FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder will step down in December after 18 years in office.
Helder has been sheriff since Jan. 1, 2005, after being elected in 2004. He had been chief deputy with the Sheriff's Office since 2003. He worked for the Fayetteville Police Department from 1982 until 2003, retiring as deputy chief of police.
The decision to end his career in law enforcement was "kind of a somber moment, but a 'hallelujah' moment also," Helder said.
Helder announced his decision at the same time that Jay Cantrell, his chief deputy, filed to run for the position. Cantrell filed to run as a Republican. Jovey Marshall has also filed as a Republican to run for sheriff.
Helder said he and his wife, Holly, jointly arrived at the decision for him to step away from law enforcement. He said he will spend time with family and friends, travel and do things he has chosen not to do while working.
"There are thing's I've neglected, things I've wanted to do," he said. "We'll be going down to Alabama a lot more to visit with family, see my grandchildren. There and out to California. I'm not going to be looking for a job. If I wanted to work I'd stay where I am. It's just time."
Helder said he began his career in law enforcement without making a conscious decision to do so.
"I was just looking for a job," he said of his first job working as a dispatcher with the Washington County Sheriff's Office. "My Sunday school teacher also happened to be the chief deputy for Herb Marshall. He knew there was an opening for a dispatcher, and he persuaded Sheriff Marshall to hire me."
"I needed a job, but I just fell in love with law enforcement," Helder said.
Helder said he has many memories of his time in law enforcement, both good and bad. Most of them revolve around people he has come to know.
Some of his memories involved a longtime friend, Paul Mueller, who was police chief in West Fork when Helder was growing up.
"He arrested me," Helder said. "I may be the only sheriff in Arkansas who's been arrested. But I was a juvenile. He arrested me for reckless driving. It took that to get my attention."
Helder said his relationship with Mueller continued for many years. He laughed at recalling one incident when the two of them became involved in a pursuit that began in Tontitown and ended somewhere in southwestern Missouri.
"This was before cellphones and before computers and GIS locators," Helder said. "We lost contact, and I'm lost and just running down a dirt road following a dust cloud while Paul is shooting out the car window. It was just a comedy of errors."
That incident ended with a suspect being arrested.
Helder said Mueller also was a part of one of his worst memories.
In March 1981, he said, Mueller was shot and killed while on duty during a traffic stop. That sparked a three-day manhunt that ended with one of two suspects being shot and killed. The second died in prison. Another officer was wounded during the manhunt.
"I was the second officer on scene on that," Helder said.
"That's the most impactful kind of tragedy," he said. "We've lost some great deputies and law enforcement officers through the years."
Helder said he believes he has helped to instill a sense of duty, pride and professionalism in the Sheriff's Office and worked to foster the notion of principled leadership. He said he has seen a positive response throughout the Sheriff's Office and working with the people in the Sheriff's Office is what he will miss the most.
"It's really not been a job to me," he said. "It's been a joy to work beside such wonderful people. Both here and at Fayetteville PD, I've been blessed to be able to work with people and help them develop and get better."
Family business
Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder is the third generation of his family to have worked in law enforcement. His grandfather, Earl Thomas, worked for the Los Angeles Police Department for 20 years. His father, Robert Helder, worked for 25 years with the LAPD, retiring as a detective lieutenant in the homicide division where he served as lead investigator on the Charles Manson murder investigation. Tim Helder has worked in law enforcement in Northwest Arkansas since 1979 and will end his career as Washington County Sheriff when his current term in office ends on Dec. 31.
Source: Tim Helder