DEPUTIES

After high school he began to serve his country with the US Navy. His 1st job with the Navy was to board and search ships before becoming a dog handler searching for explosives. He served a tour of duty as a K9 handler searching for IEDs and explosives in Fallujah, Iraq at the height of the Iraq War.

He began his career in law enforcement in 2007 as a K9 handler with Willacoochee Police. His service to Atkinson County began in 2009 with the Atkinson Sheriff Office. He has held several potions with the SO including deputy, narcotics investigator, chief investigator. He was promoted to Cheif Deputy in 2017 where he works diligently to keep the day to day operations of the office running like clockwork.

Chief Knapik continues to serve the US NAVY as a reservist and holds the rank of First Class Petty Officer.

Buddy started his career with Atkinson SO as a jailor in August 2002. He always desired a more active role in improving his community so in Sept 2011 he attended and graduated from ABAC Police Academy and became a deputy with Atkinson SO. Deputy Taft continued to grow professionally with the office. He was promoted to Corporal then Sgt, and currently holds the position of Lieutenant. Taft is responsible for directly supervising the deputies and managing their day to day operations.

Cpl Hagood has been serving in law enforcement since 1996. Deputy Hagood has held a number of positions during the course of his career including Corporal, Sgt, and as a Chief of Police. Deputy Hagood holds many certifications such as Supervisor Certificates, Field Training Officer, Radar, Lidar, Intox 9000, Crisis Intervention, At Risk Adult Crime Tactics, advanced traffic strategies, advanced traffic accident investigations and animal animal cruelty investigator. Deputy Hagood has also served the State of Georgia in the Ga Defence Force at the rank of Sgt.

Deputy Hagood has been serving Atkinson County since August of 2019.

Sgt Perkins started his career as a corrections officer with Ga Dept of Corrections in 1998. In 2002 he graduated from ABAC Police Academy and began his career with Coffee SO as a deputy sheriff. In 2006 he became Sgt over a road patrol shift. In 2008 he became an investigator with the Coffee SO Criminal Investigation Division where he served for 8 years. Atkinson County Office of Sheriff welcomed Investigator Perkins to its ranks in 2021 where he serves as an investigator and brings his many years of experience and training to serve the citizens here.

Deputy Rhymes is now retired. He has served the community for 20 years and had a long career in law enforcement starting as a jailor in Montgomery County in 2000 then as a 911 operator for Coffee 911. Randall later became a jailor with Atkinson County. He graduated from ABAC Police Academy in 2005 and started his career as a police officer with Pearson PD. He was promoted to Sgt and served as investigator. Rhymes became a deputy with Atkinson County and was promoted to Sgt and investigator. Deputy Rhymes served the citizens of Atkinson faithfully and was honored to become a resource officer with the Atco school system where he formed the Board of Education Police Dept and was named its first police chief.