Wayland Rucker, Captain , Field Division. Captain Rucker is a graduate of Iowa Wesleyan University, Mount Pleasant, Iowa with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice. He started at the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office in 1998 and is now employed in his 27th year of Service. He is a 1999 Graduate of the Northeast Georgia Police Academy. Upon graduation, Captain Rucker served numerous years in Court Services before transferring to the Warrant/Civil Division. He served 12 years doing transports, taking sentenced individuals to the penal systems as well as returning some to courts for appeals. Also, he traveled the country extraditing individuals that absconded supervision or was wanted to face criminal charges in Athens-Clarke County.
Upon promotion to Sergeant, he returned to the Jail Division as a Supervisor. His duties included creating work rosters, supervising staff, supervising inmates as well as caring for those in custody. He was an Assistant Watch Commander that answered directly to the Lieutenant on shift as well as the Sheriff’s Command Staff.
After serving numerous years in that role, Captain Rucker was transferred to Training Coordinator. As the Training Coordinator, Captain Rucker’s general duties included making yearly training schedules, being a liaison with the Georgia Peace Officer’s Standards and Training Council, Training Equipment Custodian, evaluating his employees as well as training new and current employees to meet the standards of the Sheriff’s Office and State of Georgia. During his 10 years working in the Training Unit, Captain Rucker was promoted to Lieutenant and continued his work and education becoming Polygraph Certified from the American International Institute of Polygraph.
Captain Rucker is also a GA P.O.S.T. (Peace Officer Standards and Training Council) Certified Instructor, Axon TASER Instructor and a Certified American Heart Association CPR Instructor. Captain Rucker is a dedicated member and enjoys sharing his career experiences to help improve the Sheriff’s Office and its employees.