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  • New Pittsburg County Undersheriff Richard Bedford demonstrates the electrical arc in a Taser gun in his office at the sheriff’s department. Being a certified Taser instructor is one of the skills the new undersheriff brings to the post. By Kevin Harvison

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August 22, 2010

There's a new (under) sheriff in town

Pittsburg County promotes Bedford to No. 2 post

By James Beaty Senior Editor

McALESTER — For Richard Bedford, it’s all about the details.

He can tell you how many amps can race through a Taser or he can scrutinize a crime scene for key bits of evidence.

Those are just two of the reasons Pittsburg County Sheriff Joel Kerns has selected Bedford to serve as his new undersheriff.

Kerns said he selected Bedford for the post because of “the knowledge he has and the training he’s had.”

Bedford will step into the slot previously held by former Undersheriff J.W. Young, who recently retired following a long career in law enforcement.

Sheriff Kerns said he had some input from Young in making a decision to select his new undersheriff and they both agreed that Bedford should get the job.

“He was the most qualified,” said Kerns, who also noted that Bedford has been with the Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Department for eight years.

Bedford works well with other law enforcement officers in the area, the sheriff said.

“He has a good rapport with all the other agencies,” said Kerns.

Bedford is a certified Taser instructor, who said he normally co-teaches a class with fellow instructor Kevin Busby of the McAlester Police Department. By the way, Bedford said that .0036 amps shoots through a Taser — which should not be confused with the much-higher voltage.

The new undersheriff  has SWAT team-training, making him qualified to serve as a member of the special weapons and tactics squad. He said he served as deputy working with the SWAT team headed by the McAlester Police Department until this year, when he stepped down because of his other duties.

Bedford is also a basic instructor for the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training. While he said all of the McAlester Police Department’s officers have the certification, until the basic instructor certification had been obtained by the sheriff’s department, deputies had to travel out of town for courses to update or refresh their skills, he said.

Sheriff’s personnel can now receive the additional training at the sheriff’s department.

Currently, five other officers with the sheriff’s department in addition to himself are basic instructor-certified, and two more officers should soon be certified at the same level, according to Bedford.

The new undersheriff said he felt inspired to take up a law enforcement career by his father, Eugene Bedford, who had been a longtime police officer in Krebs. Other law enforcement officers, including Young, inspired him as well.

Bedford grew up in McAlester and attended McAlester High School as well as Eastern Oklahoma State College.

He began his law enforcement career as a patrolman with the Hartshorne Police Department, taking the job as he studied criminal justice at Eastern.

Bedford started out at the Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Department in 2002, working with then-Pittsburg County Sheriff Jerome “Snookie” Amaranto. Bedford said Young had encouraged him to apply.

“I was hired as a deputy and I worked as a jailer/dispatcher,” said Bedford, who added that he started in that role because the officer he was replacing hadn’t yet retired at that time.

The experience helped him to become familiar with another aspect of jail operations, he said. Bedford subsequently began working as a deputy patrolman.

After Kerns won the sheriff’s election two years ago in the wake of Amaranto’s retirement, he appointed Bedford to a sergeant’s position.

Bedford said he knows there are plenty of law enforcement officers in the area who have more experience and training than he does. Young, in particular, has been like a mentor to him in his law enforcement career, he said.

“I just want to try and learn and continue to learn to do a good job for everyone,” said Bedford.

“My main deal is to know I’m helping the county.”

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.

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