Gilmer Sheriff’s Office is about helping people
Gilmer County Sheriff Stacy Nicholson joined the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) because he needed a job.
He found a calling.
“I quickly saw that my job was to help people,” he said. “I really liked being able to help people, sometimes in the most difficult times of life that they’ll ever have.”
After 35 years, he has found insight.
“You understand and recognize your own mortality.”
“There’s always an inherent sense of reward when you get to put a real bad guy in jail.”
“The most important thing you can do from day one is to be upfront and honest with people.”
Nicholson has bought these words over his years in service, sometimes at great cost.
In Nicholson’s first month on the job, he worked as a jail officer.
“I was just a naïve 19-year-old kid,” he said.
The job was alright. Until an outbreak of body lice broke out among the inmates.
He had to make sure every prisoner showered with special shampoo and then got sprayed down with a special aerosol.
“That was probably the first point in my career that I was questioning my career choice,” Nicholson said.
Serving in law enforcement means experiencing moments at the extremes of human experience every day.
In these times, it’s important to show compassion and care for people at their worst.
One day on the job, a driver hit a child who had run into the street.
The girl died.
It was Nicholson’s job to bring the parents to the hospital and tell them what had happened.
“I had the responsibility,” he said.
For most of an hour afterward, Nicholson stayed with the parents and did his best to comfort them.
“That was a tremendous thing I’ve never forgotten,” he said.
Nicholson was also there on the day that a man opened fire on GCSO officers, killing Deputy Sheriff Brett Dickey and wounding Deputy Mark Sanford.
“That’s something that you never forget, and you remember every time you’re in a similar situation,” he said.
Over his years in the GCSO, Nicholson has tried to change law enforcement work from a job to a career that can support someone for their whole life.
“You have to provide the ability for growth for the individual officer,” he said.
GCSO officers are like “family,” he said.
“If they’re fighting with each other, that’s okay. But if a third party gets involved, they will team up against them,” he said.
The best thing about being in law enforcement is interactions with people who are grateful for an officer’s help.
“I get a lot of feedback from individuals who say my deputies were a help to them in their time of need,” Nicholson said.
Working at GCSO after 35 years makes Nicholson proud.
“It’s a great feeling. It’s kind of surreal.”