Carter sheriff to retire Dec. 31

VAN BUREN — After nearly 30 years in law enforcement, Carter County Sheriff Rick Stephens is looking forward to a new career opportunity and spending more time with his family in 2021.

Stephens did not seek re-election, and Dec. 31 will be his last day in office.

After initially serving as interim sheriff, Stephens began his first full term as sheriff on Jan. 1, 2013.

“There were a lot of things that (factored in) to my decision” to retire, Stephens said. “ ... Although the organization is by no means perfect, I believe we have worked hard to re-instill the trust of the community in the sheriff’s office.

“And, after experiencing two tornadoes, five floods, a pandemic, a shot deputy, I felt it is time to take a little break and spend more time with my family.”

During Stephens’ tenure, he said, he also has had to move his office three times, and for “all practical purposes, rebuilt the entire department” after historic flooding in 2017 destroyed the sheriff’s office and detention center.

“It’s just crazy when you look at everything in this time period that has happened,” Stephens said. “I am very proud of my staff and the way they stepped up and served their community during these events.”

Also factoring in Stephens’ decision, was his disagreement with the “direction the county government is being led at this point.”

Stephens said he doesn’t feel “it is truly serving the citizens.”

Serving the public is something Stephens has been involved in for his entire adult life.

“I have just under 30 years in law enforcement in general. .... I was an elected mayor; I’ve held a wide array of different positions,” Stephens said.

As sheriff, he said, there are numerous things he is proud of having accomplished, including initiating a countywide emergency text notification system to enhancing officer training in such topics as crisis intervention.

“I think we were able to ensure all of our officers were able to perform their duties professionally and provided state-of-the art equipment to help them do their jobs,” Stephens said.

A lot of the accomplishments, the sheriff said, are the result of coordinated efforts between the sheriff’s department and a multitude of agencies, including the courts and other law enforcement agencies.

Those coordinated efforts, Stephens said, made it possible to “fine tune our ability to work together to serve the public.”

Stephens also believes it was a “combination of the law enforcement sales tax,” which went into effect in 2014, and being “very fiscally minded,” which “allowed us to go from two deputies when I started to where we are at present with six deputies and two jailers.

“ ... That was one of our goals when we started ... to have uniformed sheriff’s deputies on the road 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

As Stephens looks back, he said, what “really hits home” to him as far as accomplishments “goes back to re-instilling public trust.

“I remember sitting in my office when I first took over as interim sheriff, and a citizen came in with tears in their eyes, saying ‘If we can’t trust the police, who can we trust?’”

That citizen’s statement had a “great impact on me,” Stephens said. “We strove to actually change that to where the citizens could trust in law enforcement again, so that is probably my proudest accomplishment.”

Stephens said leaving “my people” will be the hardest for him.

“In any law enforcement organizations, it is almost like a family,” Stephens said. “I know that will be the most difficult.”

Stephens said he also is a “firm believer that being a peace officer is really something that is in your blood, so I anticipate, in a very short amount of time, I’ll be missing that aspect.”

But, it also will be “nice to be able to relax with my girls” and not “have to worry about having to leave family events early because of needing to take care of stuff,” he said.

Although Stephens is retiring as sheriff, he will begin working Jan. 4 in a criminal justice liaison position with the Family Counseling Center.

Based out of Van Buren, Stephens said, he primarily will be working with law enforcement, courts and jails in Carter, Ripley, Reynolds and Wayne counties.

His job will be “trying to ensure that the officers are not only trained in dealing with mental illness of inmates ... and citizens (but) to ensure that they are aware (and) set up with any resources to help them and their families,” Stephens said.

Having served as chairperson of the Three Rivers Crisis Intervention Team Council for several years, Stephens said, he still will “be a big part of the Crisis Intervention Council Team, so that will be very beneficial on multiple levels.”

Since this is a “brand new position” created by the Family Counseling Center, and the first one like it in the state, Stephens said, he is “very excited to explore the uncharted territory and make it a very exciting addition to our communities.”

Stephens said he also is excited for sheriff-elect Dustin Boyer.

“He and I have spoken quite a bit over the last couple of months,” Stephens said. “I look forward to him carrying on the services to our citizens.”