Eagle County Sheriff Race Hinges on 26% Attrition Rate

Aspen —The air in Eagle County is thin and sharp this time of year, the kind that makes you feel every breath. It’s a crisp sort of clarity, but it doesn’t quite reach the interior of the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, where the lights are dimmer and the corridors feel longer than they used to. If you’ve ever called 911 in the valley and waited, or if you’ve watched a patrol car sit idling while a call goes unanswered for twenty minutes, you know that silence. It’s heavy. It’s the sound of a department stretched to its breaking point, and it raises a question that locals have been whispering about for months: are we actually safe?

Rebecca Anderson, a former field training officer and master patrol deputy who served the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office from 2005 to 2022, thinks you’re not. Now a Vail Police Sergeant and the Democratic challenger for sheriff in the Nov. 3 general election, Anderson is bringing receipts to a race that has been defined by personality clashes and policy debates. But her argument is grounded in cold, hard numbers obtained through a Colorado Open Records Act request, and they paint a picture of an institution in freefall.

According to the Vail Daily, Anderson points to a 26.42% voluntary attrition rate in 2022, the year she left. She says close to 76 people have walked out since then. “A lot of that has to do with the command structure, that there’s not a middle management level,” she said in an interview. She wants to bring back the right-sized command staff, a buffer between the deputies on the street and the brass at the top.

The stakes are personal, she argues. When she left in 2022, a shift typically had eight deputies plus a sergeant. Today, she says, it’s often just four. “The fear of that is, if a critical incident happens, everybody’s tied up in that critical incident,” Anderson said. She believes the community is unaware of how this staffing gap affects daily operations, that people don’t realize just how thin the ice has become.

Incumbent Republican James van Beek, who is seeking re-election, offers a different narrative. In an email via his campaign manager, he insisted that the department is meeting operational needs and investing in its team. “We attract and hire highly qualified professionals, and we’re proud of the people who choose to serve our community,” he wrote. He spoke of dedication and professionalism, but his campaign did not respond to specific questions about current staffing levels or how many more deputies need to be hired.

If you look closely at the records Anderson provided, the picture doesn’t improve much in recent years. The Vail Daily reported that CORA results show 19 voluntary terminations in the Sheriff’s Office in 2025, an attrition rate of 24.84%, with four more leaving through April 30, 2026. The bleeding hasn’t stopped; it’s just changed pace.

There is a warmth to Anderson’s frustration, a sense that she sees the people behind the badge and knows what it costs them to work without backup. She’s not asking for a parade; she’s asking for a safety net that currently doesn’t exist. As ballots go out this week, the choice isn’t just about who you like better on a debate stage. It’s about whether you trust the person in charge to tell you the truth about how many deputies are actually out there when your house burns down.

The valley is quiet tonight, the kind of silence that feels peaceful until you realize it’s just empty.