RICK BURGESS While Rick Burgess has worn many hats during his career in law enforcement, he concedes he’s always had his sights set on one in particular.

“My ambition for the past 27 years,” he says, “has been to be the sheriff.”

Burgess came close to achieving that goal in 2006 when he first ran for Cherokee County sheriff and narrowly lost to the popular and affable incumbent. Burgess sees the 2010 race, however, as a “new beginning” for everyone.

With Sheriff Bill Blanton’s decision to not seek re-election there is no incumbent candidate in the race and Cherokee County will elect its first new sheriff in 20 years.

Burgess, who has already been hitting the campaign trail, spent much of his career at the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, having been hired by former Sheriff Joe Wallace in 1983. During his time there, he rose from uniform patrol to criminal investigator, traffic division lieutenant, and ultimately to captain of the Cherokee Metro Narcotic Unit.

For the past few years, he has served as a criminal investigator for the 7th Circuit Solicitor’s Office. In this role, he helps prosecutors get cases ready for court and he believes the job gives him some unique insight. An airtight case in court, he explains, has to start with solid police work.

Burgess has a lengthy list of things he’d like to accomplish if elected sheriff, among them a return to the basics of law enforcement by utilizing community policing, in which an officer would be assigned to work in the same community each shift.

“Number one,” he added, “We need to take some of the nonessential jobs in the department and put more manpower on the road.”

He also hopes to establish a sub-station in the Blacksburg area, where deputies would be permanently stationed to better serve the eastern side of the county and cut down on response times.

He says he would be a full-time sheriff with an open door policy, and would respond to all serious crime scenes on a 24- hour basis to provide leadership and direction.

Other plans range from broad, such as the creation of a cold-case unit of investigators from multiple agencies to work on unsolved murder cases, to smaller scale, such as the elimination of the “annoying” automated telephone system at the sheriff’s office so callers can talk to “real people.”

Burgess said he also plans to push for better retirement benefits for deputies as a way to help keep experienced professionals working for Cherokee County citizens.

“We’re losing too many good officers,” he said. “We’re spending thousands of dollars every year (training them) just to lose them to other agencies.”