Sheriff's Office plays vital role for county

The Archer County Sheriff’s Office plays an important role for county law enforcement not only in traffic patrol and criminal investigations but also dispatching other first responders and housing the county’s inmates.

The Sheriff’s Office is led by Sheriff Jack Curd. The sheriff grew up in Knox County with his father serving as Knox County Constable for over 20 years.

Curd started off as a deputy for the Sheriff Ed Daniels in 2002 before departing for the Holliday Police Department. Curd then returned to the Sheriff’s Office as Chief Deputy under Staci Beesinger before once again departing for the Holliday Police Department. Curd was elected Sheriff and took office in 2020.

“We have 21 full-time employees and we run about 45 employees total,”

Courtesy photo Curd said. “We have a lot of part time jailers, deputies and dispatchers. A lot of people are surprised at how big the sheriff’s office is, but we could still use 10 more.”

He added despite being a smaller county sheriff’s office, the department remains busy due to Wichita County and the city of Wichita Falls touching county lines.

“The north end of the county has the majority of the calls for service but that’s where all the growth is,” Curd said. “It’s a challenge sometimes but we work well with Wichita County and Wichita Falls Police Department. Most of our bad guys are their bad guys and vice versa. But we also work well with Clay County when it comes to Scotland and Windthorst and with Olney Police Department.”

The sheriff said the department does have deputies on patrol 24 hours a day, seven days a week with most deputies working in the evening. He said this is because both Archer City and Holliday Police Departments are often not working at night and this is when most of the crime occurs in the county.

“When I became Sheriff, I really wanted to push my deputies to get more involved in the schools,” Curd said. “I encourage them to go to any sporting event, any school event, holiday in the park, Christmas on the Square, etc. I prefer them to be there than out working traffic because when you get an Archer City-Windthorst football game more than half your citizens are there. If you go to Holliday school campus, there are 1,500 people there at any given time.”

He added he believes this encouragement has helped because most of the students now know the deputies and feel comfortable talking to them.

“When I was a Holliday officer, I had a real good relationship with the school and I wanted to bring that to the sheriff's office to where all three schools in the county feel comfortable calling the sheriff's office for anything that they need,” Curd said.

Curd said another vital part of the sheriff’s office and other county first responders are the dispatchers.

“We have the dispatchers who they not only take all the 911 calls, but they dispatch for eight fire departments, two ambulance services, both police departments, the constable offices and the sheriff's office,” Curd said. “They still work the doors and the cameras for the jail.”

Dispatcher Whitney Johnson has been with the Archer County Sheriff’s Office for two years after working in the medical field prior to that. Johnson and the other dispatchers work 12-hour shifts covering the phone lines for 911, sheriff’s office and the jail as well as any other walkins into the law enforcement center.

“It makes me sad a little bit to think that some people don’t consider dispatchers as first responders,” Johnson said. “We definitely are first responders. We are the first person that answers the phone when the person is screaming for help saying my husband or my child is not breathing. We are that first person and what we say and what we do matters and can save a life.”

Johnson and the other full-time dispatchers have to keep up with training year round to be prepared for any type of call the 911 line may receive. Johnson said there used to be just one person manning the dispatch office at a time, but Curd wanted to make sure there were at least two dispatchers on each shift which she is very grateful for.

She added despite some of the hardships that can come from the tough calls she receives her children and the job’s purpose keeps her positive.

“I love having a purpose,” Johnson said. “I want to mean something. I want to be able to help somebody.”

The sheriff’s office is also responsible for the county jail and its inmates. The jail not only houses those who have been arrested in Archer County but also some Baylor, Grayson, Clay and Lubbock County inmates as well.

“We have six jailers and we usually run an average daily population of about 25 inmates in the jail,” Curd said. “This facility has 50 beds.”

Archer County Jail Administrator Dale Richey helps manage the jail. Richey started out at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Allred Unit in Wichita Falls where he spent 24 years. When the new jail was opened in 2002, Richey started out as part-time jailer and following his retirement from the TDCJ he became a full-time employee. Curd promoted Richey to jail administrator when he became sheriff.

“My responsibilities are making sure the jail stays in compliance with the jail commission standards,” Richey said. “I run the day to day operations and make sure we have plenty of supplies, food, clothing medical and psychiatric appointments are kept, transferring inmates to and from Archer County and we also make sure people who are arrested are properly booked.”

The inmates are also given a chance to volunteer for the work program which includes helping with tasks in maintaining the upkeep across the county’s properties. Four inmates are chosen for the program and are supervised by a jailer.

“I hope to be somebody that can be remembered as being fair but also firm to make sure that the rules are followed in the jail,” Richey said. “And always giving everybody a fair opportunity to do the things they want to do. I want to be known that I care about the people that work for me and the people that are in my care and custody in the jail.”

The sheriff added he continues to learn from his newer deputies, dispatchers and jailers. He said with their help he hopes to bring the sheriff’s office further into the computer age.

“I hope to have a zero- crime rate but that’s almost an impossible goal. I do think Archer County is one of the safest places to be,” Curd said. “I want to make sure the departments here and the officers here are more constitutionally set. I hope to keep us as a small time feel and not be like those metroplexes where people don’t get prosecuted. Here if you steal a piece of paper you are going to go to jail, and I hope I can keep that here.”