Eight Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies were promoted or reassigned Nov. 1, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.
• Captain Larry Gragg
Gragg was promoted from lieutenant and will serve as division commander of the Service, Warrants and Transportation Division. He replaced Capt. Bernard Adams, who retired last month. Gragg worked in management at Tyson Foods before beginning his career with the Drew County Sheriff’s Department in February 1996. He joined the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department in 2001, left in 2003, then returned in 2005 where he was assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division. He was promoted to sergeant in 2007 and lieutenant in 2011.
He graduated from Monticello High School in 1987 and received a bachelor of science degree in agricultural business from the University of Arkansas at Monticello in 1991. He graduated from the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy in 1996 and has more than 1,300 hours of law enforcement training.
• Lt. Jennifer Carr
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Carr was promoted from sergeant and will serve as assistant division commander of the Criminal Investigation Division. She replaces Gragg in that post. Carr began her law enforcement career in 2003 with the Stuttgart Police Department, then worked for the England Police Department before going to work for Jefferson County in November 2004.
She was initially assigned to the Uniform Patrol Division, then reassigned to CID in 2006. She was promoted to sergeant in July 2010, and has more than 705 hours of law enforcement training. Carr graduated from Stuttgart High School in 1992, and from the Law Enforcement Training Academy in 2003.
• Lt. Surrell DeBerry
DeBerry was promoted from sergeant at the W. C. “Dub” Brassell Adult Detention Center. She joined the sheriff’s department at the jail in 2007 was promoted to corporal in 2009 and to sergeant in 2010. DeBerry graduated from the Basic Jailer Course through the Arkansas Commission of Law Enforcement Standards and Training in 2007 and is a graduate of the Part-Time II Specialized Officer Training Course. She graduated from Pine Bluff High School in 1991.
The following were promoted to sergeant:
• Sgt. Mark Harper will serve as a shift supervisor in the Uniform Patrol Division. He formerly worked for the Arkansas Department of Correction and was a reserve deputy with the sheriff’s department before going to work as a Supervisory Juvenile Detention Center Officer at the Jack Jones Juvenile Detention Center in 1998. He joined the sheriff’s department in 2003 and was assigned to the Uniform Patrol Division.
Harper was promoted to Corporal in 2008, and has several hundred hours of law enforcement training. He graduated from Watson Chapel High School in 1985 and from the Law Enforcement Training Academy in 2004.
• Sgt. Mickey Buffkin is assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division. He began his law enforcement career with the Pine Bluff Police Department in 1998 then joined the sheriff’s department in 2006 and was assigned to CID. He has more than 1,000 hours of law enforcement training and is a certified firearms instructor.
Buffkin graduated from Princeton, Texas, High School in 1992 and from the Law Enforcement Training Academy in 1999.
• Sgt. Kashonda Turner is assigned to the Service Division. She joined the sheriff’s department in 2007 at the jail, then was reassigned to the Service Division in 2008. Turner graduated from Watson Chapel High School in 1996, from the Law Enforcement Training Academy in 2008, and has several hours of higher education from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and ITT Technical Institute of Criminal Justice.
Assignments also included:
• Deputy Vince Edwards was promoted to corporal and will work as an assistant shift supervisor in the Uniform Patrol Division. Edwards began his law enforcement career at UAPB as a public safety officer in 1989 then joined the sheriff’s department in 1990.
He was originally assigned to the Uniform Patrol Division, then transferred to the Service Division before going back to Uniform Patrol. Edwards graduated from Dollarway High School in 1985, from the Law Enforcement Training Academy in 1990, and has an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice from UAPB.
• Deputy David Williams has been reassigned from the adult detention center to the department’s Transportation Division. Williams joined the department at the jail in 2010 and was assigned to supervise detainees with the Sheriff’s Clean Team. He graduated from Pine Bluff High School in 1988, and from the Part-Time II Specialized Officer Training Course in 2010.