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By Jay King
HOMETOWN NEWS
As administrative captain at the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office, Mark Barry is living a childhood dream of serving in law enforcement but says he never would have envisioned himself where he is now.
As the son of a career FBI agent, Barry says that from an early age he wanted to become a law officer. The family moved to Spartanburg when Barry was three, so even though he was born in New Jersey he considers himself a native of Spartanburg.
Barry says the close bond he saw between his father and the other agents assigned to Spartanburg was a powerful inducement for him to want to become a law enforcement officer. He went to school here and finished college at what was then the local satellite campus of USC.
As a husband and father of two, Barry says he hasn’t been tempted to move away, say to join the FBI like his father, because he loves the Spartanburg area so much. Instead, he got his start with the sheriff’s office in 1986 under Larry Smith and in fact went to the Criminal Justice Academy with Chuck Wright, who would later ask him to join his command staff after being elected sheriff in 2004.
Barry says that when he started his ambition was to become a detective, and within four years he had achieved that. He also served in uniform patrol like every beginning deputy and did a stint in warrants.
From 1990 until the election of Wright as sheriff, Barry advanced in rank in the investigations division until he reached lieutenant. By that time he was handling a lot of the administrative side of the investigations unit, so it seemed a natural progression to assume a similar role for the whole department.
“I never thought I’d be doing the job of being one of the ones responsible for sheriff’s office directives and policy,” Barry says.
He says that perhaps the biggest issue he grapples with on a daily basis is the department’s finances. He adds that in this he has been greatly helped by dedicated and seasoned staff like Lt. Mike Creek who had the administrative job under Sheriff Bill Coffee.
“I’ve been blessed with good people,” Barry says. “I’m sort of like watching the machinery run and keep things running.”
Part of the problem with keeping that machinery operating efficiently comes down to having adequate resources. Barry says that in the recent financial crisis the county, state and nation have been under, making sure the department’s deputies have what they need has been more challenging.
Barry says that he’s very concerned with the direction the county is headed and what its priorities are when a starting maintenance person cutting grass for the Parks and Recreation Commission makes more than a starting deputy. He says in that kind of environment, it’s harder to recruit and retain dedicated employees.
Barry also says that when he got into law enforcement here in Spartanburg County he never thought that the department would be facing the financial constraints it is now confronted with.
“I never thought 20 years ago that as a police officer I’d be laid off or facing furloughs,” Barry says.
But even with the challenges of running the department’s administrative section, Barry says he is happy to be where he is and working with the people he has known for years.
“I’m happy where I am,” he says simply. “I’ll go wherever the sheriff wants me to work, but I’m happy right now.”
jking@hometown-news.com
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