A bad beginning brought about good


Ozark County Sheriff Darrin Reed, second from right, was pictured on the spring 2019 edition of Missouri Sheriff Magazine with (from left) Cole County Sheriff John Wheeler, St. Charles County Sheriff Scott Lewis, and (right) Jasper County Sheriff Randee Kaiser.

Editor’s note: This story, with some minor local editing, is reprinted with permission from the spring 2019 edition of The Missouri Sheriff, which profiled Ozark County Darrin Reed and three other county sheriffs in a feature titled “Good Stewards.” 

In 1977, after his 18-year-old brother Scott was killed by a drunk driver, Darrin Reed knew the path his life would follow. He made up his mind that, as soon as he was old enough he would get a job in law enforcement and do everything in his power to get drunk drivers off the road. And that’s exactly what he did and continued to do throughout his career. 

In 1984, he went to work as a dispatcher and jailer for the Howell County Sheriff’s Office. When he turned 21, he started handling civil process and worked his way up to road deputy while also attending the law enforcement academy in Springfield. He stayed with the sheriff’s office until 1988, when he took a job as patrol officer with the West Plains Police Department.

“That was a very rewarding job. I worked my way up from graveyard shift patrolman to chief of detectives. I enjoyed it, but my partner and I were working 80 hours a week — pretty much around the clock some days — just to keep up with the drug cases and to try to stay on top of everything else. It was rough,” Sheriff Reed said.

Then in 1995, he returned to Howell County as chief deputy under Sheriff Bill Shepherd. He said he was hoping that, although the job came with a little more responsibility, it wouldn’t require as many hours – but that wasn’t exactly the case.

So when Raymond Pace, the sheriff of Ozark County, called and asked him to be his chief deputy, he said, “Yes.” He was there only two years when Sheriff Pace told him he was retiring and wanted him to run for sheriff.

“My initial response was, ‘Oh no!’ But I decided to give it a try. I didn’t think I had a chance because nobody knew me, but with a lot of prayers and God’s help, I was elected in 2012 and took office Jan. 1, 2013,” he said.

Sheriff Reed said because he had been involved in the management side of the office, things quickly fell into place, and he soon found that, as a working sheriff with seven employees providing law enforcement services for a county of more than 700 square miles, his biggest difficulties would come from the outside — not the inside.

In separate incidents, he had his neck broken in four places, his lower back broken and his deltoid muscle torn by people unwilling to go to jail.

“This job has definitely taken a toll on my body,” he laughed. “Thankfully, I recover quickly. After my neck surgery, I was supposed to be off 10 weeks, and I was off a week and a half. With my back surgery, I was to be off a month, and I was off three or four days. After my shoulder surgery, I was supposed to stay home 10 weeks, but after about a week and a half, I put my sling on and went back to work. Each time, my mindset was, ‘I can’t take sick time. We’re too far behind!’”

He hasn’t taken much vacation time either. Since being elected, he’s taken off just three days, and that was to go fishing. ...

Reed says his goal has been “to make Ozark County a safe place to raise your children and grandchildren.” In that work he’s thankful for the help fo what he says is an excellent staff. 

“God has gifted me with the best staff a sheriff could have. The deputies, the dispatchers, the jailers and the reserves — we’re all like one big family; we’re all in this together as a team. When we had the big flood in 2017, my deputies, my dispatchers, my jailers worked around the clock to help their community. I sometimes wonder what I did to deserve the staff I have because they’re not in it for the money. They’re in it for the passion of the job.

“And the community is just as passionate and supportive of law enforcement. This is an amazing place to live and work, and I thank God every day for letting me be a part of it.”

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423