Newly-elected Sheriff Eddie Hawkins is settling into his new position at Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and has already started planning his changes — starting with switching around personnel.
Hawkins, who began the position Monday, has named investigator Brent Swan his chief deputy — “my No. 2 guy,” he said — after former chief deputy and interim sheriff Greg Wright retired at the beginning of the year. Swan, who left his position as head of Columbus Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division in March 2018 to work for LCSO, said he was surprised and honored to get the new position.
“I was actually very surprised by even being asked,” he said. “It was absolutely an opportunity I could not pass up and I’m excited for the sheriff’s department.”
Hawkins also named Capt. Ric Higgins administrator of Lowndes County Adult Detention Center. Higgins left his position as CPD’s head of patrol last month, and is replacing Capt. Ryan Rickert, who is now working as an investigator, Hawkins said.
Hawkins also moved Capt. Archie Williams, former commander of the Columbus-Lowndes County joint narcotics task force, to be head of LCSO’s training division.
“He’s got a wealth of knowledge and experience and he can (work with) some of our younger guys that need to be trained,” Hawkins said. “He’ll be doing a good job there.”
Hawkins has not named a new head of the narcotics unit. Lt. Darrell Nabors is head of investigation for “right now,” he said. Lt. Tony Cooper, who was head of investigations for the last few months of 2019 after Wright was promoted to chief deputy, is still an investigator and is working with the Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which Cooper has been a member of for more than 10 years.
Hawkins added there are several still-open positions which he needs to fill. Each of the moves are to build his own staff and “revamp” how the department works.
“We’ve got a good staff here,” he said. “Each one of these guys brings a unique set of skills to the table and we’re going to try to utilize them to the best of our ability and put them in places that are good for the department and good for the needs of the community.”
Goals
Hawkins said his No. 1 priority in the new position is to look at LCSO’s standard operating procedures and policies to ensure they comply with state and federal laws, and “make sure we’re using the best practices we can as a department.” LCSO was accredited by the state of Mississippi in February 2019, one of the few sheriff’s offices in the state to do so, Hawkins said.
“Now we need to make sure that we’re doing everything that we need to do for the accreditation and our department to make sure that our policies and procedures are in line with federal laws and we’re using the best practices we can,” he said.
He also plans to meet with CPD Chief Fred Shelton to talk not only about the joint task force but other crime-related issues that affect the city and county.
Hawkins added he plans to be more visible at community events and make sure citizens know him and know how they can get in touch with him and his department if they have a problem.
One of his more long-term goals is to improve the department’s technology to make deputies’ work more efficient.
“During my whole campaign, I ran on more visibility,” he said. “Putting deputies back out in the communities. Doing things for the communities. And one way to do that is by utilizing technology and putting computers in vehicles so that the guys don’t have to respond back here to the sheriff’s department to sit down here and write a report. They can do it in the field and keep them out in the field where they’re more visible, deterring crime, able to respond to different situations faster, things like that.”
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