Beau Babka Announces He Will Run Against Jim Winder for Salt Lake County, Utah, Sheriff
Babka is Running Against His Old Boss
Beau Babka is not a stranger to running a campaign, especially for the top county cop spot. This will be the second try for the Salt Lake County position but he also ran an unsuccessful campaign in Orange County California for Sheriff. He certainly holds the credentials of a good candidate. For a period of time he was the Assistant Chief of Police and then Chief of South Salt Lake Police Department. The Chief position was short lived so he could accept an invitation to be Undersheriff for current Sheriff Jim Winder of Salt Lake County, his last and current political competition.
While Babka was Undersheriff of Salt Lake County he still had the itch to be the top cop and started a campaign in Orange County California to be thier Sheriff. During this time Sheriff Winder was struggling keeping contracts with cities for police service, ultimately losing the Cottonwood Heights contract. Campaigning kept Babka from the office and Salt Lake County in general, leaving his boss, Sheriff Winder, without his second in command during this time, altering the working relationship the two had. Ultimately Babka lost the election in California and was no longer Undersheriff at Salt Lake County.
The next job Babka took was as an Officer with the one and only Cottonwood Height Police Department, Winders most recent competition for police contracts. Since then Babka has stayed under the radar until recently. A recent news story covered by KSL News in Salt Lake shed light on citizens in Sheriff Winder's jurisdiction unhappy with the service his Deputies are providing. One of the residents interviewed petitioned Cottonwood Heights to absorb their neighborhood so they can receive better police services. Another person interviewed for that article was Cottonwood Heights Police Officer Beau Babka, commenting on the efficiency of his department. Comments like those from Babka lead to conspiracy themed comments from Winder who believes Cottonwood Height is behind the complaints, not the citizens.
Current standings of Salt Lake County government is not too strong, especially for the Office of Sheriff. Most of that could be attributed to the new law enforcement fee the County is going to force on all the unincorporated residents. To say the least, this election will be an interesting one to watch.
Sources:
Jennifer Stagg, "Sheriff accuses city of trying to 'sell' police services" KSL News January 25, 2010
Keith McCord, "Cottonwood Heights officer to run for Salt Lake County sheriff" KSL News January 29, 2010
Published by Cameron Jarvis
Cameron has graduated from the University of Utah with two Bachelor of Science degrees. The first of which was in Political Science, studying comparative political systems, international relations and publi... View profile
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2 Comments
Post a CommentIt was unfortunate that I was in a situation where I talked to Sheriff Winder. I was evacuated for 4 days from the Machine Gun Fire in Herriman. I told Sheriff Winder that the police action blocking all access to Hi Country 2 was unconstitutional. He became hostile. I guess he isn't concerned about the constitution. I say that the people are. If we don't have the constitution then we are ruled by men and their whims. I am voting for Babka.
If Beau wins will he clean up the Cottonwood heights Police Dept?? Chief his under bosses all fired from salt lake police Dept. Ask the people of cottonwood heights what a mistake it was to leave county.. heavy handed police action a rule does this represent how Beau will run county