Lafayette Parish Sheriff - Elect Mark Garber joined Bernie and Brandon on 'Acadiana's Morning News' to discuss his transition into office, his goals, and what the public can expect from his leadership.

Garber expressed his gratitude to his voters and enthusiasm for taking over as Lafayette Parish Sheriff:

I’m feeling gratitude, relief, and am very thankful for my supporters. I want to say thank you to my voters in Lafayette Parish for giving me this chance to serve. This is truly my dream job, there is no other job I would want. This is what I want to do and what I’m meant to do and am so thankful for the opportunity.

Garber explained what the focus of the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Department will be under his leadership:

We’re going to focus more on patrol, investigations, crime scenes, core law enforcement functions, while at the same time maintaining the rehabilitation programs that have been set in place over the last 15 years. Those programs reduce crime, we have empirical, scientific data, that shows us that among Lafayette Parish offenders, the recidivism rate   has been reduced from 65% to 21%. It's an amazing difference and a great service to the public. Now we’re going to focus on those core law enforcement competencies.

Garber plans to be visible and available to the people of Lafayette Parish when he takes office

I’m going to be more in the public than what people are used to. I want them to know I’m an open door sheriff. I think people in our community want to talk to the person they elect. I want to set some regular office hours where people can find me there and tell me what I can do for them, whether it’s a speed bump or a lighting situation. I want the general public to know they can find me and I will help them with their issues.

Click the photo above to hear the full interview, which includes Garber's plans to draw from military veterans to staff the department and more information about the transition process.

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