Sheriff Joey Terrell soon will bid farewell after 15 years as Habersham County’s top law enforcement officer.
Sheriff-elect Robin Krockum will step into the role as sheriff on Jan. 1. After retiring as chief of the Demorest Police Department in May, Krockum ran unopposed and was elected in November.
Long before he was elected, Terrell, now 55, started his career at the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office in September of 1995.
The beginning
Originally born in Canton, Ohio, Terrell and his family came to North Georgia when he was four-years-old. Terrell felt drawn to law enforcement from the beginning, he said, mostly for a desire to help and defend the vulnerable.
“I love helping the people who can’t help themselves,” Terrell said. “There’s no better feeling than going in and helping somebody who can’t help themselves.”
Through the years since he was hired, Terrell rose through the ranks and first worked in the jail, then on a radio, then as a deputy. Terrell then went on to serve as corporal, sergeant and back to shift sergeant.
But in 2008, Terrell resigned from the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office for a very specific purpose. It was a “burning desire,” as he described it. Something that told him he could run things better than the current administration – that he could improve the very agency he’d served under.
“I didn’t like how deputies acted and treated folks,” Terrell said. “I didn’t like the fact that (officers) didn’t make any money. I always felt like we were stepchildren of the county.”
That first election
Following his resignation, Terrell said he took that “leap of faith” and launched his first campaign to run for sheriff. His opponent was Habersham’s acting sheriff, DeRay Fincher – his former superior, as it were. Terrell had put it all on the line, but he believed some things needed to change and, if elected, he was bent on bringing that change.
At one point, uncertain of the political world, Terrell sought counsel from a friend and mentor from Hall County. He told him: “Always run like you’re one vote behind.” And that’s what he did.
In 2008, of around five candidates running in the primary, Terrell didn’t quite reach 50% of the vote. It came down to a runoff: Fincher v. Terrell.
At home with his family, Terrell hovered by the radio when the announcement came. In angst, he listened to the live coverage as the results poured in. Then the race was called.
Terrell won.
And at that moment, one of his first thoughts was: “What am I going to do now?”
“I said, ‘Wow,’” Terrell said of his win in 2008. “I guess I’m going to be sheriff, and then it was like, ‘Now what?’”
Terrell’s legacy
In the years since, Habersham County Sheriff’s Office has seen an overall transformation under Terrell’s leadership. From technological advancements, compliance with rigorous state standards and bolstered human resources, Terrell has gradually guided policy into the modern era.
“It’s almost like we’ve come out of the 19th Century and into the 21st Century,” Terrell said. “Technology, training, manpower – a little bit of everything. We kind of had our hands full (in 2009). We had a policy, but it was a botched policy…we’ve come miles and miles and miles of where we were at.”
Public safety and other policy changes to come out of Terrell’s administration include:
- No chasing suspects out of state
- No chasing motorcycles.
- Hiring school resource officers
- Pay raises for employees
- Obtaining state certification
These achievements, however, perhaps hold greater weight beyond the surface.
Habersham County has one of only seven sheriff’s offices in Georgia to achieve state certification, according to Terrell. Through the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, certification requires agencies to meet about 130 standards.
This covers policy over protocol and training, technology, patrol tactics, hiring processes, investigation strategies, use-of-force and administrative duties.
Terrell brought Habersham County up to those state certification standards in 2010, maintaining those standards ever since.
Krockum said he’ll see that these standards continue to be maintained after he takes office.
“These are state and national standards that help us with liability, (obtaining) grants and insurance discounts,” Krockum said. “Certain grants aren’t available unless you’re a certified agency.”
While in office, Terrell has more than doubled staffing numbers at Habersham County’s Sheriff’s Office. Some of those account for crucial positions like patrol deputies, jailers, investigators and other personnel.
For context, before Terrell took office, there were 50-60 staff members within the agency. Now, that number is up to around 105.
Even under county budget constraints, Terrell also has pushed to replace countless vehicles and secured funding for enhanced technology for deputies and officers throughout his agency.
With four terms under his belt, Terrell said he’s continued to follow that piece of advice through every election cycle: Always run like you’re one vote behind. And he’s won every time.
“That’s what I always did,” he said. “I always worked hard at it, put out signs and went and talked to folks.”
Work left to do
Krockum, who started his career at the sheriff’s office alongside Terrell, will have a series of challenges to work with county commissioners on in the years ahead. One of the biggest could be the Habersham County Jail, which is known to have limited capacity, instances of potential rights violations and an array of obsolescence issues.
Terrell said he’d like to see the detention institution focus on new provisions that create opportunity for inmates to prevent, or at least lower, recidivism.
“We just don’t have the available space,” Terrell said. “That’s the other side of just keeping people locked up. If we could try and help change their lifestyle, maybe they won’t be back in jail.”
Krockum, who has worked closely with Terrell over the years, also expressed a need for additional resources and space to foster a more supportive environment for the 162 incarcerated individuals inside Habersham’s jail. Like Terrell, he’s confident this could break cycles of criminal behavior.
“If they don’t have something like that, then they get back out and get with the same people and reoffend,” Krockum said. “Then they’re right back in (jail).”
Krockum, who had Terrell’s support even before his announcement to run, said he’ll continue to push for progress in the sheriff’s office.
“I would never want to see it go backward,” Krockum said. “We’ve got shared views on a lot of things. (Terrell and I) have worked with each other for years.”
Krockum, 52, has a 28-year career in law enforcement – first with the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office before he joined the Demorest Police Department. Krockum went on to lead Alto’s Police Department as chief when it was founded.
He came back to Habersham County Sheriff’s Office as a patrol commander under Terrell in 2009, then he returned to Demorest as police chief in 2016 until his retirement earlier this year.
“I’m both excited and nervous,” Krockum said. “I’ve been a chief, but this is a lot different…I knew what (Terrell’s) vision was, and I want to keep moving forward. The advantage I have is I’ve worked with everybody here.”
Why now? And what’s next?
Asked what compelled him not to run for office again, Terrell said he just “felt it was time.”
“Like, when it was time to run – now, it’s time to step away,” Terrell said. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I believe in term limits. Nobody should have an office forever. I don’t care what it is. We have term limits for president. We have term limits for governor. I think we need term limits for every other office. I don’t think we should have terms that go on for 50 years.”
Just days before he’s set to leave an office he’s held for so long, Terrell now finds himself with a similar thought he had when he was first elected.
“What am I going to do now?”
On Friday, Dec. 20, despite a passion for long-time hobbies like older-model cars, Terrell said he still hasn’t discovered that answer.
“I don’t know what exactly the plan is,” he said. “But I’m excited to see where it’s going. I’ve done this, primarily, for 29 years. I’ve done a whole lot of other stuff on the side, also…I don’t want to stay in office until I can’t do anything. I want to go and enjoy life and do something else. I want to have another career for a little while. None of us is afforded tomorrow, but I’m kind of excited to see what I can do beyond law enforcement.”
Again, Terrell remarked, “It’s time.”
