{"id":15181,"date":"2025-12-18T16:28:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/undersheriff-tyson-cox-announces-bid-for-montezuma-county-sheriff\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:45:17","slug":"undersheriff-tyson-cox-announces-bid-for-montezuma-county-sheriff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/undersheriff-tyson-cox-announces-bid-for-montezuma-county-sheriff\/","title":{"rendered":"Undersheriff Tyson Cox announces bid for Montezuma County sheriff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Undersheriff
Undersheriff Tyson Cox has worked for the Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office in various capacities since 2003. He recently announced that he is running for sheriff. (Jaime Cox\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Montezuma County Undersheriff Tyson Cox has announced his candidacy for sheriff, drawing on 22 years of experience with the sheriff\u2019s office and emphasizing servant leadership, building relationships and a love of community in his bid.<\/p>\n

Cox relocated to Cortez from Rapid City, South Dakota, in 2003 and began his law enforcement career at the Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office in community corrections, then a division of the detention center. From there, he graduated from the police academy and worked as a patrol deputy, patrol sergeant and detective, where he spent most of his tenure investigating homicides, child sex assaults and financial crimes. In 2015, he was promoted to lieutenant over major-crimes detectives.<\/p>\n

One notable case Cox referenced was the 2008 Berry homicide, which he took on after only four months in the role. In the grisly case, Jeremiah Berry killed and dismembered his father, Jack Berry.<\/p>\n

\"Undersheriff
Undersheriff Tyson Cox and his wife, Jaime Cox, who works for the Child Advocacy Center. (Jaime Cox\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Though law enforcement has become Cox\u2019s calling and passion, he did not dream of pursuing it as a child. Before moving to Cortez, Cox worked in various fields, including oil and radio. His commitment solidified after a 2008 child sex assault case. After the case concluded, the child was adopted by relatives and expressed gratitude to law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to her adoption, and she came up and gave us a hug and said, \u2018You saved my life,\u2019\u201d Cox said. \u201cI knew right then, this was 100% what I was meant to do. On the hard days where I question, \u2018Do I want to do this anymore?\u2019 I think about her, and I know this is absolutely what I\u2019m meant to do \u2026 At the end of the day, when I\u2019m all done with this, I know, at the very least, I helped one person. If that\u2019s the only one, then all of this was worth it, because her life was better after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Running for sheriff wasn\u2019t on Cox\u2019s radar until a few years ago, when former undersheriff and current Cortez Police Chief Vernon Knuckles pushed him to attend leadership training and read leadership books.<\/p>\n

Now, leadership may be Cox\u2019s top passion. When asked about books that shaped his style, Cox cited \u201cThe Miracle Morning\u201d by Hal Elrod, \u201cExtreme Ownership\u201d by Jocko Willink and \u201cLincoln on Leadership\u201d by Donald T. Phillips.<\/p>\n

Cox, who has been nominated for the FBI National Academy, emphasized servant leadership and passing that passion to others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want robots who show up to work. I want independent, free thinkers that are leadership minded,\u201d Cox said. \u201cThat\u2019s the approach I\u2019m going to take if I\u2019m elected sheriff. We will be an agency that develops leaders and trusts them to go out there and do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cox outlined priorities to improve the Sheriff\u2019s Office. He plans to repair the strained relationship with the Montezuma County Board of Commissioners through candid discussions and a collaborative five- and 10-year strategic plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think first it starts with good, honest conversations,\u201d Cox said. \u201cFigure out what didn\u2019t work in the past and how we can improve it going forward. Sit down, have those hard conversations and then figure out a plan moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Undersheriff
Undersheriff Tyson Cox and his family. Adults from left to right: Cortez Police Sgt. Koby Guttridge, Haley Guttridge, Tyson Cox, Jaime Cox, Juliana Duran, Rylan Duran, Jasmine Sharp and Cortez police officer Kadan Sharp. (Jaime Cox\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Staffing is also critical, with attrition rates around 110% over the past 10 years, costing millions in training. Only four employees have been with the agency for more than 15 years. Cox also wants improved deputy training.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an amazing staff at the sheriff\u2019s office. They are extremely talented people that put in God\u2019s work every single day, and hanging onto those good deputies is extremely important,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n

Narcotics trafficking was also identified as a top challenge, as Montezuma County serves as a major hub for drugs, fueling other crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t get a handle on that now, we\u2019re never going to get our arms wrapped around it. It has to happen right now,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n

Cox wants to add two drug-interdiction dogs and K-9 handlers, implement interdiction on U.S. Highway 491 and U.S. Highway 160, and expand partnerships with task forces such as the Southwest Drug Task Force in Durango.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to train our deputies, our road deputies in drug interdiction and then we need to expand our large-scale, long-term investigations,\u201d Cox said. \u201cI want to hit it from two sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also emphasized more data-driven policing to create targeted patrols based on crime patterns and pledged transparency with the community. He vowed to protect Second Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople want to be invested because the sheriff\u2019s office is their law enforcement agency. We work for the people and we owe them that transparency,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n

If he had to sum it up, Cox wants voters to know he aims to make the community safe for families.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to provide the safest environment that we possibly can for people to raise their kids, to have that small-town feel \u2026 That\u2019s what\u2019s important to me. How you do that is you establish relationships,\u201d Cox said. \u201cWe build back the relationship with the Board of County Commissioners. We work on a strategic plan going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDrugs have to be a priority because they\u2019re fueling all of our other crimes, and start tackling, not just distribution-level dealers, but end users,\u201d Cox continued. \u201cMy goal is this, if you\u2019re peddling that garbage in our community \u2026 I will do my very best with every legal avenue available to put you in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cox\u2019s passion for community and public service extends to his family. His wife, Jaime Cox, whom he married in 2016, is an advocate at the Child Advocacy Center in Cortez. His stepson Rylan Duran is a fire captain in San Juan County, and Duran\u2019s wife, Juliana Duran, is a school nurse in Aztec.<\/p>\n

His stepson Kadan Sharp is a Cortez police officer, and stepson-in-law Koby Guttridge is a Cortez police sergeant. His stepdaughter Haley Guttridge formerly worked in child protective services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely love this career, and I love this community. I\u2019ve made it my home,\u201d Cox said. \u201cMy kids are here. My grandkids are here. I care very deeply about Montezuma County.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of this writing, no other candidates have announced bids for sheriff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

identifies rebuilding relationships with the Board of County Commissioners, narcotics trafficking and staffing as major issues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[364,21,168,266,28,52,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-community","tag-cortez","tag-crime","tag-election","tag-headlines","tag-law-enforcement","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15181"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19522,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15181\/revisions\/19522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15181"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}