SHEFFIELD, Ala. — Sheffield Police Chief Ricky Terry has announced he will retire in December after more than 28 years of service to the city.
Terry, who has served as chief for six and a half years, shared his retirement letter, expressing gratitude for the opportunity to serve the community. His retirement will take effect on December 27.
Here is Terry’s full retirement letter, which was released on Tuesday:
"It is with great sadness and a bit of excitement that I announce my retirement as Police Chief effective December the 27th 2024. I have served the citizens of Sheffield for over 28 1⁄2 years with 6 1⁄2 of those being chief of police. It has been an amazing journey and a great career. I want to thank the City of Sheffield for this great opportunity. This career path is something I wanted to do since I was a young boy, and being the chief of police for the past 6 1⁄2 years was the highlight of my service. I have been blessed to work with some of the most amazing men & women in law enforcement. I know they will carry on the honor, tradition, and pride of the department. The support of the department from the citizens and the business owners has been greatly appreciated. My career was filled with so many wonderful experiences, exciting adventures, how ever, along with some heartbreaking moments. I've experienced the loss of two fellow officers, Nick Risner and Christian Nix. It was a honor to serve with them. I've experienced death of small children and the senseless murders of some of our citizens. I hope in some ways I was able to give the families of these tragedies some comfort and knowing that our Police Department would be there for them in their time of need.
During my administration, we have accomplished equipment upgrades, we were the only department in the Shoals area that still used ink for fingerprinting, it is now digital. I have worked with current and former school superintendents to get SRO's in each Sheffield City School to ensure the safety of our children. I have fought for pay raises for my officers, and under my tenure their salary for officers has nearly doubled. I have also worked with the city council to get new employees back on tier 1 state retirement. Under my administration we also started a reserve program, we have utilized the 10-33 program. We have started a drone program and almost all major crimes have been solved and all the city's homicides have been solved. None of this could have been possible without the help of all of our present and pass employees.
I want to thank my wife Jeania, my daughter Baileigh, and son Clayton for all of their support and sacrifices that they have endured during my career. I know there have been times that work interfered with family time but you understood why there was a need for sacrifice.
I honestly don't know what it will be like not to wear a badge for the City of Sheffield but that will be a part of this new journey that I will soon be on.
Sincerely,
Chief Ricky Terry"
