Meet the candidates running for Bosque County Sheriff

There are two candidates running for Bosque County Sheriff in 2020. The Clifton Record and the Meridian Tribune requested profiles from each of them. They are presented here to the reader in no particular order.

Trace Hendricks

I am a Bosque County native, born and raised in Clifton, Texas. I have two grown sons who work in the towing and transport industry, a daughter who is currently attending medical school, and one grandson.

I am running for sheriff of Bosque County because I feel I am the most qualified in experience and have something to offer to the citizens. Having family here, I want to work to make Bosque County as safe a place as possible to work and raise a family.

I am a graduate of Bill Blackwood’s Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas and have 29 years of service as a Master Peace Officer, 30 years of service as a Master Jailer, and 20 years of experience in investigations and supervision of personnel.

I also have experience in narcotics investigations and interdiction, spending four years as a Sergeant Investigator for a narcotics task force, overseeing and conducting investigations in five counties.

I have served as the Chief of Police in Clifton for the past seven years and have also spent seven years as the emergency management coordinator for the city of Clifton.

Some of the issues I would like to address if elected sheriff include establishing a school resource officer for the rural schools in Bosque County, increasing the investigation and enforcement of narcotics violations, developing a security patrol for rural churches during times of service, and developing animal control in the county for stray, aggressive, and abandoned dogs.

I would also like to start housing out of county inmates in our jail to generate revenue and reduce the financial burden on taxpayers and continue to work to develop better relations with the citizenry through community policing.

If elected, my goal is to serve four terms, 16 years as sheriff, and retire here in Bosque County.

Danny Ragsdale

My wife and I are Clifton residents and have ties throughout the community After working as a project manager for an engineering firm, I made the move to law enforcement.

I served as a Bosque County Sheriff’s Deputy in 2012 and continued to work as a deputy and K-9 officer there until 2018. I have been a K-9 officer with the Whitney Police Department since then. Because I have worked for the Sheriff’s Office and as an officer for a city, I can see the difference in the way the two are run are like night and day. With the amount of time I spent as a deputy for Bosque County, assimilating myself to the way the Sheriff’s Office runs would be easy for me.

I am running for sheriff because our public safety should be the one thing you can depend on. Our families, our kids, our neighbors and our friends deserve the best service we can provide.

One of the first things I’d like to do if elected, is work on the morale of the department. I want to help the officers progress and meet their career goals. I would also like to see the department get back into the community through town halls, meet-and-greets and outreach programs through the schools. There are too many reactive calls and not enough proactive and having the trust of the community is a tool to bridge that divide. I will work to make the sheriff’s office more efficient and effective for both the employees and the public.

Other issues I would like to focus on are increasing narcotics investigations, getting school resource officers for county schools who do not have a police department within city limits, and addressing domestic violence in the community.

Keeping taxpayers in mind, I will utilize relevant technologies and grant opportunities to get things the department wants and use the budget for things the department needs.

I have a servant’s heart and am years away from retiring from law enforcement, so you can count on me to be here full time to serve the community.