Election 2026: Candidate for Washington County Sheriff Wayne Blevins

As the 2026 general election approaches, The Washington County Times is publishing written interviews with candidates in contested races affecting Washington County.

The Times reached out to all candidates for whom we were able to obtain contact information and invited them to participate. If you are a candidate in a contested race and have not received an invitation, please contact us so we can make sure you have an opportunity to participate.

Candidates were provided with questions tailored to their campaign, personal history, and the office they are seeking. We encouraged candidates to answer the questions in their own words and to refrain from using ChatGPT or other artificial intelligence tools when preparing their responses.

All candidate responses have been published as submitted, without editing or alteration. The Washington County Times does not endorse political candidates, and any opinions or statements expressed within the following interview are the candidate's own.

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You have spent decades working in the Washington County Sheriff's Department and have run for sheriff before. What have you learned from those experiences that would shape the way you would lead the department?

With 31 plus years of experience in law enforcement with the Washington County Sheriff's Department and working the road for all of those years responding to calls and listening to people's complaints and concerns as well as running for sheriff two other times has given me a lot of insight on what people would like to see from the sheriff's department with Transparency, Accountability & Professionalism being some of those things.

I have learned that not only listening to the community's concerns and ideas as a leader, but you must also listen to your employees as well as treating everyone equally and fairly. I have learned that to be an effective leader you must be accessible and approachable by everyone and being actively involved with the community. As a leader you must also gain the trust of not just the community, but the employees that will be working for you. So, for me I would be actively involved in gaining that trust and honoring my oath to uphold and defend the US Constitution.

Me personally, I want to be a leader that instills high ethics and integrity within the department and create future leaders that will hold the same values with good character and understanding for their leadership roles.

What do you believe is the biggest public safety challenge facing Washington County today, and what would you do about it as sheriff?

That is a great question and there are several public safety concerns that I feel need to be addressed and feel that they are all equally important.

For me at this time and the public safety for our community, I would say employee retention is high on the list. If the sheriff's department cannot retain employees, it affects everyone from the staff to the inmates in the jail and the public. To run the sheriff's department and jail efficiently you need a full well-trained full staff capable of responding and handling their duties and calls that they respond to. Competitive pay of course is a main factor as well as training and how employees are treated, I believe, are some main factors on losing employees to other agencies.

I would work closely with the county council to try and keep the pay competitive with other agencies. I would treat all of the employees equally and fairly and listen to their ideas and concerns to improve a better work environment. I feel that being fully staffed with good employees that are properly trained and treated fairly can make the departments run smoothly and effectively without sacrificing any public safety. Being understaffed can put a strain on the employees and ultimately effect public safety.

Washington County continues to deal with drug-related crime. What do you believe is the most effective balance between enforcement, treatment and prevention?

As for the enforcement part, the Washington County Sheriff's Department would continue to enforce the current laws at hand concerning drug associated crimes. I would like to target the dealers bringing the drugs here and work with other law enforcement agencies to combat this. Unfortunately, with drugs comes property crime. I would want to do extra patrols in the areas that known drug activity may be occurring in and investigate tips provided to the sheriff's department.

As for the treatment, I would focus on the inmate rehabilitation. I would continue to work with the current programs within the jail and reach out to other jails to inquire about their programs and see what has worked for their jails and inmates. I would make sure that substance abuse programs were available to the inmates that wished to participate or were court ordered. Upon an inmate's release I would like to be able to provide them with the information on where they could continue to participate in outside substance abuse programs.

As for the Prevention, I believe that public awareness on the dangers of these drugs through social media platforms and targeting our youth in school with the cooperation of our schools and Resource Officer's would be very beneficial. I would have the sheriff's department be actively involved and participate with all of our schools, organizations and or programs to help educate on the dangers of these drugs and combat the peer pressure that our youth may face.

Having worked inside the department, what do you believe is working well today that should be preserved, and what needs to change?

I believe that the day-to-day operations of the department and the jail are working well. If elected I would like to speak with each employee to get their input on what areas that they feel could use improvements. The changes that I would make would be more transparency, accountability and communication with the employees. and to see what they envision their future to be as employee there.

The Sheriff's Office oversees the county jail. What changes, if any, would you make to jail operations and inmate reentry?

I would like to ensure that the jail staff all received the training needed to perform their duties efficiently and professionally. Keep an open door of communication on the operations of the jail and listen to any and all concerns that employees may have. I would want to review all contracts concerning vendors and commissary to make sure that tax dollars are being used efficiently and commissary items are affordable to inmates. 

How would you approach recruiting, retaining and training deputies? What experience do you have that you feel has prepared you for these organizational responsibilities?

Drawing candidates to small departments with less pay and benefits than bigger departments can be very difficult as I have seen in the past. As sheriff I would want to do my best to seek out those candidates that would be interested in working for a small department and be part of a family where they can see a future for themselves here.

As for retraining and training, I believe that continuous training is a must and would like to incorporate more reality-based training where critical thinking comes into play concerning split second decisions and de-escalating skills. Mental Health Crisis training in dealing with those calls requires training to properly identify and assist a person that may be suffering from mental health issues. Training on the constitution to ensure deputies / officers are honoring their oath. Every year a law enforcement officer has to complete mandated continuing education hours and meet the requirements for firearms qualifications and hands on physical tactics. I would want to ensure that the deputies / officers of the department have all the training available for them to be capable of handling any call that they may respond to.

As for my training and experience, I have been a deputy with the sheriff's department now for 31 years with my first 5 years as a reserve deputy.  As a deputy I have been a patrol officer my whole career with my current rank as Lieutenant. In my 31 years as a deputy along with my former experience as a volunteer fireman, an Advanced Emergency Medical Technician for our county ambulance service and serving 4 years as a Deputy Coroner all give me the knowledge and experience for those responsibilities. I believe that I have the drive and the stability to lead the sheriff's department into the future while upholding and defending the Constitution as well as protecting and serving the community.

What role should technologies such as Flock cameras and license-plate readers play in Washington County, and what limits should be placed on their use?

Flock cameras and others alike have become a rising issue and concern and subject of debate. I personally am not a fan of what they are becoming along with the data that's collected and who that data may be shared with or who may have access to it.

The growing concern with the public is the violation of their 4th Amendment Rights. As a law enforcement officer, they can be a useful investigative tool. As a citizen they are becoming intrusive with the AI technology that comes with them and what they are able to access. The growing number of law enforcement officers abusing these cameras to stalk and track people without any valid reason need to be dealt even it if means termination or having criminal charges filed against them.

If elected, and as an elected official who took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution with one of those being the 4th Amendment which protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures, I would stand with the people who elected me to protect their rights and begin the process to remove them.

You have sought this office before. What do you believe is different about your campaign and your candidacy this time?

Yes, this is my third time running for sheriff with me running in the 2018 and 2022 elections prior to this one. Throughout my campaigns not much has changed as far as my goals and what I would like to do if elected sheriff. I guess the biggest change this time is that my wife Tonya was not here by my side to experience my journey with her passing away 4 years ago not long after the 2022 election. Another change is the overwhelming support that I have received from the people this time and making it through the Primary Election to move onto the General Election.

If elected, what is the first major change you would make as sheriff?

If elected I feel that there are many things that need to be addressed, changed or improved on with all of them being important. But with someone moving into a leadership position I would have to say that I would do my very best to run the department with transparency, accountability, and professionalism treating everyone with fairness and equality to earn and gain the trust from them within the department and outside of the department.