St. Johns County Sheriff’s race draws new candidate

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The election is a year away, but incumbent David Shoar has drawn a challenger in the race for St. Johns County Sheriff.

Debra Maynard, former patrol deputy and crisis intervention coordinator with the department, has filed paperwork for the contest.

Maynard, a Republican, has since left law enforcement and now works in construction management.

She provides an interesting contrast to Shoar on hot-button issues, such as the use of police body cameras (for them) and in particular, one extremely controversial case that has roiled Shoar’s tenure – the death of Michelle O’Connell.

A PBS/Frontline investigation titled “A Death in St. Augustine” examined whether St. Johns County Deputy Sheriff Jeremy Banks was involved, although two investigations failed to find sufficient evidence to bring charges. Banks is still employed as a deputy.

“Officers are not above the law, they are sworn to uphold the law. Upon asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for statistics on deputies and officers in the state of Florida who have committed domestic violence, I was sent a very short report. I questioned why so few? My response was, it doesn’t get reported.

Accountability! Where is it? I will NOT turn a blind eye to officers/deputies who have taken an oath to protect others. If Joe citizen goes to jail for battery against a family member, so will the officer; ZERO tolerance,” reads the entry on Maynard’s website under the heading “Officer Involved Domestic Violence.”

Maynard also provides a link to the PBS investigation.

Shoar, a three-term incumbent, ran unopposed his first two terms in office. He was first elected in 2004.

Melissa Ross

In addition to her work writing for Florida Politics, Melissa Ross also hosts and produces WJCT’s First Coast Connect, the Jacksonville NPR/PBS station’s flagship local call-in public affairs radio program. The show has won four national awards from Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). First Coast Connect was also recognized in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 as Best Local Radio Show by Folio Weekly’s “Best Of Jax” Readers Poll and Melissa has also been recognized as Folio Weekly’s Best Local Radio Personality. As executive producer of The 904: Shadow on the Sunshine State, Melissa and WJCT received an Emmy in the “Documentary” category at the 2011 Suncoast Emmy Awards. The 904 examined Jacksonville’s status as Florida’s murder capital. During her years in broadcast television, Melissa picked up three additional Emmys for news and feature reporting. Melissa came to WJCT in 2009 with 20 years of experience in broadcasting, including stints in Cincinnati, Chicago, Orlando and Jacksonville. Married with two children, Melissa is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism/Communications. She can be reached at [email protected].



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