A former U.S. Navy SEAL, husband and father of three daughters is vying to unseat Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway in the upcoming November election.

Jared Hudson, the 37-year-old Republican candidate from northern Jefferson County, says if elected, he will target crime and criminals, not communities. The election will be held Nov. 8.

“Citizens don’t want to feel like a tyranny government is coming in with an iron fist messing up their life,’’ said 37-year-old Jared Hudson, the Republican candidate for the county’s top law enforcement position.

“You target crime, you remove crime from the community, and you partner with the community to help build safeguards, so crime doesn’t infiltrate again,’’ Hudson said. “This is not an earth-shattering concept. It’s not even that hard to do.”

Hudson said he would bring a combination of law enforcement and business experience to the sheriff’s position.

He is a graduate of Mortimer Jordan High School. Following graduation, Hudson completed fire college and became a firefighter but said he felt led to join the military.

He served as a SEAL operator with Naval Special Warfare and was deployed multiple times to combat zones including Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Foal Eagle. He still works with SEAL’s teams.

He served one year as a deputy with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and worked as a reserve deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

He also worked as an investigator with a prosecutor’s office in Indiana and is certified with the Alabama Peace Officer Standard Training Commission.

Hudson, who has his MBA, is CEO of his business, The Shooting Institute, which he founded. Through the institute, he has trained area law enforcement agencies, military personnel and civilians in self-defense.

He and his wife. Lauren, founded the Covenant Rescue Group, which fights human trafficking. Through Covenant Rescue, Hudson and his team train law enforcement agencies and also work with them to carry out human trafficking operations.

Hudson launched his campaign more than a year ago. A man of strong faith, he said God led him to join the race.

He was in South Sudan and spending time with his Bible when he received the calling.

“The Lord got a hold of my heart and said, ‘Look, you go all over the world trying to fix everybody’s else’s problems and your own house is not in order in Jefferson County. Get home and get your house in order,’’’ Hudson said.

“I had no idea what it meant, but that was the word I felt I got from the Lord during my prayer time,’’ he said.

Hudson said he returned home, explored his options and was presented with a couple of possibilities in politics but said nothing clicked until he was asked about running for sheriff.

“The Lord has opened doors tremendously, and He’s opened my eyes tremendously,’’ Hudson said.

“The position of sheriff is not a Republican or Democrat thing – it shouldn’t be. It’s not a Black or white, male or female, gay or straight, Christian or atheist thing,’’ he said.

“What matters for the sheriff is that I’m going to stand between you and anybody who would choose to take your right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

“That’s as straightforward and simple as the sheriff’s position is.’’ he said, “I would argue currently the sheriff is not standing the gap between people and someone who would victimize and that’s why you’re seeing the rise in crime rates, in particular violent crime.”

“The sheriff is the first line of defense and the last line of defense for the people of this county,’’ he said.

Hudson said it’s his understanding that there are roughly 1,500 outstanding warrants in Jefferson County that have yet to be served on people wanted for violent crimes.

One of the first things he would do if elected would be to round up those waiting to be arrested.

“In law enforcement, a lot of times we want to go out and we want to look for crimes that are taking place,’’ he said.

“If we’re being good stewards with what we have, I would argue let’s deal with those we already have warrants on. I’m talking rape, robbery, murder.”

“If we do that, it’s going to knock a dent in the criminal enterprise that has taken over our county,’’ he said. “These are crimes where it’s not the state of Alabama that is the victim, it’s a person, a member of the community and the crime has already been committed. Where’s the justice in that?”

“I think that’s the biggest way to knock a dent in the crime epidemic we’re seeing in this county and nationally,’’ he said.

Hudson thinks he has the best training to run the sheriff’s office, which has an annual budget of roughly $79 million.

“Not only do you have to be the enforcer and protector, you also have to have business proclivities to manage people,’’ he said.

“You’ve got to have a business mindset and I would argue Mark is not the enforcer and he has zero business mindset.”

Nationwide there has been discussion about defunding police, which Hudson calls ridiculous, or law enforcement reform. He says he’s not opposed to change.

“If law enforcement needs to be remolded to better fit society, then let’s do that,’’ he said. “I would argue that the guy who has been in the system that’s messed up for 30 years won’t work.”

“I bring new ideas that can help some of the major problems we’re seeing and the major problem we’re seeing is a lot of symbolism without substance,’’ Hudson said.

“Crime is on the rise, and we’ve got law enforcement doing nothing about, not because of the men and women in law enforcement, but because of leadership.”

Hudson said he doesn’t have anything against Pettway personally.

“I’m not slinging mud, but I wouldn’t be running if I thought he was doing a good job,’’ he said. “He is not doing a good job in curbing the violent and property crime epidemic in Jefferson County.”