Those Democrats are retired El Paso Police Deputy Chief Robert Almonte; retired police Sgt. Mary Lou Carrillo; retired El Paso Immigration and Customs Enforcement assistant special agent Maria Guad alupe Dempsey; retired Customs and Border Protection director of field operations in El Paso Luis Garcia; retired El Paso Police Chief Carlos Leon; retired U.S. Marshals Service Deputy Alejandro "Al" Patińo; Sunland Park Police Chief Jose Ramirez; sheriff's Lt. Marvin Carrasco Ryals; retired police Lt. Gabriel Serna; retired Police Chief Richard Wiles; and retired sheriff's Cmdr. Larry G. Wilkins. George Stoltz, the only Republican in the race, is out of the country and did not attend Saturday's forum.
They will compete in the March 4 primary election.
Saturday morning, the candidates were asked about their plans for consolidating training and services between the Police Department and the Sheriff's Office and about their stances on arresting undocumented immigrants.
Wiles, who was a deputy chief during Leon's tenure, said the Police Department was in "distress" and had low morale when he took over as police chief after Leon retired. Leon, in turn, blamed the increase in the department's attrition rate on Wiles.
"The department's attrition rate was 5 percent, and it was 8 percent under my chief deputy," Leon said.
Later, Wiles said he was "not attacking anybody. (Leon) is a friend of mine. We just have different management philosophies."
Wiles attributed the department's higher attrition rate under his command to federal law enforcement agencies with higher wages actively recruiting El Paso police officers.
"We have to come up with some solutions," Wiles said.
When asked about deputies inquiring about the immigration status of those who call the Sheriff's Office for assistance, most of the candidates said they wouldn't ask deputies to take that step.
"Our role is to protect the people that you serve, and there's no way we can protect those people if they're afraid of you," Carrillo said.
Serna said that "some damage has been done. As it stands right now, the community would be afraid (to call law enforcement). Our core responsibility is the protection of life and property."
Saturday's debate was the first to feature all 11 Democratic candidates for sheriff, and some attendees thought the candidates could have covered more topics.
"In my opinion, all of the candidates are qualified, but they didn't talk about the corruption happening today in El Paso. Maybe they should have talked about that," said Lower Valley resident Hector Hinojosa.
Adriana M. Chávez may be reached at achavez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6117.
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