While sheriff candidates filing this early isn’t unheard of (there’s already a challenger for Macon County Sheriff Brent Holbrooks) this race will be different — it’s a chance for Swain County to move in a new direction, one where trust is rebuilt and promises of transparency are kept long-term.    

Cochran retired July 1, about a week after he was charged in both Swain County and on the Qualla Boundary for a pair of alleged sexual assaults. According to the allegations, Cochran, driving his county-issued police vehicle, picked up two women on the same day, solicited them for sex and assaulted them once they rejected his advances. On July 21, he was indicted by a Swain County grand jury on a second-degree rape charge tied to a third alleged victim.   

In accordance with state law, Kirkland, who had been Cochran’s chief deputy since March, became the interim sheriff. The Swain County Republican Party’s Executive Committee, per statute, provided Swain County commissioners with Kirkland’s name as their recommendation to serve as sheriff through at least 2026. On July 29, Swain County commissioners voted 4-1 to appoint Kirkland, and the next day, he was sworn in.   

Brian Kirkland. File photo

Kirkland, a 45-year-old Republican, began his career as a Swain County deputy, a role he served in until 2004. He then took a job at the Cherokee Indian Police Department, where he worked patrol and became sergeant detective in 2009, investigating a variety of crimes. He came back to Swain County in 2011 when he took a position as administrative captain, which he held until March of this year, when, following former Chief Deputy Jason Gardner’s retirement, he became Cochran’s second in command.   

He told The Smoky Mountain News that while he’d intended to run for sheriff in Swain County once the opportunity presented itself, it’s happened earlier and more abruptly than he’d imagined. He feels like he was prepared for the job, although perhaps not the introduction to the political world.  

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“Knowing how to do the job is no different, how we handle situations, and I’ve constantly dealt with the public,” he said. “It’s just this attention that comes with [running for sheriff] is different.”   

Once he was sworn in, Kirkland prioritized setting expectations and putting his “vision” out to deputies. He decided to look outside Swain County to hire a new Chief Deputy, ultimately selecting Jason Ashe, who most recently served the Macon County Sheriff’s Office as a detective but also has a background in patrol.   

The sheriff is a crucial position in the county whose office is required by statute to provide security at both the county jail and the courthouse while also serving people with civil papers, in addition to regular law enforcement duties. When an incumbent doesn’t run for re-election, the race to hold the most powerful elected job in the county usually brings plenty of contenders. Such is the case in Swain County, with four men announcing their candidacies more than three months before the filing period opens.  

The lone vote against Kirkland’s appointment came from Republican Commissioner David Loftis, who mentioned by name a man he thought would make a good sheriff — Wayne Henry Dover.   

Dover, also a Republican, announced his candidacy on July 31 via a press release. Dover, 52, has a variety of law enforcement experience ranging from patrol officer to investigator, working along the way for the Swain County Sheriff’s Office and the Cherokee Indian Police Department. Now, he is the Bryson City Police Department’s assistant chief. He also teaches basic law enforcement training classes at both Southwestern Community College and Haywood Community College.   

Wayne Dover. File photo

“I’ve got the right mentality, and I want to surround myself with the right people, and then my job becomes less daunting,” Dover said.   

Democrats also have two candidates running, Sean Birchfield and David Southards.   

Birchfield, 52, began his career in law enforcement in January 1996 under Swain County Sheriff Bob Ogle, a Democrat who served from 1992 until 2006, when the Republican Cochran upset him by 92 votes in the General Election. After working a couple of years as a detention officer, Birchfield became a patrol deputy. In 2003, he took a job as a domestic violence victims advocate for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which led him to join the Cherokee Indian Police Department investigating domestic violence and sexual assault cases. While he’s been out of law enforcement since 2016, Birchfield said he feels called back to the badge.  

Sean Birchfield. File photo

“Being a Christian man, I’ve felt this whole time I need to be out there doing more,” Birchfield said.   

Southards, 55, currently serves as the assistant chief of police for Andrews in Cherokee County, but he began his law enforcement career in 1997 as a deputy in Swain County. Like the other candidates, Southards has an array of experience, from detention officer to being a school resource officer to investigations.   

Some, including Southards, believe there is a lack of a presence from the sheriff’s office throughout the community. He recommended getting deputies more involved and more visible, partially by hosting events like coffee with a cop that have been a success for other law enforcement agencies around the region. Southards thinks that events that bring deputies into contact with the youth, such as shop with a cop, are particularly important.  

David Southards. File photo

“I’d see these kids, and sometimes, the only time they see us is in a negative light, when you’re arresting their parents,” Southards said.   

Kirkland said he plans on getting rid of a program Cochran ran where Swain County inmates were allowed gifts and time with loved ones around the holidays and instead doing shop with a cop. The event pairs deputies with local children to pick out some gifts they otherwise may not get. He also wants to see other community outreach efforts, such as partnering with local businesses for similar endeavors — for example, SROs may go rafting with specially selected students from county schools.   

The other part of being more present in the community is having a more active patrol presence, something Swain residents have expressed concern about in the past. Southards recalled moving back home to Swain County with his wife a few years back with the intention to stay for good. After buying a house near the county’s high school, his family quickly became the victim of two property crimes within just a couple of months and learned that many of his neighbors had endured the same unnerving experience.   

“We just lack a police presence,” Southards said.   

Of the 31 sworn deputies in Swain County, 10 are on patrol — that’s four sets of two on rotating shifts and two deputies who work the busier times while also filling in to cover when deputies are on vacation or out for training. Kirkland said last time his office ran the numbers around the beginning of July, patrol deputies were answering about 35 calls per day from a population of about 14,000, which can easily double during certain busy tourist seasons.  

Kirkland said that he understands how difficult this makes things on those who are on both patrol deputies and those who need their services.

“When I started here in early 2000s, you had to cover the county by yourself, and you had to wait for another jurisdiction to show up to back you up,” he said.   

Minor structural reorganization could free up a few deputies, possibly allowing for three per shift, but that’s tough with such thin numbers across the board.   

Southards proposed creating three distinct patrol zones to ensure deputies aren’t too near each other, meaning any call will theoretically have a quicker response. However, with just two deputies per shift, Kirkland thinks that zones won’t do much good, especially since all it takes is one call that requires backup to tie up all patrol resources anyway. Kirkland thinks shifting the focus is what’s needed. For example, where now, deputes spend time working drug interdiction on U.S. 74 without what Kirkland considers the proper resources to even make that a worthwhile endeavor, those personnel could be better used patrolling other areas.   

In addition, he wants patrol deputies to spend more time in and around the communities where drug and property crimes are more prevalent. “Proactive policing,” he called it, a means to deter crime and put residents’ minds at ease by having a heavier presence in those communities.   

“Some communities are getting completely destroyed with narcotics and break-ins, and those go hand in hand, for the most part,” Kirkland said. “If you just start saturating your efforts where even our investigators are assisting on this mission to try to have a presence in these communities that are getting hit the hardest, that can help.”  

Perhaps the biggest issue is that Swain County, which is over 80% federal land, has a meager tax base, and money from the federal government’s Payments in Lieu of Taxes program doesn’t bridge the gap created by the lack of property tax revenue. While the last budget saw an increase from 36 cents per $100 of valuation to 41 cents, there are still more needs across the board.   

The candidates interviewed by SMN all felt like seeking out more grants can be a solution, but that also requires a good deal of work. Kirkland said he has been spending more time finding and applying for such grants.  

While there is a hearty focus on some of the negative issues tied to the Swain County Sheriff’s Office heading into the 2026 race, Kirkland did point out that the county commissioners approved a new salary plan that will help recruit and retain personnel. Kirkland said that until recently, many have viewed Swain County as a place to begin a career in law enforcement, get all the necessary training and move on to somewhere else that pays better. Swain County was a stepping stone.

“I’m hoping that now, with the new money that they implemented, that we’re going to be able to retain people, so we can send them to training and use them for Swain County’s benefit, not Jackson, Macon and everybody else.”  

Along with increasing visibility and arrests in areas with higher rates of drug and property crimes, Kirkland has a few other things he’s been looking at, which he outlined in soon-to-be released document titled “The mission of the Swain County Sheriff’s Office moving forward” that SMN got a look at. From the beginning, it’s clear that regaining trust in the wake of Cochran’s scandal is the top priority.  

“The citizens of Swain County deserve and demand a Sheriff’s Office that conducts business in an impartial, fair and transparent manner,” the statement begins. “As your Sheriff, I will make this my administration’s top priority as we move forward into 2026 and beyond.”  

The document speaks to an aim to give more attention to vulnerable individuals — the youth, the elderly, those repeatedly targeted for property crimes by people struggling with addiction and those in the throes of addiction looking for a way out. Kirkland spoke with SMN about the prevalence of individuals from outside the country targeting seniors with a variety of scams, including one where they spoof their phone number, call and impersonate a deputy or other county official pressuring someone to give them money, lest they be subject to arrest or other legal action.  

“We’re not going to ask for money ever. That’s not how this works. All monies that come to the sheriff’s office has to go through the clerk of court first,” he said. “We’re never going to ask for money.”  

Right after the vote to appoint Kirkland, Loftis told his fellow board members that he thought Dover should be considered for sheriff because Dover was born and raised on the Qualla Boundary. While he’s not an enrolled member, he is a first descendant, has worked in tribal law enforcement and is married to an enrolled member, Sunshine Parker, who serves as an associate judge in Cherokee Tribal Court.  

“I think Wayne Dover would have been a good man for the job … we’ve got some mending to do up there, and I think the same ol’ same ol’ is not going to fix the problem that arose from the recent sheriff’s retirement,” Loftis said told his fellow board members.   

Dover told SMN that he would be a sheriff for all but conceded that understanding the Eastern Band on a deeper level could benefit the position.   

“I believe I’ll be a good steward and try to mend fences that may have been stretched a little,” Dover said.  

Dover has strong connections to the Eastern Band, but so do Kirkland, Southards and Birchfield, as far as their extensive experience working for the Cherokee Indian Police Department in various capacities. All four spoke about the importance of working with the tribe, not only because of a moral imperative, but also because their investigations often overlap and tribal police have more resources and personnel. In fact, when Kirkland was sworn in, one of his first actions as sheriff was to sign a new mutual aid agreement with CIPD.   

The other thing all candidates agreed on was the need for further transparency, as mentioned by Kirkland in the new mission statement. In that statement, Kirkland advocates for an initiative — begun by Cochran — to give each deputy and detention officer a body camera, something he believes will protect the public and deputies alike.  

“I really think this is worth the cost,” Kirkland told SMN.  

In his mission statement, Kirkland also said the office will work to provide the public with updates on cases and ongoing situations as they come available.  

“I will ensure that important information that can be released to our citizens and guests will be made available as soon as practicable if permitted by law so long as it does not compromise ongoing criminal investigations,” the statement reads.  

But regaining public trust comes down to much more than just one initiative or even doing the right thing for a few months — it will take a prolonged effort to prove to residents that the sheriff has their best interest at heart. In his interview with SMN, Kirkland further acknowledged that trust is not automatically given and must be earned and re-earned over time.  

“We don’t expect trust to just be automatically given,” he said. “And I’m hoping, given the few months I have before we have to get into the true campaigning season, that we get the opportunity to put my vision out here and to show that we can be trusted and respected. And that’s what we’re going to do.”