When Sheriff Todd Purcell announced he would not be running for re-election in 2020, Deputy Jared Christensen was the first to announce his intentions for the top law enforcement seat in Mecosta County.

 

“I think that this position chose me. I had a lot of my peers and coworkers come to me over the last few years and wanted me to take on more of a leadership role as far as running for sheriff and after I had a good amount of people coming to me and talking to me about it, I ultimately made the decision to run for sheriff.” Christensen said.

 

Christensen believes his experience is a strength and will help him, if elected.

 

“I began my career in Lakeview, Michigan as a village police officer and worked for several small departments including Stanton, Barryton and currently the Morley police chief for the last five years. I’m also a road patrol deputy with the Mecosta County Sheriff’s Office for the last 13 years.” Christensen said.

 

If elected Sheriff, Christensen has a lot of goals he'd like to accomplish during his tenure.

 

“I’d like to add another school liaison officer to help out our current officer and help impact more kids at the schools in our area. I would like to have a community program that focuses limiting scams that target our area and start to educate our older residents about these types of things.”

 

“Another big goal I have would be to better tackle the opioid/methamphetamine addiction problem in our community. We need to better communicate with our residents as officers because residents are our eyes and ears during this drug problem.” Christensen added.

 

Detective Brian Miller with the Big Rapids Department of Public Safety and James Taylor, Undersheriff with the Mecosta County Sheriff's Office are also on the ballot.

 

Candidates have until April 21^st to file.