The Pecan Valley Republican Women’s Club hosted a forum during their monthly luncheon Thursday for candidates running for Brown County Sheriff.
Candidates Billy Bloom, Vance Hill and Dr. Paul Lilly each were given time to address attendees, outlining their years of experience and education, showing that all three are highly qualified for the job.
Billy Bloom outlined a vision of change in the Brown County Sheriff’s Department under his leadership of “a fresh approach.” Bloom stated that he will bring his 30+ years of law enforcement experience and leadership back home to Brown County, after having served in various roles in local, county, and state levels and having been part of many investigations on state and federal levels that directly impacted Brown County. He stressed the need for restructuring an increased patrol division, improving relationships between the department and citizens of Brown County and the need for all law enforcement agencies to work together cooperatively to combat narcotics trafficking.
“I know of and can think of three major investigations that I initiated that resulted in hundreds of people, all three collectively, being put into the penitentiary, on a federal and state level. And that is working with the prosecutor’s office and other agencies. I executed numerous search warrants and arrested hundreds of people here, we went after the source of the dope,” Bloom said.
Vance Hill said that he stands behind many of the policy and procedures that the late Sheriff Bobby Grubbs had put into place, but has been working to refine many of them. Hill has been with the Brown County Sheriff’s Office several years and was promoted to Chief Deputy when Bobby Duvall retired earlier this year. He has 29 years in law enforcement, 25 of which were serving in Brown County. He has also worked in the local, county and state levels of law enforcement.
“I believe that Sheriff Grubbs had the department structured just the way it needs to be structured. That is one thing I have got to do, standing here with these other two candidates, and defend the policies and procedures put in place by Sheriff Grubbs,” said Hill. “I believe in those policies and procedures. I am going to continue with the majority of them. Whether we want it or not, there are going to be changes within the Sheriff’s department because no two individuals are going to run things the same way. I assure you that I will be different in some categories.”
Hill also acknowledged that rural patrol and narcotics trafficking were some of the biggest concerns in the county.
Dr. Paul Lilly has 26 years of law enforcement experience, working in many different capacities from local to federal levels. He stated that he plans to use his experience and leadership to make Brown County a safer place to live.
Lilly stated that a view from the top of Bangs Hill inspired him to run for Sheriff. He realized that each of the lights represented a home, a family that has concern for the safety of their children and grandchildren, worries of crimes that may or may not be solved, and more. Lilly also stated that he is a professional criminal profiler.
“About 95% of our crime is committed by 5% or less of our population. If we profile and track that 5%, you will see that percentage of crime drop in burglary, in drug use and all the other crimes. It will take us back down to what a county our population should expect,” said Lilly. “We face a crisis in Brown County. We may consider ourselves a small county, but by Texas’ scale at 38,000, that is not a small county. A small county is less than 10,000. The problem we face is that we still consider ourselves a small town and we want to hold on to those values. But we don’t have small town crime anymore, we have big city crime,” said Lilly. “So we have to use new and modern techniques to attack today’s criminals.”
All of the candidates have extensive education and training, which can be seen at their respective websites below along with additional information as well as contact information.
Billie Bloom: www.billybloomforsheriff.com
Vance Hill: http://www.vancehill.org
Paul Lilly: www.facebook.com/PAUL-LILLY-for-Brown-County-Sheriff-910264549054092
