{"id":790694,"date":"2026-05-12T08:53:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/790694\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T08:53:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:53:15","slug":"dallas-county-sheriff-candidates-outline-priorities-ahead-of-may-19-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/790694\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas County Sheriff candidates outline priorities ahead of May 19 election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">DALLAS COUNTY, Ala. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wsfa.com\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"http:\/\/www.wsfa.com\">WSFA<\/a>) &#8211; As Dallas County voters prepare to head to the polls on May 19, the race for Sheriff is entering its final days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The election comes as longtime Sheriff Mike Grantham prepares to retire after years of leading the department. Two candidates \u2014 Willie Calhoun Jr. and Dewayne Sanders \u2014 are now asking voters to trust them with becoming the county\u2019s next top law enforcement officer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Both candidates bring decades of experience in law enforcement and say public safety, community relationships, and continuing the progress already made within the sheriff\u2019s department are among their top priorities.<\/p>\n<p>Willie Calhoun Jr.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Candidate Willie Calhoun Jr. says he has spent more than 21 years in law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">According to Calhoun, he worked 14 years with the Selma Police Department before spending the last seven years with the Dallas County Sheriff\u2019s Department. He currently oversees criminal investigations and narcotics within the department.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Calhoun says his experience includes narcotics investigations, patrol operations, SWAT, sniper training, firearms instruction, and criminal investigations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI\u2019m the only guy that\u2019s actively in law enforcement,\u201d Calhoun said during an interview with WSFA 12 News. \u201cI currently run a criminal investigation division where I oversee several guys doing criminal investigations and narcotics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Calhoun says one of his goals would be continuing the foundation already laid by Sheriff Mike Grantham while working to further reduce crime across the county.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThe sheriff has laid a good foundation,\u201d Calhoun said. \u201cIt\u2019s something to go forth with and move the department forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">He also emphasized transparency and accountability if elected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI promise service, integrity, and justice at all times,\u201d he said. \u201cAlso transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Calhoun says his campaign has focused heavily on meeting voters across Dallas County, noting the county\u2019s large geographic size can make outreach challenging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cDallas County has 950 square miles, so it\u2019s hard to reach everybody,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Dewayne Sanders<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Candidate Dewayne Sanders says he has nearly 30 years of experience in law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Sanders says he spent more than 24 years with the Dallas County Sheriff\u2019s Department and also served as an Alabama State Trooper. His experience also includes work in patrol, criminal investigations, court security, jail operations, code enforcement, and 911 communications.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">After retiring from the Alabama State Troopers, Sanders says he realized how much he missed serving the public and later returned to work within the sheriff\u2019s department.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI decided how much I missed it,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cSo I decided to come back and work for the Sheriff of Dallas County and continue to serve the people of Dallas County.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Sanders says community policing and building stronger relationships with residents would be a major focus of his administration if elected sheriff.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cBuilding good relationships with the community,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWork with the community leaders and try to bring organizations in to help some of our young people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">He also says he would focus on increasing training opportunities for deputies, hiring additional deputies, upgrading technology, and holding more community meetings throughout the county.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cA safe tomorrow begins today,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to work on keeping the community safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Sanders also says mentorship programs and outreach to young people could help steer youth away from crime and toward positive opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Election Day Information<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Election Day for the Dallas County Sheriff\u2019s race is May 19.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Voters can cast ballots at the precinct where they normally vote within Dallas County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Sign up for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsfa.com\/newsletter\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WSFA Newsletter<\/a> and get the latest local news and breaking alerts in your email!<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WSFA. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) &#8211; As Dallas County voters prepare to head to the polls on May 19,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":790695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,7290,25223,90,425,322895,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,322896],"class_list":{"0":"post-790694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-county","11":"tag-decision-2026","12":"tag-elections","13":"tag-local","14":"tag-sheriffs-race","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa","23":"tag-willie-calhoun-jr"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116560763729261176","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}