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Martinez vs. Hemmerling | Candidates for San Diego County Sheriff face off in forum

The two candidates spoke at a public forum Tuesday. Here's what you should know about the candidates before Election Day.

SAN DIEGO — Election Day is less than two weeks away and the San Diego County Sheriff's seat is on the ballot. 

Two candidates are running and spoke at a public forum Tuesday. They covered a range of topics including: jail deaths, fentanyl, conceal and carry, response times and gun violence.

The newly elected sheriff will serve for six years instead of four, according to a new California law.

John Hemmerling

Former chief criminal prosecutor John Hemmerling is running for sheriff. He is a Marine Corps veteran with more than 30 years in active duty and reserves. He says he also spent a decade as a police officer in San Diego.

Kelly Martinez

Undersheriff for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Kelly Martinez is running for the sheriff's seat. She's a veteran of the department where she runs day-to-day operations. She has worked for the department more than three decades.

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The issues

Record number of inmate deaths

  • A record number of inmates died last year. Family members of one of those inmates attended the forum. They asked the candidates how many in-custody deaths are needed for meaningful change to happen.

"It's the responsibility of the sheriff to provide a safe environment for people in custody. We have challenges to fixing the jails right now but a lot of it is time and infrastructure. We are committing the money," Martinez said.

"You want to have confidence it's not going to continue and if you say we're doing all we can, but the numbers keep going up, it's at a record pace then something is not happening. We need to know what's going on," Hemmerling said.

San Diego: a fentanyl epicenter

  • San Diego has become a fentanyl epicenter. Candidates described how they'd try to tackle the issue within the county and the jails.

"There's technology you can use to track individuals, who they've contacted, back track several people. These need to be serious investigations finding out how these drugs are in the jail and putting a stop to it," Hemmerling said.

Martinez shared what's being done to stop drugs from entering the jails.

"People who are more likely to be bringing in drugs, we do a more thorough search with those people. We have a fulltime investigative unit one of their priorities is drug investigations, we have K-9s that are trained to sniff drugs," Martinez said.

Protecting vulnerable populations while in-custody

  • The candidates discussed how they will protect vulnerable populations within the jails.

"I reinvented our LGBTQ council. That council is there specifically to advice us on policy and procedures and how to implement policy. They are our eyes and ears in the community," Martinez said.

Hemmerling said several steps should be taken. 

"You need to have a well-educated and well-understanding medical staff and psych staff that can properly implement the processes to insure we keep people safe based on either their identity or gender," Hemmerling said.

WATCH RELATED: McCann vs. Campa-Najjar | Chula Vista Mayor candidates address topics ahead of Election Day (Oct. 2022).

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