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www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com With Butch Conway electing to not seek another term in office, the field to replace the longtime Gwinnett County sheriff is wide open, with four Democrats and two Republicans running to replace him.


Republican Lou Solis, Conway\u2019s chief deputy, has received the sheriff\u2019s endorsement. When announcing his retirement in January, Conway said he had hired Solis in 2017 hoping he would be the next sheriff. Solis is a retired Army Ranger and former assistant chief with Braselton police.\u201cHe\u2019s prepared to step in,\u201d Conway said. \u201cI think he will continue the great things that we\u2019ve been doing.\u201dSolis started a unit at the jail exclusively for veterans and has said he supports the controversial immigration program known as 287(g), which releases detainees to federal custody to be deported.He\u2019s being challenged by Keith Van Nus, a former Gwinnett sheriff\u2019s deputy who ran against Conway in 2016. Van Nus said he would keep the program, but focus on applying it to violent offenders.
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That\u2019s also the aim of Democrat Ben Haynes, a Special Victims Investigator with the Gwinnett District Attorney\u2019s Office who has held other law enforcement jobs over the years. He said the way the program operates now leads to public mistrust.Haynes also said he wants to increase the diversity of the sheriff\u2019s department and better train inmates for jobs.The other Democratic candidates would all eliminate 287(g).

Curtis Clemons, a former sheriff\u2019s deputy who retired as an assistant chief in the Gwinnett County Police Department, called the program expensive and discriminatory. He also said he wants to end the school-to-prison pipeline and focus on mental health interventions.

SOURCE: www.AJC.com

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