Sheriff Chris Nanos campaigns for a third term, facing opponent Heather Lappin in November

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Sheriff Chris Nanos has remained a fixture at the Pima County Sheriff's Department for over 30 years.

“I’ve worked every corner of this department,” he said. “I was always just going to be a cop. And that’s really been it. It's always been about getting into that patrol car and going out on calls.”

Now, he runs for a third term as Pima County Sheriff. He said transparency between the community and the department is at top of mind, something he reiterates from past campaigns. If he's elected again, he said one of his main focuses is community policing, which is where law enforcement works with schools and other agencies in a collaborative approach to create a safer community.

“We need to have those forms because they augment patrol," he said. "If you look at the forms that we have all the community policing programs we have like our school resource officers went from two to 26 and our traffic units. I can only add seven bodies to it but they are averaging over 1,000 stops a month.”

Staffing and maintaining enough personnel in each department is something he'll continue to do if elected for a new term, he said.

“Keeping up with the attrition," he said. "And keeping the hiring going and working with the board of supervisors to keep my staffing numbers up.”

He said the impact of more staff and of community policing is evident in the crime statistics.

“Today we are 12% lower, fewer than we were a few years ago," he said. "And that’s all because of the hard work the men and women do out here every day."

WATCH TINA'S FULL-LENGTH INTERVIEW WITH SHERIFF CHRIS NANOS:

The Pima County Jail and its infrastructure is another focus for Nanos if he's elected again, he said.

“The jail has got all kinds of problems," he said. "Flooding, this light water could come right through it and it’s not even raining out.”

The Blue Ribbon Commission, which was created in 2023, is a team under the county administrator that evaluates the needs of the jail. Earlier this year, the team released a 300-page report on the poor conditions inside the jail.

“They said you have a choice to either build a new jail or remodel, but what you can’t do is sit and do nothing,” Nanos said. “For me the next process, if you listen to Ms. Lesher, is to put together a committee of people to look at a design."

Nanos faces opponent Heather Lappin in November.