Claude Nix said he believes “the business community and law enforcement” in Whitfield County have turned a blind eye to gangs and illegal aliens.

“I don’t like Dalton referred to as a ‘sanctuary city,’” Nix said. “I don’t like our community referred to as the ‘meth capital.’ Gangs are involved in drug activity. All of these issues have some connection.”

Sanctuary city is a term that has been given to U.S. cities by people who believe those cities have policies that protect illegal aliens.

Nix, a Republican, is challenging Sheriff Scott Chitwood, a Democrat, in Tuesday’s general election. The sheriff currently oversees 197 employees and the combined budget of the sheriff’s office and the jail is $12 million. The base salary for a new sheriff is $82,130.29. Chitwood, who has been in office for 16 years, receives $100,094.82.

Nix, who owns a private investigation service, said of the idea that illegal aliens are a federal issue, “Criminals typically commit more than one type of crime. They could be involved in identity theft or driving without a license. There are things (local) law enforcement can do to arrest them on these crimes.”

Nix said he supports the 287(g) program, which gives Whitfield County jailers access to a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement database that alerts them if an individual who is arrested is in the country illegally. But he said Cobb and Hall counties “have been more aggressive in using this.”

Nix said the Conasauga Safe Streets Task Force has made progress in fighting gangs. The task force, which includes officers from the sheriff’s office and the Dalton Police Department, investigates violent crimes and gang activity.

“I believe in giving credit where it is due,” Nix said. “Do we still have gangs? Certainly. Do we have gangs in the county? Certainly. Some are moving into the county from the city and some have moved into neighboring counties. I will make sure that we have the resources we need to continue to work on that.”

While he believes funding for the sheriff’s office is adequate, he would like to reallocate some of the resources.

“I want to make sure that, one, the gang task force has the resources they need,” he said. “If they need additional resources, we need to look at that. We need to put some additional emphasis on the drug issues. I want to look at the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program. Some studies show that it is not as effective. Obviously we need some strong effective programs in our schools. Which is the best one? I haven’t sat down and analyzed the different programs. I question whether we need a 10-person traffic unit. Certainly we need to enforce the DUIs, speeding and so forth but do we need 10 people?”

Nix said he wants to work with the middle schools and put resource officers there to help fight the gang problem. Chitwood said the sheriff’s office applied for a grant from the state last year that would fund resource officers in the middle schools but the sheriff’s office was turned down.

“In Hall County, the school system pays for 70 percent of the cost for the resource officers,” Nix said.

Nix received an associate’s degree from Dalton State College in business and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He earned a master’s degree in administration from Central Michigan University.

Nix has been married to Marcia Collins Nix for the past 30 years. He has three children; Rebecca, 21, Patricia, 20, and Bradley, 19.

“Most of the public is looking for leadership to address some of these problems,” Nix said. “If we continue to downplay it or make excuses, I don’t think we are going to solve any problems.”