Quick Take
Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart has announced his retirement after 36 years with the sheriff’s office. He has been sheriff for the past decade and has decided to retire early, before the end of his current six-year term.
After a decade in the role, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart announced his retirement on Wednesday. He has served with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office for 36 years.
“I have lived in Santa Cruz County my entire life. This is a wonderful place to live and work, and I wouldn’t have traded this career for anything,” said Hart in a media release.
Hart started his tenure with the sheriff’s office as a deputy sheriff in 1988 and gradually worked through the ranks before he was elected as sheriff in June 2014.
The county board of supervisors will appoint a new sheriff after Hart’s retirement. That person will serve until the end of the term, which is through 2028. The office will then be up for election in the 2028 primary. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, it will go to a runoff in the November 2028 general election.
As sheriff, Hart saw a number of historic, tumultuous events in the county. Four of those — the CZU Lightning Complex fire, the COVID-19 pandemic, the killing of Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, and protests following the murder of George Floyd — happened in 2020. Hart has also served during the onset of the fentanyl crisis, for which he created a crisis response team in 2023.
Hart ran for reelection in 2022, and planned to serve only four years through the end of 2026. However, in order to align the sheriff’s and district attorney’s elections with the presidential cycle, his term was extended to six years, to 2028. Knowing that he was not going to complete the full six-year term, Hart has decided to hang it up on Dec. 6.
“The sheriff’s office is in excellent shape, with outstanding staff members dedicated to serving our community,” Hart said in the release. “It has been an honor and privilege to serve as the sheriff here for the past decade.”
Hart has endorsed Undersheriff Chris Clark as the person most qualified to succeed him. Sheriff’s office spokesperson Ashley Keehn said the county board of supervisors will provide more clarity on when and how the selection process will unfold in the coming weeks.
District 5 County Supervisor Bruce McPherson, who governs the district that Hart lives in, said that he has provided a “tremendous public safety service” in his years with the office.
“I very much appreciated working with him. He’s straightforward, honest, and caring for the people of Santa Cruz County,” he said. “I think the guy’s fantastic.”
Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante said that he is happy for Hart and his family, and that his retirement is “well-deserved.”
“He always provided a high level of service for the community,” he said. “A lot has gone on in the last few years from natural disasters to wildfires to one of his deputies getting shot. You take on a lot in that role that people don’t realize.”
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