Fred Akshar is the Republican candidate for Broome County Sheriff. Akshar was elected as the District 52 representative for the New York State Senate in 2015 and has held the position for the past 7 years. Before his senate run, he was involved in local law enforcement for 15 years, and graduated from Broome Community College with an associate degree in criminal law. Akshar also has a degree from the FBI National Academy in law enforcement administration.

What motivated you to run for this position?

“For me, my decision has always been about where can I make the biggest positive difference in the community. After working in law enforcement for the first 15 years of my career, I was offered the chance to run for state senate and we were successful. At the time, I wasn’t married and had no children, but after 7 years serving our community in Albany, I’m now blessed with a young family. For me, it’s time to come home, return to my roots in law enforcement and help make our community safer for my family and families across Broome County.”

How does your background and previous experience make you a good candidate for this position?

“For the Sheriff’s Office, experience must come not only in quantity but quality. During my 15 years serving the community in law enforcement, I rose through the ranks of the office, achieving the ranks of detective, sergeant, captain, overseeing the entire law enforcement division and, finally, undersheriff, second-in-command of the entire agency. But with a career only in law enforcement, it’s often difficult to see the world outside of the perspective of a police officer. That’s why I believe my time away from the badge helped better prepare me to become Broome County Sheriff than if I had stayed in law enforcement. Why? Because as state senator, I was allowed to meet, engage and work with a wide variety of individuals from various backgrounds, life experiences, perspectives and political persuasions. It expanded my perspective in a way that staying in law enforcement never could. It also helped my learn how to better engage with the community and find common ground on potentially divisive issues in order to move forward in a positive direction for all parties involved.”

How do you plan to engage and communicate with your community?

“Throughout my time as state senator, I made it my priority to be open and accessible to the community, holding over 60 public Town Hall meetings in 7 years. I spent more time out in the community than I did behind a desk, and I pledge to continue to do so as Sheriff. The Sheriff’s Office exists in service of the people of this community, and I will ensure that there will be continuous open dialog between both. When community members and members of law enforcement are actively engaged and working together, I believe our community wins. Under our administration, it will become second nature because those who have employ will know that it will be expected. These goals may create a different culture at the Sheriff’s Office, but I believe it’s the right one.”

In data released by the Broome County Health Department it was shown that the rate of reported overdoses in 2022 was higher than 2021. As sheriff, would you plan to do anything to try and mitigate this or alter police response to these cases?

“My time in law enforcement has shown me that we cannot arrest our way out of an opioid and substance use epidemic. It takes a concentrated and collaborative effort that focuses on treatment, recovery, prevention and enforcement. First and foremost in addressing overdoses as Sheriff would be to address the overdoses within the Broome County Correctional Facility. As senator, I secured hundreds of thousands of dollars for a Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT) program within the facility, which sadly has not been administered properly over the past several years. Over 80 percent of incarcerated individuals struggle with substance use disorders and/or mental health issues, and the key is to provide them the services they need while they are incarcerated so that they may be better prepared and supported when they reenter the community.”

Given the recent class action lawsuit against Broome County Sheriff David Harder, how would you plan to handle visitation rights for inmates and their loved ones?

“I agree wholeheartedly with the court’s decision to force the Sheriff’s Office to allow visitation. Despite the sheriff’s claims that suspending visitation was strictly a COVID-19 precaution, I would urge Broome County residents not to be fooled. The truth is the Broome County Correctional Facility is down 38 positions and is facing a staffing crisis. COVID-19 was simply used as an excuse for the Sheriff’s Office’s inability or unwillingness to adequately address staffing to allow for visitation. It took a lawsuit to force this issue, but it should never have come to that. If I were the sheriff, a lawsuit wouldn’t have been brought and an appeal never filed because I would have handled the situation completely differently and never allowed families to be kept from their loved ones for the past year and a half while the rest of the world and nearly every other neighboring correctional facility reopened. In my first 30 days as Sheriff I would make sure visitation returns to a normal status, while we immediately got to work addressing the staffing shortage issue through robust recruitment, part-time employment, lateral transfers and much-needed administration changes.”

According to policescorecard.org, the Broome County Sheriff’s department currently arrests Black citizens at a disproportionately higher rate compared to other ethnicities. What, if anything, would you plan to do about this?

“It would be irresponsible of me to say that implicit or systemic biases in law enforcement don’t exist, just as it would be to suggest that implicit or systemic biases don’t exist in health care, higher education or even the news media. This is an extensive issue that requires more than one white person simply prescribing a solution. Currently, there exists a host of training at the police academy and annual in-service training to combat and remove these biases, we should always strive do better. Part of that includes training and re-training regularly, but it also includes directly involving the community and bringing those experiences and the consequences of implicit biases together with those charged with serving and protecting the community. Different realities, perspectives and perceptions must be shared and communicated if we are ever able to actively understand and learn from each other.”

Why should the students and youth of Broome County vote you into the position of sheriff?

“My message to the students and youth of Broome County is simple — The same policies and attitudes of 30 and 40 years ago simply don’t work today. We need a new vision and new leadership, not more of the same at the Broome County Sheriff’s Office. If the status quo is what you seek, please don’t vote for me. If you would like to see real, positive change at the Broome County Sheriff’s Office, then I’m respectfully asking for your vote on [Nov. 8].”