Domestic violence

At 29, Derek Sanders says some folks have called him the youngest sheriff to hold the office in the state's history. Though he was sworn in about two weeks ago, ...

That is the model I think is the only way we are going to get around this homeless stuff." "One, they leave, because this isn’t the place to be homeless, or two, they take the help, and we are hoping that number two is what occurs. "We were homeless in Colorado and I got to basically participate in that event, and it was a pretty tumultuous time in my life, obviously. "If all you do is show compassion, you see a festering problem continue to grow. So the first thing I wanted to do, a huge complaint from the cities, is we need to be able to book our burglary suspects. "We just continue to offer them resources, familiar faces. If all you do is use enforcement, then you are just a heavy-handed, tyrannical government that goes around and bullies anyone that you see unfit," said Sanders. So, I felt privileged just to get to that point and to then end up being a sheriff at 29 is mind-blowing, but that’s kind of where my passion comes from." He also plans to tackle the same domestic violence issues he experienced last year. He hopes to bring that program to Thurston County. His family often struggled in poverty and suffered the impacts of domestic violence and homelessness. At 29, Derek Sanders says some folks have called him the youngest sheriff to hold the office in the state's history.