Joyce Farmer, a candidate for Fulton County Sheriff, has two distinct memories embedded in her brain regarding why she is running for elected office for the first time in her life. In an interview inside The Atlanta Voice building earlier this week, she recalled both moments with vivid color. 

Moment one: Farmer was in her East Point Police Department uniform when a mother and daughter approached her. Zoe, an eight-year-old girl, walked over to Farmer and asked her why she was running for sheriff. The girl recognized her from a campaign poster and asked her mother if they could meet the lady in uniform. Farmer, a mother of three adult children and grandmother of two, wanted to make sure she took a moment to answer the girl. “I told her the reason why I want to be sheriff is to protect little girls like her,” Farmer remembered. 

Moment two: The death of Lashawn Thompson within the walls of the Fulton County Jail on Sept. 13, 2022. The 35-year-old was found dead inside his cell in the psychiatric wing of the jail covered in bed bugs. The thought of Thompson’s death still bothers Farmer despite her not working at the jail since her retirement in 2018 after nearly 30 years with the department. She’s currently a lieutenant with the East Point Police Department. “That incident really bothered me because that is unacceptable,” she said. “Mental health is not a crime, it’s a sickness, just like someone with high blood pressure. Part of my platform will be to educate the community because a lot of people deal with mental health issues in their family.” 

Not having any political experience might help Farmer. She is coming into the primary election without having had dreams of becoming the sheriff of Atlanta’s largest county. By her account, Farmer used to…