Alan Buzzard is a life-long resident of Buena Vista, and lives in the city with Shonna, his wife of 27 years, and his son Levi. He began his law enforcement career as a correctional officer with the Rockbridge Regional Jail before moving to the Buena Vista Police Department, where he served for 17 years until his retirement in October 2024. During his tenure with the BVPD, Buzzard served on the special response team, drug task force and as a school resource officer, earning the rank of sergeant. He decided to run for the office of sheriff in Buena Vista due to a “strong desire to protect and serve the community I live in.”
“The position would allow me opportunities for personal growth, and opportunities to have a positive impact in our community and local law enforcement,” he said. “I think I would be a great mentor and leader in the department with my experience in law enforcement.”
If elected, Buzzard said he would prioritize establishing “stronger safety measures for the municipal building and courtrooms with the consistent presence of deputies.” One of the ways he said he’ll do that is to run the metal detectors every day, not just on days when court is in session.
“It doesn’t make sense to only run it on court days,” he said. “I know that’s to protect the people who are there for court, but they should be for the safety of everyone in the building.”
Buzzard said he would also like to bring on an administrative secretary for the sheriff’s office to give citizens “in-house access to the sheriff’s office for support during all business hours.
“I just think that is something we really need, just so people don’t get discouraged when they call,” he said. “People might have questions about paperwork, civil papers, or animal control, pets and stuff, and I want someone there to answer the phone, and if they can’t give them the answer, they’ll be there to let one of us know that someone’s asking a question.”
Buzzard would also increase presence of the department’s deputies in the community, visiting schools and working alongside the school resource officers, and “get out in the community and talk to some the businesses.”
“It doesn’t hurt to have an extra person walking through the school and talking to the kids,” he said. “I think the kids would appreciate that, too. A lot of people don’t know what the sheriff’s office does … and even though we don’t do criminal [investigations], we can still get out and just be seen in the community and be of service if they need something we can help them with.”
Buzzard said he would also bring technological advances to the department to make the department’s operations more efficient, such as the implementation of an Incident-Based Reporting system. While the sheriff’s department isn’t often involved in criminal investigations, there may be times where animal control officers may come across criminal activity and need to file incident reports.
“I want the citizens of Buena Vista to know I am committed to the safety of not just our Municipal Building and courtrooms, but to the safety of all citizens, deputies, schools, and businesses,” he said. “I am open to feedback from the citizens on ways to better serve Buena Vista through our department. With my experience in law enforcement, I feel I would be a great mentor, and leader for the next chapter of the Buena Vista Sheriff’s Office.”
