Furlong seeking fourth term as sheriff in 2014

Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong will seek re-election in 2014.

He said the sheriff’s office has faced some significant events during this term in office — chief among them the shootings at IHOP. He said he thinks his leadership has enabled the department to meet those challenges “with efficiency and extreme effectiveness.”

Furlong said his tenure has featured programs designed to target gang activity and drug use as well as underage drinking.

He said he has maintained an open administration, frequently patrolling the streets and listening to the needs of the community. Furlong said he has worked closely with city government to achieve results and helped create critical data systems to base resource allocation on factual information.

Furlong said he believes strongly in public contact, saying, “the continuous exchange of information serves as a basis for an effective and efficient law enforcement agency.”

He said programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education, citizen academies, anti-gang and expanded regional cooperation have all have helped with crime prevention, as have events such as Cops and Kids Dinner, Open House Kids Street Fair, National Night Out and the Extreme Motor Challenge.

He said he wants to begin new initiatives he hopes will being more benefits including giving those with mental health obstacles a stronger protective role in Carson City schools and creating a permanent fixture in the sheriff’s office for alternative juvenile discipline and beginning a rural open space patrol.

Furlong, a Carson City native, graduated from Carson High in 1975. He retired from the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations in 1998. He was a detective sergeant with the Department of Public Safety’s Major Crimes Unit before being elected sheriff in 2002. He is seeking his fourth four-year term.

Furlong is married and has two children and two grandchildren.