VALLEY MILLS, Texas (KXXV) — "When a person walks into a job, you take them at face value plus what you can figure out about them," said Sheriff Trace Hendricks of the Bosque County Sheriff's Office.
That's just one of the challenges Bosque County Sheriff Trace Hendricks said cities like Valley Mills face when hiring public servants.
Watch Chantale speak with city and law enforcement leaders about the issue:
"A background check will not reveal everything. A background will not tell you what this person will do in the future. If there's some indication in the background of what their character is like then obviously, you need to pay mind to that, but there's no way to predict what a person is going to do," said Sheriff Hendricks.
The sheriff sat down with 25News for a brief interview about the arrest of Valley Mills Police Chief Matthew Cantrell and Officer Solomon Omotayo a little more than two weeks ago.
With that interview done, our 25News crew went looking for Valley Mills city council members to check on how things were going with only one officer on the force. That's when our Chantale Belefanti came across Mayor Pro Tem Craig Godby. He said was shocked to hear about the arrests but said the city will soon begin the work to hire a new chief.
Godby couldn't give any other information since the investigation is ongoing, but he said he's noticed the presence of Bosque County deputies in our community.
"Obviously, they're our citizens too, and we're going to serve those citizens to the best of our ability. Does it stretch us a little thin? Yes, it does. But we can manage, we will manage, we will answer the calls. We will basically hold down the fort until they have an established police department," said Sheriff Hendricks.
Until a new chief is found, Sheriff Hendricks has a simple message for our neighbors:
"I know that based on history, it's going to be hard for them, but I think if they would not be critical, have faith that the city administration and city council are doing the best they can," said Sheriff Hendricks.
