The race for sheriff is one of the most important yet easily missed elections in which we have the opportunity to vote. The sheriff is the top law enforcement official in the county, controlling not only the law enforcement budget, but more specifically, the amount of police and their regular activities while on the job. For instance, do we want to focus on cracking down on the heroin problem or let it keep getting worse? Once these arrests are made will we go after the dealers and help addicts get over their illness? Or will we prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law? Will we acknowledge that Black Lives Matter or will we continue the racist policing policies that have plagued our minority communities? As you can see, in terms of police activity this race could not be more influential.

This year, Shaun Golden faces off against challenger Jeff Cantor. PolitickerNJ, a trusted source among political junkies like myself, recently put Golden on the list of most powerful and influential politicians for this year. While he may hold the power now, I saw this as an opportunity to show the county why I think his political career should end here — it's time to elect Jeff Cantor for Monmouth County Sheriff and break free from the status quo.

Jeff Cantor wants to put people before politics, and, frankly, Shaun Golden is doing the opposite of that. He is chairman of the Monmouth County Republican Party, a position that carries a great deal of weight, especially considering that our county is currently controlled by Republicans. As chairman, Golden is responsible for deciding who gets to run on the Republican ticket in the county. That means he controls the Monmouth County Freeholders, and since they are all Republican, they must ensure they stay on Golden's good side to get what's called "the line" and be able to run endorsed by the Republicans in future elections. The Freeholders, in turn, control the sheriff's office budget. Therefore, Golden controls the people who control his budget. This is an obvious conflict of interest and one that has to stop by electing Jeff Cantor, a councilman from Marlboro, to be the next sheriff. Should you see him knocking doors as he does every weekend, Cantor will not hesitate to tell you that he is "putting people before politics."

Shaun Golden, on the other hand, continues to make political decisions rather than appropriate ones such as wasting a vast sum of taxpayer dollars on a police boat, despite the fact that our waters are patrolled by the US Coast Guard, NJ State Police and even the NYPD. We need our police forces to be more in touch with the community, and wasteful spending for political showmanship is not the way to go.

Golden tries to claim that Cantor is not experienced as he has not served in law enforcement. Golden clearly does not know his opponent. Cantor was responsible for setting up one of the first police academies after the invasion of Iraq. He helped train a foreign police force, he has served our country as a US Army officer for 30 years. He's protected us overseas, fighting off terrorists, standing in the way of danger that most of us will never see in our lives and that's in part because of his service. Cantor wants to make Monmouth County safer for all of us. Safer for you, safer for me, safer for his wife and kids. I trust him with protecting us more than Golden who has spent his law enforcement career in a much more insular fashion. Our greatest threats come from abroad, today, and who better to protect us than someone who served on the front lines already? Cantor consistently talks about protecting what are called "soft targets." Places like movie theaters and beaches that, although not a high caliber enough target to warrant serious security, are large enough destinations to attract terrorism as we saw at the mall in Munich, Germany earlier in the summer. Cantor knows how to protect us, and while Golden is a fine officer who has done plenty of good for his community and county, is simply not as qualified to protect us in a changing time.

On top of that, what has Sheriff Golden done to ameliorate the heroin problem which is rampant in Monmouth County? Middletown was recently listed as the New Jersey town with the 14th worst heroin problems. It's not just staying the same, it's getting worse. This puts our home up there with Camden and Trenton. Sheriff Golden has had two terms to address this problem and it's only gotten worse. Why can't he use police forces appropriately to crack down on our heroin problem while helping addicts get over their illness? This is the route we must take. Jeff Cantor has been outspoken that we need to take a more proactive approach in getting treatment for addicts and going after dealers. This has just not been the case under Golden's administration. Cantor said himself in a Facebook post: "We cannot arrest our way out of this epidemic." This is the attitude we need. This is how we can fix our heroin problem which kills residents daily. I trust that Jeff Cantor will bring the change we need and treat heroin addiction like the public health crisis it is.

Finally, we must rebuild the trust between police and the communities they police. Jeff Cantor is a champion of that. Cantor wants communities to respect and trust police much moreso than they do today. If Golden really cared about that, why hasn't he done anything in his two terms as sheriff? He's had plenty of time to show us that he wants to change the relationship between the police and the policed yet he hasn't. That is my last major reason for supporting Jeff Cantor this year. We need change, most of us already know that, so on November 8th make your voice heard and inspire change. Cast your vote for Jeff Cantor for sheriff and the rest of the Monmouth County Democratic ticket.