An inside look into the Houston Co. Sheriff Reserve

The Houston County Sheriff’s Office is a vital law enforcement agency when it comes to protecting the citizens of the county wherein they serve. In addition to traffic patrol and heading investigations within the county, the HCSO also provides court services and heads the E-911 center on Carl Vinson Parkway, which receives and filters calls and dispatches the appropriate emergency personnel for each situation. 

According to Houston County’s official website, the HCSO’s goal is to “protect life and property, enforce the laws of the State of Georgia, apprehend violators of the law, repress crime, preserve social tranquility and safety, prevent civil disorder, provide service to the courts and provide humane safekeeping to all persons confined to the detention facility.”

With the HCSO being such an important entity, it was necessary to form a reserve unit within the agency to assist as appropriate. The Houston Home Journal had the opportunity to speak with Houston County Sheriff’s Office Captain Dan Maddock to learn more about what the reserve unit does and how it serves the community.

“It was started a couple of years ago right after the sheriff got elected,” explained Maddock. Sheriff Talton started his initial term in 1972 and currently holds the record in the state for the longest serving sheriff in the same county capacity, according to Maddock. “There were some deputies that had gone through the mandated training for the state that either had left the department to pursue other business ventures, [such as] to the Air Force work force to work on base, and also some that had previous law enforcement experience that wanted to join up to serve in a capacity for special events.”

Maddock shared that the HSCO Reserve unit fills the need by providing service for additional patrol during holidays, parades, ball games, road details or various special events. He also noted that the unit stays on call during any natural disaster that might occur. “From everything from a special road detail to special events—wherever there is a need, we’ll try to muster up the deputies to provide that coverage.”

The reserve unit is established as a 501(c) organization, which is a non-profit, with its own set of by-laws and regulations. Being a non-profit, the organization is unpaid and is all volunteer work as deputies donate their own time to any given situation. From the beginning, the deputies purchased their own equipment or received many hand-me-downs. “The reserves have evolved, like everything else in law enforcement,” Maddock pointed out. “Recently, Sheriff Talton provided us with the resources that we need.”

Maddock revealed that deputies in the reserve meet the same standards as other deputies and police officers in the state of Georgia, and also have the same legal arresting powers. “We have the mandated training that’s required every year to renew our arresting powers in the state,” Maddock shared.

He detailed that all deputies in the reserve go through the original mandate training academy. “It’s about 405 hours. The state is 405 hours to be a mandated officer and right now, you have to have 20 hours of continued education to maintain your arrest powers in the state.” He went on to explain, “As constitutional officers, it’s a little different than being a police officer in, for example, Warner Robins, which is based on city limits. Every officer and deputy in our department has to have 20 hours of continued education on certain subjects.” Maddock provided that certain subjects could be anything from firearms qualifications, usage of deadly force, community-police actions, etc., all according to whatever the state designates.

The HCSO Reserve currently consists of 15 to 17 deputies in number, and fluctuates when people move in and out of town or “when ages catches up.” Maddock informed that some of the deputies have day jobs, while others, like him, are retired. “I work part time for the State Court. During this duration, I kind of fell into a part time job when I retired. But I’ve always been involved in law enforcement over the years.”

Maddock joined the HCSO Reserve in November of 1978. Originally from Indiana, he made his way south and eventually settled in Warner Robins. He shared that he used to work in the hospital business, but always had an interest in law enforcement. Gaining experience in college from his interest, Maddock revealed that he also did some teaching. “I used to teach the mandate programs out of the Macon Police Academy and also in Forsyth for a while, part time.” Maddock is currently over the reserve unit and has been for approximately the past 10 years.

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