Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning is stepping into a city political battle, saying he wants to clarify some recent campaign ads that used a quote from him to make a point.

It's a battle that some Omaha City Council members say is rooted in police and fire retirement spiking, but one that took a detour into the issue of sex offenders and who should track them.

For years, the sheriff's department and Nebraska State Patrol made sure sex offenders were meeting the letter of the law, but now comes a change.

Under a new arrangement, Omaha Police officers will now also support the routine work of making sure sex offenders are living where they're supposed to be.

Twice in the last two weeks, the police union attacked councilmen Frank Brown and Jim Vokal saying they opposed the move. "The police union, once you disagree with them, they come after you and this is pretty apparent," says Councilman Brown.

Brown, who's running for re-election in District 2, says that's what inspired the fliers mailed to voters in his district and District 3 represented by mayoral candidate and current Councilman Vokal.

They voted against allowing police officers to help monitor sex offenders. "I've always supported the police officers helping out and we've always had the ability to do so legally and so an ordinance wasn't necessary," says Councilman Vokal.

The ads pulled in Sheriff Dunning, who says he never wanted to be part of this campaign. Dunning says his department is managing to monitor the nearly 800 sex offenders in the county.

“What they quoted me on in the first flier, I did say that and I'll say it over and over again. Crime control's everybody's job and if I can get a little more help, I'll take all the help I can get."

Omaha Police Chief Eric Buske called Sheriff Dunning. "He's offered whatever we need," says Dunning. "He said I wished you would have called and I really just assumed from the City Council's action a few years ago that that was a closed door. So he's the new chief, he's offered help."

Chief Buske was unavailable for an interview. "This would be something they would do in between radio calls," says Omaha Police Lt. Darci Tierney.

"I'm very happy that the chief has allowed the officers to do so, (but) I'm concerned that it may result still in overtime and spiking," says Councilman Vokal regarding the new agreement.

"We would not approve any overtime to be checking these sex offenders," says Lt. Tierney.

The agreement was reached without help or input from City Council members. "In our conversation, I don't think we feel there's a city ordinance that's even necessary," says Sheriff Dunning.

"That's why I voted the way I voted and it was much ado about nothing," says Councilman Brown. "Thousands of dollars in fliers that were misleading and all they had to do was pick up a phone and talk."

Police Union President Aaron Hanson says he’s thrilled with the talks. “I think that’s fantastic. It’s a great example of inter-local cooperation. The chief needs to be commended because it will definitely have a positive impact on public safety.”

Officer Hanson says in light of the agreement between Buske and Dunning, the campaign mailers, at least regarding the sex offender registry, will end.