Spence said he believes he will bring an important virtue if elected as sheriff: accountability. While serving with MISSION Spence investigated other sheriff agencies in their internal investigations for several years — a job he says is necessary, though many don’t want to do it.

“Those investigations are important for our profession,” he said. “If there are things like misconduct they need to be dealt with, and they need to be held accountable so we can keep our professions the way they should be.”