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“I thought the election would be a lot closer, perhaps two or three percent. Consequently, I was surprised by the wider margin of the final vote!”
When you sit with this new sheriff for an interview, and take the time hopefully to discover his purpose, you find a conservative person who takes his job very seriously. His office presently is very plain and the only thing on the walls are badges encased in a shadow box of his previous departments and positions. He is very unpretentious, even folksy, some might say. He embodies and believes in the mission of the sheriff department which is: “The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office will provide public safety and assistance to all the people, in a diligent and professional manner.”
This young sheriff, who is in charge of the departments 14 divisions, wants the best, expects the best and is already moving his team up a notch. By July of this year he will have eight field training officers who will in turn work with and train the new deputies. The Sheriff’s office of Rutherford County presently has 107 employees with 70 sworn in deputies and over 100 vehicles to cover all of the county.
To understand how Chris Francis prepared himself to become Sheriff of Rutherford County, you must review his school, his start and his willingness to not only listen to others but equip himself with the positions and experiences he needed to lead.
An opportunity presented itself in his second year of high school where he became a D.A.R.E. roll model at Chase. After graduation, he attended Isothermal and got an Associates Degree before moving up to the Blue Ridge Mountains and Boone. There he attended and graduated from Appalachian State University where he graduated and received his B. S. Degree in Criminal Justice. Meanwhile through Mayland Community College in close by Avery County he became a basic law enforcement trainee. This led him to become an Avery County Reserve Deputy. Chris Francis was up and running.
He then joined the Hickory Police Department and spent two years there before deciding to come home to Rutherford County. He married his high school sweetheart, Jill Bradley, on December 21, 1996. He then joined the Forest City Police Department where he spent three years before Lieutenant Lamar Crisp of the sheriff department called him and asked him to come to the the sheriff department. He got involved in the D.A.R.E. program and then became a School Reserve Officer at R-S Central. To “round out” his on the job training for his dream of becoming sheriff, he put in for detective in 2004. In 2008 he was offered a job in Lake Lure and went there as a Lieutenant in the Police Department. He later returned to Rutherford County and served under the three last sheriffs, Daniel J. Good, C. Philip Byers, and Jack Conner. He speaks kindly of all three.
By now, many people knew he wanted to be sheriff and run for the office. He filed and ran this past year. His campaign wasn’t fancy, it didn’t even have a campaign manager or campaign office. Chris Francis sort of did it himself with assistance from some good family and friends. He worked hard night and day with the support of a very patient and encouraging wife, Jill.
He won and finally achieved his lifelong dream.
Sheriff Chris Francis will tell you that he wants to be the best and have the best department - anywhere! As indicative of his life up to now, he doesn’t know hours, only goals. That is obvious.
Does he have any weakness? Yes. He loves his mother-in-laws Peanut Butter Pound Cake!
