(Seguin) — There’s a new second in command at the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office.
Guadalupe County this week welcomed the appointment of new Chief Deputy Joshua Ray. Ray comes to Guadalupe County after having served 22 years in law enforcement, the latest of those years of experience has been as a Texas Ranger. Operating out of his office in Comal County, Ray has lived in Guadalupe County for two years. In fact, over the course of his career, he says his family has moved back to this area three times – making this latest move hopefully his last.
He says the timing was just perfect for this next move in his career.
“I was close to retirement and eligible to be able to retire from the Texas Department of Public Safety and living here and working cases in Guadalupe County as a Texas Ranger this was part of my area of responsibility. I got to know Sheriff Arnold Zwicke and when the opportunity came up that he was going to have an opening for chief deputy, I gave it a lot of consideration and thought long and hard about it and ended up applying for it so I’m just really excited. I’ve got an opportunity to come in and learn from a man that has been doing it for over 22 years on how to run an agency and to oversee an entire law enforcement operation,” said Ray.
Ray says he looks forward to this new avenue in law enforcement and can’t wait to get started.
“As a Texas Ranger, I was placed in leadership positions on a pretty regular basis but there are so many aspects of the sheriff’s office that were the responsibility of law enforcement that I just didn’t do as a member of the Texas Department of Public Safety. A perfect example of that would be corrections, running the county jail. I’ve done investigations in jail as a Ranger. There are times that we were called on so I’m very familiar with some of the day to day stuff and operations as it pertains to what I did but overall, I’m not. So some of that stuff is going to be new to me so I’m just really excited about getting to learn those different aspects and be a part of it,” said Ray.
Sheriff Arnold Zwicke says this is the first time that his administration will welcome this position. He says the last time the sheriff’s office had a chief deputy was in 1995.
“I appreciate the judge and the commissioners court for adding that position to this year’s budget. What I plan to do is put him in each different aspect of the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office – working in the jail, working with animal control, working with the courthouse patrol, civic process and getting him trained on all the different aspects of it and then he would be my right hand person to help me with the daily load here at the sheriff’s office – also represent me in my absence,” said Zwicke.
Zwicke says although he’s always requested funding for the position, the budget did not always allow for it. But now, with exponential growth throughout the county, the commissioners court has made the position possible.
“With the county growing the way that it is, I mean if you look at when I took over 22 years ago, there was 40 deputies. Now, we are at 117. Just the everyday dealings at the sheriff’s office, they are more and more demanding, the different things we are doing, the more regulations that get put on law enforcement to cover all the basis. I need someone to assist me with that. Everybody here – all our supervisors – are pretty well overtasked. They are not just a supervisor and that’s all I do for this division. They handle other deals,” said Zwicke.
Zwicke says the experience that Ray brings to the sheriff’s office is valuable and is looking forward to seeing him help lead the day-to-day operations of both the sheriff’s office and Guadalupe County Jail.
“He served this country as a Marine from 96 to 2000 and then went to the Department of Public Safety where he became a trooper in September of 2000 and then worked his way up from a trooper to a highway patrolman and then was promoted to a Texas Ranger and that’s a position that he held up until (this week). I believe his experience and his background, and his training will be a welcomed addition to the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office as we continue to grow,” said Zwicke.
Ray says he’s especially excited about working alongside the men and women of the sheriff’s office as well as the local community as a whole.
“I am going to work just as hard doing this as I did and just as diligently as I did as a Texas Ranger and working for the state and serving the citizens of the state. I’m super excited about the fact that I get to use my experience and my knowledge and training to focus specifically on the county that l live in. Working for the state, I was sent to areas all over the state for various activities – border security, working cases – I traveled cross country working cases, hurricane relief – I was doing water rescue during Hurricane Harvey and I’m so blessed and so fortunate that I was able to do all of that but at this stage in my life, I’m really excited about just being at home and getting to focus all my efforts on the community that I live in and I’m going to put every ounce of effort that I have into this position just as much as I did in my previous one,” said Ray.
Ray was welcomed and introduced to the community during Tuesday’s meeting of the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court.