Abilene sheriff discusses bid for 2024 re-election, outlines his plan for Taylor County

Sheriff Ricky Bishop has been the Taylor County Sheriff since 2013 and announced in 2023 he will be seeking his fourth term later this year. Bishop recently sat down with Abilene Reporter News to discuss his storied career and what he hopes he can bring to Taylor County if re-elected in November.

Youngest elected Taylor County Sheriff

Ricky Bishop is the youngest elected Taylor County Sheriff in history and plans to be the longest serving as well. He has now served Taylor County for just over 24 years but got his start as a control clerk in the county jail in December 1999.

He originally handled weekly visitations at the Taylor County Jail, answered phone calls and opened and closed doors, but quickly moved to ascend the ranks. After serving only 6 or 7 months as a control clerk, Bishop transferred to become a corrections officer.

After serving as a corrections officer for several years, in 2003, Bishop received his state licensure. He became a peace officer through the West Central Texas Council of Governments Peace Officer Academy, and the rest is history.

Bishop was first elected to Taylor County Sheriff in 2013 and hopes to be re-elected for a fourth time this fall.

Fighting fires in his spare time

Throughout his time serving Taylor County, Bishop has also worn a second hat — that of a volunteer firefighter. Bishop credits his grandfather as his inspiration for public service, as his grandfather served as a volunteer firefighter for many years.

He followed in his grandfather's footsteps and became a volunteer firefighter in 1996. Bishop additionally became an arson investigator for the county in 2009.

Currently, he serves as the chief of the View Volunteer Fire Department and has received numerous accolades throughout his career. Most notably, Bishop received the Melvin Martin award for leadership in relation to his role as incident commander during the Mesquite Heat Fire.

The Mesquite Heat Fire from May of 2022 burned almost 11,000 acres in Taylor County. This went on to become one of the largest and most dangerous fires in the history of Taylor County.

Bishop worked so tirelessly that at one point after fighting the fire overnight, his assistant chief from the fire department and his captain had to lock him inside a trailer to force him to take a nap as he hadn't slept in over 36 hours.

Hope for his next term

Bishop hopes to continue his trend of higher salaries for his staff into the next term. When he first took office in 2013, the starting salary for a corrections officer was $25,000 per year. Today, the starting salary at the jail is $50,000 and the starting salary as a patrol officer is $54,000 yearly.

Bishop credits higher salaries as the biggest contribution he has made to the office thus far. He hopes to continue this trend in order to keep the Taylor County Sheriff's office competitive with other Texas agencies.

Additionally, Bishop hopes to continue to bring the office into the 21st century with technology updates. In 2023, after software delay with the Department of Public Safety (DPS), his office was able to add computers to every patrol car.

Bishop also hopes to grow the department this year by adding 16 more staff members. As DPS gets called to the border more often than not these days, Bishop says the sheriff's office has had to make more traffic stops and needs more officers to cover an ever-expanding population.

Bishop hopes that by adding more staff members to his patrol division he can better keep citizens safe, saying he will make Taylor County "a better place to live."

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Abilene sheriff discusses his bid for re-election in 2024