Sioux County Sheriff Jamie Van Voorst has announced he’s running for the office of Sioux County Sheriff in 2024, he made the announcement on Sioux County Radio’s Daily Grind program this (Thursday) morning. It’s not officially a re-election bid for Van Voorst, he was appointed Sheriff in 2022 after then Sheriff Dan Altena resigned the position to run for a county supervisor seat.
Many changes have been made in the Department under Van Voorst’s leadership, including adding a mental health officer and a Crisis Therapy K-9 unit to work with the increasing number of mental health related calls. In a short amount of time, Van Voorst realized that program needed to expand.
The Mental Health Unit work includes peer support, suicide response, and any other mental health issue. He says as the needs keep rising, so does the importance of this work
As Van Voorst looks to the 2024 election, he’s quick to say the successes are not just because of him.
Van Voorst notes the number of calls in 2023 rose to 16,000, and the projections show another rise to 18,500 for next year. He notes that as the population rises, so do the calls. He’s proud of how his staff handles the increased work noting more drug and drunk driving arrests, and more convictions are coming from those arrests
That means deputies are completing quality investigations, making sure everything is done correctly when deciding on making arrests.
Van Voorst got his start in law enforcement in 1993 as a police officer in Sioux Center. He moved to work as a jailer for Sioux County in 1994, became a deputy and rose in the ranks over the 30 years of service. He says he has a passion for law enforcement and mental health awareness, serving as the law enforcement representative on the Sioux Rivers Mental Health Board. A life-long resident of Sioux County, Van Voorst loves people, and as a Christian, likes focusing on the positive.
