East Idaho Elects: Chief Deputy running for Clark County Sheriff

John Clements running for Clark County Sheriff | John Clements
DUBOIS – As Clark County Sheriff Bart May announces his retirement after 30 years in law enforcement, his Chief Deputy John Clements is vying for the position.
Clements officially announced Tuesday he is entering the race. Clements has served as Chief Deputy for the last three years. He feels his knowledge, experience and familiarity with the county make him a good candidate.
“It was a good opportunity for me to give back to the county,” Clements tells EastIdahoNews.com. “I communicate well with people and try to have openness, and I try to treat others the way I would want to be treated and work through issues with fairness and honesty.”
Clements says he wants to continue serving the way May did. One of his goals is to create a reserve program for those interested in a law enforcement career and help create a better hiring pool.
He says he’s seen an increase in impaired driving and drug issues throughout eastern Idaho over the last several years, and solving that problem is one of his priorities. He also wants to help the search and rescue program to continue moving forward.
“I want to make sure the community knows it’s an open door. If there’s an issue, they can get a hold of me, and I want to talk to people and help them work through things,” he says.
Clements was born and raised in eastern Idaho and has worked in law enforcement for the last 20 years. He graduated from Idaho State University and received his Idaho Peace Officers Standards and Training Certification. He says it was a school resource officer that influenced his decision to go into law enforcement.
“Seeing the way he worked with kids — his fairness and everything he did — he always listened to both sides even if it was pretty obvious what happened. He just was always fair and willing to listen,” Clements says.
Clements got his start in Madison County as a detention reserve deputy. He worked in Jefferson County for thirteen years in various positions before moving to Clark County in 2015. He was a patrol deputy before becoming Chief Deputy.
“We intend to continue the same good work of investigations and community service,” he says. “We’re a smaller agency, and we actually get to do some of the service part, which is very nice. I intend to keep that one of our top priorities.”
A primary will be held May 19. The general election is Nov. 3.
Source: eastidahonews.com