On Thursday evening, the Natrona County GOP unanimously nominated three candidates to send to the Natrona County Commissioners Office, which will decide the county's next sheriff.

The commissioners will announce on Monday which candidate they will elect to replace sheriff Gus Holbrook, who announced he is retiring at the end of the month after serving as sheriff for eight years.

One of the nominees is Michael Steinberg, who served at the Natrona County Sheriff's Office for over 23 years before retiring, highlighted his background in law enforcement and military service.

The other nominee is John Harlin, who currently serves as undersheriff at the Sheriff's Office, also has over 23 years in law enforcement and underscored his commitment to enforcing laws related to sex offenders.

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Both candidates were asked a series of questions by ward coordinator Amy Womack about what their approach as sheriff will be, how they will reduce violent crime in the county, and why they are the best candidate for the job.

Steinberg said, after being asked about how to reduce violent crime, that he will increase police presence, as they are important towards towards keeping order.

"The first step is increase presence within the community. You ever saw someone driving down the street and a police vehicle going in the opposite direction, you probably seen break lights go on. Just that presence alone helps reduce...get more deputies out on the street."

When asked the same question Harlin said he would increase funding towards stopping internet crimes directed against children.

"One of the primary concerns is predatory behavior on our children. We see technology increasing at an exponential pace, and I have already dedicated a senior investigator to work alongside VCI's, internet crimes against children taskforce, and we're putting efforts into that. I'm going to increase those resources dedicated towards those kind of crimes."

While the Natrona County GOP nominated three people for the position, only two of them will be seriously considered by the commission, as the Natrona County GOP is required to submit three applications but only received two.

The third candidate was Natrona County GOP chairman Kevin Taheri, who nominated himself.

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