Churchill County Sheriff Richard Hickox really enjoys the community he serves and tributes the community’s strength to its residents.
“This is an awesome community. We have terrific support from people who always want to help,” he said.
Hickox, who is coming up on 21 years in law enforcement, all of it in Churchill County, was elected to his position in 2018 after being hired in 1999 under former Sheriff Bill Lawry, who now serves as undersheriff.
Hickox began his career in detention before graduating from the academy in 2001 and moving to the patrol section. He was promoted to corporal and worked in investigations before being promoted to sergeant in 2009. As a sergeant he worked in both patrol and investigations before becoming a captain in 2014.
In his year as sheriff, Hickox points to several highlights his office accomplished in 2019:
- Reclassification of all call codes to more accurately reflect the nature of the call
- Purchased Dragon Speak, a talk-to-text speech recognition software that allows for quicker and more accurate report dictation
- Remodeled the front lobby of the office to allow families to visit inmates after hours
- Expanded the hours of the civil section to allow for better access to the deputies working there
- New repeaters installed in patrol vehicles for better radio relay coverage across the county
- Refurbished and re-calibrated radar units to make them more accurate
- Submitted grant request to the state for the purchase of a side-by-side vehicle for search, rescue and recovery efforts at Sand Mountain and elsewhere in the county
Not one to rest on his office’s laurels, Hickox has plans for the new year and hopes to be fully staffed in 2020.
“We’ve been able to hire good people so now we can work to reduce overtime,” he explained, adding that he wants to put deputies on school busses for added safety and expand his office’s training opportunities with Naval Air Station Fallon personnel.
“We’d also like to host more statewide training classes here and be known as the training center for rural Nevada law enforcement,” Hickox said.