Hamilton County Sheriff's Office Masthead
Command Staff

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Phone: (423) 209-7000
After Hours / Non-Emergency: 423-622-0022
Emergency: Dial 911
Command Staff
Chief King

Mark King serves as Deputy Chief of Law Enforcement and is responsible for the day to day operations of the Hamil ton County Sheriff's Office’s Law Enforcement Division. Appointed by Sheriff Jim Hammond in July of 2018, Chief King is directly responsible for overseeing the divisions of Uniformed Services, Criminal Investigations, Operational Support, Criminal Intelligence and Analysis, Court Security, and Youth and Community. He, along with his Command Staff, is directly responsible for all the primary law enforce ment and investigative functions of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.

Deputy Chief King began his career with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office in 1984 as an Explorer when he was in high school. Upon graduation from Red Bank High School in 1985, he joined the HCSO Reserve Deputy Pro gram and was eventually hired as a Corrections Officer in August of 1986. During his long and illustrious career with the HCSO, he has served in numerous divisions and leader ship positions.

Deputy Chief King has served in numerous command roles during his tenure with the HCSO prior to his appointment to Deputy Chief. His prior ranks include Detective, Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Captain of Uniformed Patrol Services. During his time as a detective, he served in Narcotics and Special Operations as well as the Criminal Investigations Division prior to being promoted to the rank of Sergeant in 2007 and then to Lieutenant in 2013. In 2017, he was pro moted to Captain of Uniform Patrol Services where he led four patrol teams and other patrol based units until he was promoted as Deputy Chief in 2018.

One of Deputy Chief King’s most important legacies is his dedication and commitment to establishing the modern CSO Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) Team and its prede cessor, the Special Response Team. For many years, his name has been synonymous with S.W.A.T. operations and training. Having served as its Commander since 2007, much of his career has been spent expanding its capabilities and profile in the region.

Deputy Chief King is a graduate of the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy (Class of 1992), the South East Leadership Acad emy of the University of Tennessee Law Enforcement Innovation Center (Class of 2016), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Academy in 2011 (Class 246).

Chief King and his wife, Janet, have four children, Kelsea, Alexis, Hunter, and Harley, and one grandchild, Josey. He and his family live in the Soddy-Daisy area.


Chief Shepherd

Shaun Shepherd is a lifelong resident of Hamilton County, growing up in East Ridge, and graduating from East Ridge High School. He has been employed with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for more than 31 years.

He began his time with the agency as an Explorer in Law Enforcement Post 2070 and began working as a Corrections Deputy in 1990. He was recently promoted to Deputy Chief and placed in command of the Corrections Division as the Sheriff’s Office transitions into a new facility.

Chief Shepherd recently served as the Youth & Community Captain, which included the School Resource Officer Division, Homeland Security Community Awareness, and Emergency Operations Incident Command Team. He served six years as the School Resource Officer at Chattanooga Central High School during his career, and additionally worked for four years as a supervisor within the Patrol Division before returning to more than 14 years of service as the administrating supervisor for the SRO Program from 2007 to 2021.

He served on the Hostage Negotiations Team for 18 years, with 15 as the team leader. Chief Shepherd has served as an instructor with Training Division in the areas of Instructor Development, Active Shooter Response, Field Sobriety Testing, as well as an Emergency Driving Instructor. He has attended various training courses in law enforcement education that includes graduating from The Southeast Command and Leadership Academy (S.E.C.L.A.), been a presenter of special topics at varied seminars, gang summits, along with public and law enforcement community forums.

Chief Shepherd currently works as a professional instructor in School Resource Officer training courses such as Basic and Advanced SRO, SRO Supervisor/Administration, and Active Shooter Preparedness. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.


Ron Bernard

Ron Bernard is the Chief of Staff which includes leadership of the Information Technology (IT), Finance and the Human Resource (HR) Divisions. He is responsible for maintaining and improving upon software and hardware systems used throughout the HCSO. Although Ron has been with the HCSO fourteen years, he has a total of 30 years of professional experience, including twenty of those years leading high performing technology teams.
In the fourteen years Ron has been with the HCSO, he has witnessed the growth of technology use, personnel growth of the agency and works hard implementing the strategic transitional role that Finance, IT and HR play for the agency. He recently successfully led a project to transition the downtown jail to consolidate to the Silverdale Detention Center with a private vendor exiting operations of the facility.
Ron holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Bryan College and an Associate of Computer Science degree from Lakeland Community College. Ron and his wife Belinda have four children, daughters Megan and Sara and sons Sam and Scotty. Ron and Belinda have made Chattanooga home since 2002, are active members of The Crossing Church, and are adoptive parents.


Brian Bush

Brian Bush serves as the second General Counsel for the HCSO in our agency’s more than 200 year history. He is a proud Hamilton County native.

General Counsel Bush received his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Maryville College, in Maryville, TN.

Prior to joining the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office as General Counsel, Bush served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Hamilton County District Attorney General’s Office prosecuting violent crimes and felonies. Most recently, his practice involved civil litigation as an attorney at the firm of Spears, Moore, Rebman, & Williams, P.C.

General Counsel Bush is also a commissioned intelligence officer, serving in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He serves his community on various boards, and he is dedicated to serving the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. Brian and his wife, Mauriel, enjoy calling Chattanooga home.


Kacey Picou

Kacey Picou is the Executive Administrative Assistant to both the Sheriff and Chief Deputy. She provides administrative support; scheduling and clerical help to the Sheriff and Chief, as well as the rest of the Command Staff. She also assists in a variety of functions including taking minutes for the Command Staff Meetings and numerous “special duties” as required. Kacey has been with the HCSO since 2012 and has worked in a variety of capacities, including Information Systems and Criminal Records. Kacey is originally from Louisiana but loves living in the Scenic City since 2000.


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Phone: (423) 209-7000
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