Rio Grande County swears in new sheriff

Photo by Lyndsie Ferrell

RIO GRANDE COUNTY — Rio Grande County held a swearing-in ceremony for newly elected Sheriff Anne Robinson on Saturday, July 16. Robinson brings 37 years of law enforcement experience to the post, 32 of those years have been in Colorado.

Robinson ran unopposed in the Colorado primary last month. She replaces Sheriff Don McDonald, who retired shortly after the primary, according to Rio Grande County officials.

Rio Grande County Commissioner Chairman Gene Glover welcomed the crowd and introduced Sheriff-Elect Robinson. Robinson read the Oath of Office and signed her appointment certificate before a Notary Public. Robinson received a round of applause as newly appointed Undersheriff Health Hart pinned the sheriff badge on Robinson.

Robinson recently retired as Sgt. Major from the Colorado State Patrol. In addition to her time with CSP, Robinson has worked for Colorado State University Police Department, National Park Service, Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office, and Valley County (Idaho) Sheriff’s Office.

She is looking forward to working as the new Rio Grande County Sheriff. 

“First of all, I want to thank everybody for being here today. The support and enthusiasm from the community has been overwhelming and very effective for us. I want to continue to carry that moving forward. I really want to thank Undersheriff Hart for serving as interim sheriff as we made this transition. I want to thank the employees of the sheriff’s office, they did phenomenal carrying forward during this transition as well and without their efforts and dedication, it would have been horrid taking this over,” said Robinson.

Robinson continued to state that her main goals as the new sheriff were to continue to be present in the community. “Undersheriff Hart and I have been working on goals to set for the sheriff’s office as we move forward. We have a good group of people, and we intend to give them every opportunity to succeed. We plan on being more engaged with the community, law enforcement and government partners, business, other private sector groups in a collaborative effort to provide service, reduce crime and garner support for law enforcement. From my heart, thank you all so much and I hope to serve you well as sheriff.”

Rio Grande County Attorney Nancy Lake said, “On behalf of the county commissioners, we would like to also thank Undersheriff Heath Hart. He stepped at a moment of distress and took the bull by the horns as they say and handled things very nicely. We are very glad that he was available and willing to take the job.”