Eric Snow believes that protecting children is one of the most important responsibilities of a safe and healthy community. Public safety is often discussed in terms of crime, budgets, staffing, housing, and enforcement – all of which matter. But at the heart of public safety is a more basic question: are we building a community where children can grow up safe, supported, and protected?

For Eric, this issue is personal. As a father raising young children in Teton County and as a patrol deputy serving this community, he understands that child and youth safety cannot be treated as a side issue or a narrow “family” concern. It is a whole-of-community responsibility that requires leadership, vigilance, trust, and coordination.

Children and young people face risks that look different from one generation to the next. Some are visible and immediate, including impaired driving, domestic violence, abuse, neglect, reckless behavior, and unsafe environments. Others are harder to see, including online exploitation, bullying, substance exposure, mental health crises, and the erosion of trusted relationships between young people and responsible adults. A modern Sheriff’s Office must be prepared to recognize and respond to both.

Eric supports a proactive approach to child and youth safety built on prevention, early intervention, and strong partnerships. That means working closely with schools, parents, youth-serving organizations, mental health professionals, victim advocates, and other community partners to identify concerns before they become crises. It also means ensuring deputies are trained to respond appropriately to situations involving children, teens, families, and vulnerable youth.

A strong Sheriff’s Office should be visible, approachable, and trusted by young people and families. Community policing matters because relationships matter. When deputies are known in the community – not only during emergencies, but through everyday interactions – children and parents are more likely to feel comfortable asking for help, reporting concerns, and cooperating when something is wrong.

Eric also believes child safety requires clear priorities and steady leadership. The Sheriff’s Office must take threats to children seriously, whether they occur in the home, at school, online, on the roads, or in the broader community. Protecting children means responding firmly when harm occurs, but it also means investing in prevention, communication, and trust before harm happens.

This is not a special-interest issue. It is not a secondary issue. It is central to the future of Teton County.

Eric Snow believes that a community is measured not only by how it enforces the law, but by how it protects its most vulnerable residents. As Sheriff, he will make child and youth safety a core public safety priority – because protecting the next generation is ultimately what this work is all about.