Sheriff Hanson Hits Back at Mayor for 'Occupying Army' Jab, Blames Rhetoric for Violence Against Law Enforcement

by Matt Johnson

(Picture credit Matt Johnson)

OMAHA — Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson hit back at Omaha Mayor John Ewing for comments he made about his handling of crime in the city. Ewing had described the current sheriff’s office as an “occupying army” at an event last month endorsing Hanson’s opponent.

Hanson responded to the mayor’s comments on Monday while speaking to a group of Republicans and tied the words directly to recent acts of violence involving law enforcement officers.

“He actually referred to the men and women of DCSO as an occupying army,” Hanson said. “And less than 40 days later, I’ve had two deputies shot by armed individuals who refused to be taken into custody—armed individuals who would do harm to others.”

The first incident Hanson referred to involved a deputy who was shot, with the bullet lodging near the edge of his ballistic vest, while responding to a domestic disturbance on April 12 in the Irvington area. The second incident occurred on May 8 in South Omaha’s Brown Park neighborhood, where a Special Operations deputy was shot in the leg while trying to apprehend a wanted parole absconder who was armed and facing felony firearm charges.

While overall crime in Douglas County has gone down over the past year, some violent incidents have made headlines nationwide.

The Plains Sentinel asked Hanson about an incident on April 15, when a woman in the Walmart parking lot on 72nd Street stabbed a three-year-old boy. Body camera footage of the attack went viral online, sparking discussions about how to handle mentally ill individuals who may pose a danger to themselves or others.

Hanson tied these challenges to long-standing restrictions on mental health facilities.

“It’s made it very difficult and moved a lot of the acutely mentally ill into our jails, our prisons, and tent encampments,” Hanson said. “Nebraska is one of the faster-growing populations of homeless … I’m talking about the acutely mentally ill and drug-addicted living in these tent encampments out in our community. That’s what we’re seeing grow.”

Hanson noted that mental health also plays a major role in Omaha’s tent encampments and argued that society applies a troubling double standard based on age.

“If a 68-year-old grandma or 72-year-old grandpa was dealing with dementia and living in a tent encampment at 72nd and Hartman, we would not tolerate that,” Hanson said. “So why do we tolerate it for the 32-year-old meth-addicted bipolar schizophrenic? The only difference is age.”

Hanson also highlighted the growing problem of young people being radicalized online, including one local case involving a young man of color who was targeted by white supremacists in other states.

“A young man here in our community who was radicalized by white supremacists in other states to inflict violence on the Jewish community here locally,” Hanson said. “The most bizarre part of it is, the one that lived here was a young man of color—radicalized by white supremacist rhetoric on social media.”

One guest thanked Hanson for his office’s work protecting the Jewish community after witnessing anti-Semitic incidents.

“I want to personally say thank you to you, because our temples—they’ve been putting swastikas on the walls of our temples and giving bomb threats,” the guest said. “I want to say thank you to you and your group for protecting us.”

Hanson also addressed reckless street racing in Omaha. His office pursues violators aggressively—jailing offenders and impounding vehicles—while offering a legal alternative.

“When my CAT [Community Action Team] deputies approach them, we say, ‘Hey, don’t make poor choices. Here’s a free pass to I-29 Speedway. You can do the burnout pit. You can race to your heart’s content in a safe and legal way.’”

Hanson even joined the racers at the track himself.

“These kids, they were following me like goslings around the group,” Hanson said. “One of them goes, ‘Sheriff, do you want to do a burnout?’ I go, I’m not doing a burnout. ‘Sheriff, will you get in my passenger seat while I do a burnout?’ I go, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that.’”

Hanson will face off against his Democratic challenger Mark Martinez in the general election this fall. Hanson was first elected sheriff in 2022 by a slim margin, defeating Democrat Greg Gonzalez 50.1% to 49.5%. Now facing Martinez, Hanson has made his record of tough, no-nonsense law enforcement the central issue in the race.

“My opponent recently said on KETV that I take an aggressive stance against sex offenders. I throw them in jail before they can repeat their crimes,” Hanson said. “Apparently, some people running for sheriff think that you don’t have to lock guys like that up. … But when it comes to people committing crimes that put you or your innocent family members at risk, my tolerance level is zero.”

Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.