Mitchell named chief deputy

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is once again operating with a chief deputy.
Deputy Rick Mitchell has been promoted to the position of chief deputy. Mitchell began his career in law enforcement in December, 2006 with the Red Oak Police Department. Just a year later, in 2007, he became a K9 handler, launching what would become a long career working alongside law enforcement K9 units.
In September 2008, Mitchell joined the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, continuing his work as a K9 handler. Over the years, he has served the department in multiple capacities including narcotics enforcement, patrol, criminal investigations, and K9 operations. Mitchell said he felt law enforcement was a calling.
“It’s just something I’ve always been interested in and I just followed what I wanted to do. I’m the first of my family to enter into a law enforcement career,” said Mitchell.
As for the promotion to chief deputy, Montgomery County Sheriff Jon Spunaugle said he was impressed by Mitchell’s interest.
“Rick has shown interest in it and what’s going on beyond the patrol duties and canine duties that he was doing before. He’s shown interest in how the jail runs and some of the administrative duties. Lately, things have just kind of meshed together and the timing became right to promote him,” commented Spunaugle.
Spunaugle spoke about his own time as chief deputy, saying he got very lucky right at the start.
“For the whole 12 years that Joe Sampson was sheriff here, I was very lucky because I came in and he made me his chief deputy right off the bat. From day one, I was afforded so much information. Joe, let me in on everything or let me be a part of everything or was willing to step back and let me do some of the things. I ended up doing the budget for a few years,” advised Spunaugle. “ When Joe retired and I was elected, I had already overseen the jail. I had experience in doing the budget, going to a lot of the meetings at the board.”
After being elected as sheriff, Spunaugle said he hesitated to name a chief deputy, as it’s not easy.
“You have to want that position because most of the time the chief deputy will oversee the jail. Overseeing the jail and the civil side of things are different than patrol. I believe that’s where you have the most liability. I never have I had any worries about the patrol guys as far as use of force issues or discrimination issues, stuff like that. But it’s when you’re housing inmates or you’re dealing with the civil side, you just can’t make mistakes. So you have to have somebody that wants to do that,” Spunaugle stated.
Spunaugle added that going on five years since he was elected, he never had a chief deputy because he wasn’t sure of the interest.
“I honestly didn’t think anybody wanted to do it, and I wasn’t going to make somebody take it on. You can’t make somebody do something they don’t like or they won’t excel at it. But then Rick came along, he showed the interest in it and I knew I did need somebody to serve in the role. I can’t keep doing this all by myself because some day I’m going to be gone and I can’t just walk out. So as I said before, the timing was just right. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to be around a while, but it takes a long time to learn this. It takes multiple years to kind of figure this stuff out. So we’ve made the promotion effective this year and I’ll start showing him what he needs to know,” Spunaugle explained.
With the new position comes a change of hours, and Spunaugle said Mitchell will begin the transition with learning about the jail. While he’s happy in the new role, after so many years as a K9 officer, Mitchell said it’s a bit bittersweet.
“It definitely was. Pretty much been my whole career has been as a canine handler and giving up that lead was a hard decision to make. But, you’ve got to more forward sometimes and just see where it goes,” stated Mitchell.
Mitchell said as he begins the transition to chief deputy, he’s looking forward to learning his new role. The spot he’s vacating has also been filled.
“Connor Jansky is our new handler for the sheriff’s office. He’s already gone through canine handler school. He’s actually currently running the dog that I had when I was a handler,” commented Mitchell.
Transfering the dog to a new handler, Mitchell said, was interesting, but went smoothly.
“It was a process. I think this one went well. It went smooth. I wasn’t sure how it would go at first because Riddick and I had built a pretty good relationship. At first we concentrated on just simple obedience commands. I wasn’t for sure what to expect, but it ended up going fairly well,” Mitchell said.
As for Spunaugle, he said being in the position to name someone new to the position he held for many years is its own learning experience.
“I’ve had all these responsibilities myself. In running a sheriff’s office, there’s a lot of liabilities, mainly because of the jail, as well as civil and patrol liabilities. When you’ve done that kind of by yourself for so long, in time, there’s going to be decisions that I always made that Mitchell is going to be making. It’s not difficult, by any means, but it’s a different feeling,” explained Spunaugle. “I will still be involved in everything. I’m always that way. Everybody here in this office knows that I need to know what’s going on, because it’s all going to fall on my shoulders. I can back any of these guys, any of the jail staff, and anyone in the front office100%, as long as I know what I’m getting hit with. So they know that. I don’t like blindside, so I’ll still be involved in everything.”
Spunaugle also said it will be a great benefit to himself and the office to have someone that knows what he knows.
“Once we get comfortable in this, it’ll be kind of nice. I’ll have somebody else I can count on when I’m gone, if I’m getting sick, if I go on vacation, whatever, that I don’t have to worry. It’s nice that I have so much experience that I’ll be able to impart on him as he steps into his new role,” Spunaugle said.
Beyond his duties in Montgomery County, Chief Deputy Mitchell has also been a member of the Heart of America Police Dog Association, where he served on the board as both Vice President and President for several years. His contributions to the association reflect his commitment to the professional development of K9 units and the advancement of public safety initiatives across the region. Mitchell is married with four children.