Chris Tuck
The two Republicans were approved in separate 7-0 votes by the supervisors at Monday night’s meeting. King was elected as interim vice chair in the fall when Gary Creed stepped down from the position shortly after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease.
October’s vote was a contentious one as Democratic board members April DeMotts, Mary Briggs and Annette Perkins opposed Republican solely filling the leadership roles.
Todd King
At the time, Tuck said that the appointment had nothing to do with party affiliation, but rather that he felt King was the most qualified person for the position. Monday’s vote would suggest that the rest of the board agrees.
DeMotts said she voted in King’s favor on Monday because Tuck has said publicly that he would be open to bi-partisan leadership in 2018.
Other news
During the public address portion of Monday’s meeting, Sheriff Hank Partin updated the board on the department’s state-of-the-art protective vest pilot program that will immediately alert dispatchers when their protective vest is either stabbed or shot.
Back in March, Partin requested $75,788 to pay for two Bluetooth-enabled membranes to be inserted into the front and back of each deputy’s protective vest, and new personal radios that will transmit the information from the membranes to dispatch.
Designed by the JGW Group, a technology company based in Reston, the Android-based system uses Google Maps to immediately pinpoint the location of the vest when punctured or shot. Partin said the deputy’s medical information, such as blood type and allergies, could immediately be sent to a hospital.
Partin said on Monday that they have been testing the reliability of the system for months and will be holding an official demonstration at the end of the month.
Partin said that the sheriff’s department will be the first law enforcement agency in the country to have this technology, and that he hopes it will catch on elsewhere.