Major Alan Everidge Reflects on 33 years of service

After nearly 33 years with the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, Major Alan Everidge is set to retire later this month. Everidge said, earlier this year, he felt it was time, and after much prayer and discussions with his family, friends and colleagues, he knew it was the right decision.

“I was told by a good friend of mine, Colonel McGhee, ‘you’ll know when you know,’” Everidge said. “I realized that in the beginning of this year. It was time for a change. I’ve been putting on the badge and gun for a long time. I am going to miss the people, maybe not the phone calls in the middle of the night,” he said laughing, “but I truly will miss the people, the citizens, and some of the inmates who have gotten out and are working to do better. I believe God opens and closes doors for a reason, and it was time to close this door.”

Everidge was born and raised in Houston County. He mainly grew up in Perry where, in the 1960s, his parents opened a gas station on Courtney Hodges Boulevard, where Hoke’s Heating and Air business currently is. Everidge said he began working there when he was a little boy.

“All walks of life came through my parents’ station, and I learned a lot,” Everidge said. “Some days, yes, I was moaning and groaning about working there as a teenager, but looking back, I believe it helped me professionally in my career. I graduated from Westfield in 1983 and law enforcement was not on my radar. One night, I got a call from Danny Ray Jr. We were good friends, and he kept telling me I should come work for the Houston County Sheriff’s Office. We talked about that off and on, but then one bad night, I got a phone call that Danny had been shot and didn’t make it. That was a very hard time, and it’s really what got me to look into law enforcement.”

Everidge then went on to pursue a career in law enforcement. He was first hired on to the Warner Robins Police Department in 1987, but later that year, in October of 1987, he was hired on to the Houston County Sheriff’s Office. After he started, he said the one thing that stood with him in his mind is what Sheriff Cullen Talton tells each deputy when they are hired.

“When Sheriff Talton was first elected, and from then on when a deputy is hired, he always shares, ‘how long you stay in office depends on how you treat people,’” Everidge said. “That always stuck with me, and I have always tried to emphasize that. Very blessed that I was able to work with Sheriff Talton, Chief Rape and many great people at the Houston County Sheriff’s Office. Not many people can say they worked for the same entity and boss for 30 plus years.”

When Everidge first began, he started out in patrol. He shared that back then, there were only five deputies on a shift, and that the sheriff’s office only had 3,000 to 4,000 calls a year.

“Those days have been long gone,” he said laughing. “Also, back then, if you worked south Houston County, you sometimes may not get a call in two, three days. The county has grown tremendously.”

Everidge then moved up in the ranks and divisions such as the traffic unit, Midstate Task Force (drug interdiction), juvenile investigations, patrol supervisor, criminal investigations division and as lieutenant over the warrants, civil and records division.

“I also graduated from the F.B.I. academy before I was promoted to warrants, civil and records division,” Everidge said. “I was there for a good amount of time over warrants, civil and records division, from 2002-2012. I then was promoted to major/jail administrator in 2012.”

Being promoted as a major and the jail administrator was a big step for Everidge. He said he went from managing a division of 20 people to 160 plus staff at the jail along with 400 to 500 inmates a day.

“It was a big task, but I knew I came with the idea that I wanted to make it better,” Everidge said. “And I hope I have succeeded in that. I really wanted the deputies who worked here at the jail to know that they are just as important to the criminal justice system as the dispatcher at 911 or the patrolman, investigator, or prosecutor. They deal with people, 24/7, that the average citizen does not want any contact with. Most don’t understand that this is a direct supervision facility where deputies are locked into a housing unit with 60 to 80 inmates of all kinds. We deal with mental health, those who have addictions detoxing and some violent. Working in every division, I truly believed, helped me for this role. But in my opinion, these deputies at the jail have the toughest job in law enforcement, and I am very proud to say that I worked here.”

Some of Everidge’s highlights of his career, he shared, include attending and graduating from the F.B.I. Academy as well as being selected to attend the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange program in Israel. He also was a part of the detail at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta as well as the G8 Summit on Sea Island, Ga.

“Another good friend of mine, who was a Perry Police officer and had passed away a long time ago, Sgt. Jim West, once told me that, ‘the badge doesn’t make you special, you make the badge special by how you do your job.’” I will never forget that, and I hope officers today and those who come after us will remember that. Our job is to serve the public, and the one dealing you have with the public may be the only true dealing they have with law enforcement. Again, I have been honored and proud to work here in Houston County, and will truly miss it.”

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