Christien Vandergrift decided to run as a write-in candidate for Johnson County Sheriff because of the dissatisfaction he heard from community members relating to the operations of the Sheriff's Department. “Can law enforcement appease every one? No, but we can put our best foot forward,” said Vandergrift. “Some times law enforcement as a whole takes for granted how good they have it when living and working in these smaller communities compared to more metropolitan areas.”
Vandergrift is a native of Los Angeles. He has worked for the Beatrice PD for the past three years. According to Vandergrift, after working in cities with a population of 50,000+ people, it takes some adjustment in working with people in the smaller communities of southeast Nebraska. “Sometimes you may be dealing with the same people more than once,” he added. However, he finds people living in the smaller communities such as Sterling are inviting and accepting. “I want to be able to build on this foundation and gain the public's trust.”
He spent five years in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. He had one overseas deployment to the Middle East. He previously worked in Hutchinson and Salina, Kansas before his move to the Beatrice PD. During his nine years in law enforcement, Vandergrift has served as a field training officer, master police officer, drone officer, and was involved in firearms training, building clearing, and tactical team movements. He served as a domestic violence liaison and has performed a majority of his investigations from start to finish to reduce workload on his detective division.
