Grayson County Sheriff Lieutenant David Russell in his 30th year in law enforcement has entered his hat in the ring for the Sheriff’s position.
After moving around quite a bit as a son of an oil field worker, David Russell went to school between Oklahoma and Texas for his entire childhood. He has called Texas home for the vast majority of 
his adult life.
At 30 years old, in 1985, Russell became a law man after serving four years in the US Marine Corps. He moved to Houston from the Oklahoma City area and applied for the Houston Police Department, which was always hiring at that time.
Russell stayed for 14 years with the Houston PD including the first seven years on the night shift and worked days in the second seven years working in special operations which consisted of mounted horse patrol, bicycles, motorcades.
“I might have been on a bicycle in the morning and in the motorcade that afternoon with the President (of the United States)” said Russell. “We (bicycle units) led the police department in arrests.
While in special operations, Russell patrolled for three different presidents, many dignitaries and presidential candidates, Prime Minister of China, President of Ghana.
“The one that stands out the most to me was Yassir Arafat (former Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization).” said Russell. “He was a small man, but turned to me and said, ‘thank you.’ He was magnetic.”
After his 14 years in Houston, he left for the Gray County Sheriffs Department in Pampa, Texas in the panhandle. He was chief deputy and was there for less than two years before coming to the Grayson County Sheriff’s office in 2003 under Sheriff Keith Gary.
Russell was on patrol for three years before going to the investigative section and stayed there for six years as an investigator. Russell was promoted to sergeant over investigations for a year and a half before being promoted once again to lieutenant back in October
The election for the sheriff’s office will be open due to the retirement of longtime Grayson County Sheriff Keith Gary. Russell says that he’s entering the race due to his experience.
“When I was down in Houston, I got a tremendous amount of experience, both good and bad.” said Russell. “I’ve worked investigations for six years and have worked several hundred cases. I believe with the experience that I’ve got and my loyalty and dedication to personnel and my feelings that I have for my community that I could become a good sheriff and someone the citizens would be proud of.”
Russell says that he’s a Christ-follower and staunch believer in the United States constitution.
“I don’t believe in violating rights.” said Russell.
Russell sees that with the growing population expected to dramatically increase Grayson County in the next decade that the force will have to grow to keep up.
“We’ve got enough personnel right now to take care of what we’ve got.” said Russell. “I see the population increase being one of the major challenges.”
Russell also talked about the adult gang problem in Grayson County that the department is constantly battling. He says that Sheriff Gary has already put some responsibility on that issue and says that it will have to be expanded upon.
“I want the citizens of Grayson County to know that we are them and they are us and their rights are going to be respected regardless. If someone comes in and violates their rights, we will take care of that.” said Russell.
Russell wants to work with the different city agencies, such as Howe, who help out quite often.
“I want to share some of the stuff that we have because they certainly share some of their personnel with us.” said Russell.
When asked if there would be much of a change in the day-to-day operations of the Grayson County Sheriffs Office if elected, Russell gave a raving endorsement for longtime Sheriff Keith Gary.
“Sheriff Gary is a professional. He’s a professional administrator.” said Russell. “He’s a U.S. Marshall appointed by four different U.S. Presidents and is very popular. I wouldn’t expect and major changes, but I would expect there would be changes just because of the time and the population and the different personnel.”
Russell is running against former Sherman Police Department Chief Tom Watt, Sheriff’s Deputy Ricky Wheeler, Howard Day and John Hunt from Tom Bean.
After high school, Russell was intrigued by the mystique of the Marines. He remembered seeing a billboard on I-40 that simply said, “Ask a Marine.” He did and stayed four years which included the very end of Vietnam.
“I got in the marines because I wasn’t ready to take on an eight-to-five job.” said Russell. “It’s probably, other than being a Christian, the best decision I’ve ever made as far as other than family.”
Russell wants to reach the goal of employees, deputies, clerks, civil and communications to be motivated and excited. He says that with the proper leadership and training, they can reach that goal.
Salary is often a big challenge at the county level, whereas, city officers normally have an opportunity to make more money. Russell says that it is a factor, but it is not the biggest part of the equation. He says that feeling appreciated and belonging and enjoying the work will count the most.
“Our wages aren’t great, but they’re not bad.” said Russell. “We’ve been real blessed with our commissioners and the judge and we’ve had moderate raises nearly every year. Being able to take a vehicle home and not have to pay for transportation. The benefits are not too bad for this size of county. We’re a little behind, but not by a lot.”
Russell says that the relations between the Sheriff’s office and the District Attorney’s office is a strong one.
“The rewards that they’re able to receive from the amount of cases they saw depends on how good a job we do.” said Russell. “We’re motivated to do a good quality job because the end product is getting prosecution. If we take care of our end of it, I assure the D.A.’s office will take care of it with their personnel. There are times we have disagreements, that’s natural. But the D.A.’s office is well respected by the Sheriff’s office.”
Russell was married in 1975 while in the Marines and had three children. After the 23 year marriage, Russell remarried in 2004 to his high school sweetheart. She had three children in a previous marriage also and Russell smiled and made the comparison to the 1960’s television show The Brady Bunch. His youngest daughter and her husband are adopting a child from Ethiopia and should have little Norah Tess home in June or July of this summer. His daughter is a research nurse of leukemia at M.D. Anderson in Houston. Russell has a step-daughter attending the University of Oklahoma for her law degree; a step-son is an FFA teacher; one step-son works for Chesapeake Energy in Oklahoma City; a daughter that works in Kansas City at Cerner Corp and a son who is in real estate in Houston.
“You can’t imagine the enjoyment when all of the kids get together. All of the kids are outgoing. My wife and I are more quiet, but they keep us moving.” said Russell.
Russell, a soft-spoken gentleman had great things to say about the Howe Police Chief Carl Hudman and his brother J.D. Hudman. Both brothers were at one point sheriff’s deputies and Russell referred to them as two of the three finest officers he’s ever been around in his 30 years of law enforcement. That should make the citizens of Howe feel a little bit more secure.
It’ll be nearly a year of campaigning for all of the candidates, but the Howe Enterprise will take a look at each candidate in the upcoming weeks. Next week, retired Sherman Police Chief and current Sherman City Councilman Tom Watt will be featured as he runs for the same Sheriff’s office.
named after Avila’s youngest sister and they are originally from Honduras. They came to McKinney, Texas in 1986 and attended schools there. Avila opened her first restaurant in 2005 in Pilot Point, Texas. Trying to relocate to Howe in 2012, she ended up in Tioga until the lease in Howe became available.