deal is building security. And we need to do an assessment on every school and make sure that, you know, our kids are safe and that there's things that we need to do to make them safer in the schools.
Abigail Salas:
Technology is rapidly advancing the footprint of law enforcement. What technology that exists now in DASO would you expand upon, and what new areas would you develop?
Byron Hollister:
Well, I've already told you about the cyber unit. I think that's vital to fighting crime because everyone else has a reactive measure. And I think that's a proactive measure by getting into social media ahead of time. I also think that we can use AI to write for some of these grants. That's what I did in Luna County, and I had a great grant program. So, I think that's one way to get in there and help Doña Ana County be more involved. with some of the federal entities. I know that the governor passed it, so we're not allowed to work with the ICE or Border Patrol, but you still have the FBI, the DEA, the Marshal Service. And when I was there, we would give, you know, equipment, vehicles and training to the sheriff's department. Todd Garrison was the sheriff when I was head of the department, and we came up together in the police department. And so, we worked real well together, along with Harry Romero, who was the chief of police. And we were able to work all the programs because, to be honest, some of these people just don't trust the feds. But because they knew me, they trusted me, and we were able to implement a lot of programs.
Abigail Salas:
The training budget for DASO is about $100,000 a year. Would you expand or contract it, and why?
Byron Hollister:
Through grants, I would definitely expand upon that because I don't think they're getting the kind of training that's applicable to what they're facing these days. I mean, our society is always, you know, it's always growing or going in a different direction. And I'll give you one example. If you get on the TikTok or any social media, you get all these things where cops are pulling people over and there's a fine line, whether you can break their window and pull them out of the car or not, or things like that. I want our county attorney to make sure that every sheriff's deputy knows exactly what to do in cases like that. And my personal belief, I'll just say what that is, is I don't think we should be breaking people's windows and things like that. If it came down to something like that, I think you should take a picture of the person in the car and the license plate and send them a, send them a ticket in the mail rather than escalate something that may come out to be a shooting in the end. I mean, to me, it's just not worth it.
Abigail Salas:
What role in budget, preparation, presentation, and monitoring do you see yourself in at DASO?
Byron Hollister:
So, I'm the guy that will get everything done during the daytime. I think outside the box. I'll find ways to get money for the things we need. I will have a working relationship with all of the entities like the FBI, the county manager, all the commissioners. I will take time out of my schedule to meet with them once, so they know and keep them in the loop of things that I'm trying to get money for and having a relationship which hasn't taken place in the past. It works when they carry the purse string, so I see myself doing that. I'm also the kind of person that would go out at nighttime with the deputies and not so much as being like a micromanager, but I've had so much experience in talking to people and things like that. I think I could help them out in the field and give them a few pointers about how to talk. Our kids these days, the young kids, they're so used to texting and things like that, they've kind of lost the art of how to talk to people. So, I just want to make sure that we're doing that the right way.
Abigail Salas:
And what else do you think is important for voters to know about your campaign?
Byron Hollister:
I got with friends and I raised money and I put out signs and did a few like meet and greet type things. And I told myself this time, I'm not going to take their money. And I almost felt like I wasted it last time. So, this time I'm not doing any signs or not doing anything for the primary. And my thought is, if I win the primary, then I will get help from the Republican Party. If I win the primary, I'll go to the Republican Party and get some help, get some a plan.
