Barbara Lawlor, Gilpin County.     When Jake Adler resigned his position as Nederland Police Chief, he said "I will be back." Although he has not returned to Nederland law enforcement, he is once again striving to work in a leadership position: that of Gilpin County Sheriff.

Adler has tossed his hat into the ring, seeking to be elected as a write-candidate, one whose name does not appear on the ballot, but can be written in by a voter.

Although write-in candidates seldom win, Adler says he has had enough recent support to believe he has a shot at leading Gilpin County's Sheriff Department.

"I guess it's in my blood.  I recently dove into the race. I just don't want to give it up."

Since Adler resigned as NPD chief last September he has been an officer with the Central City Police Department, become a single parent of two children, and lost 37 pounds. On Tuesday, he dropped his children off at Gilpin County School and looked fit and confident.

Adler grew up in Rollinsville and attended Nederland High School, graduating in 1993.  His first job was with the Colby, Kansas, Jail where he got a taste for serving and protecting. He went from the jail to street patrol and then on to becoming a K-9 officer.

"Colby was like Nederland in the '70s," he remembers." But he missed the mountains. After his return he saw that Gilpin County needed deputies and was hired to work in the jail. He had been there, done that and when he saw, in 2004, that Nederland was looking for an officer, he applied for the job and was hired.

In the 2010 election, Adler came close to defeating incumbent GC sheriff Bruce Hartman. He got his campaign feet wet and went on to continue his work in Nederland. When NPD chief Ken Robinson retired in 2012, Adler stepped up into the position and led the department through wildfires and floods and violent assaults in outlying campgrounds.

But last fall, after almost 10 years with the Nederland department, he decided it was time to be with his family and handed in his resignation.

At the time, when asked if he was going to run for GC Sheriff, he said, "I have options and I am weighing everything right now to make the best choice."

He has made his choice and is ready to hit the campaign trail running. When asked what concerns or issues he has with the department, he says he has no intentions of reinventing the wheel.

"Customer service is an aspect that needs to be addressed. We need to have that hometown feel, and I would want everybody feeling comfortable about talking to me or the deputies. We need open lines of communication."