New Sheriff Hopes to Make Widespread Changes in Taylor County
By: Homa Bash
Updated: January 2, 2013
There's a new sheriff in town -- and with him come plans for big changes across Taylor County.
"Every new sheriff comes in with plans on things they've seen that they want to make changes on," said Taylor Co. Commissioner Randall Williams Wednesday morning.
First on the list for newly-sworn in Sheriff Ricky Bishop -- hiring more deputies.
"The biggest thing is training and getting our patrol division more active," he said Wednesday.
He also wants to pay those deputies more, saying at the jail alone, there has been a turnover of 120 employees over the past four years.
"That costs the county a lot of money in training and the hiring process," Bishop explained. "If we pay the officers more, we're going to retain employees and get good quality employees."
He also wants them to work more, changing department policy to allow them to make more traffic stops out on the roads. Current police does not allow deputies to exceed posted speed limits to pull over suspicious or speeding vehicles.
"Most criminals are caught during traffic stops, whether it's warrants or they are known criminals out in the county," Bishop added.
Bishop also said he wants to re-create the warrants division that was dissolved under former Sheriff Les Bruce, a move he believes should have never happened.
"There are criminals running around that know we're not going to come looking for them so they're still going to be committing crimes," he said.
But with that long list of changes comes a long list of costs -- costs that will likely come straight from you in the form of tax increases.
"I've been with the county 32 years and in 32 years, I've never heard this Commissioner's Court tell a department head, 'Come on in, ask for whatever you want, we got plenty of money,'" said Williams.
So while the second day of the year is too soon to tell about how Bishop will pay for changes and whether his ambitious wish-list will come to fruition, one thing is clear -- this new sheriff is determined to take the county in a new direction.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Bishop has sworn in 71 deputies and has 15 remaining.
"Every new sheriff comes in with plans on things they've seen that they want to make changes on," said Taylor Co. Commissioner Randall Williams Wednesday morning.
First on the list for newly-sworn in Sheriff Ricky Bishop -- hiring more deputies.
"The biggest thing is training and getting our patrol division more active," he said Wednesday.
He also wants to pay those deputies more, saying at the jail alone, there has been a turnover of 120 employees over the past four years.
"That costs the county a lot of money in training and the hiring process," Bishop explained. "If we pay the officers more, we're going to retain employees and get good quality employees."
He also wants them to work more, changing department policy to allow them to make more traffic stops out on the roads. Current police does not allow deputies to exceed posted speed limits to pull over suspicious or speeding vehicles.
"Most criminals are caught during traffic stops, whether it's warrants or they are known criminals out in the county," Bishop added.
Bishop also said he wants to re-create the warrants division that was dissolved under former Sheriff Les Bruce, a move he believes should have never happened.
"There are criminals running around that know we're not going to come looking for them so they're still going to be committing crimes," he said.
But with that long list of changes comes a long list of costs -- costs that will likely come straight from you in the form of tax increases.
"I've been with the county 32 years and in 32 years, I've never heard this Commissioner's Court tell a department head, 'Come on in, ask for whatever you want, we got plenty of money,'" said Williams.
So while the second day of the year is too soon to tell about how Bishop will pay for changes and whether his ambitious wish-list will come to fruition, one thing is clear -- this new sheriff is determined to take the county in a new direction.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Bishop has sworn in 71 deputies and has 15 remaining.
