BY KYLE TROUTMAN ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com
Barry County Sheriff’s Office Det. Doug Henry said when he told his parents in 1997 he was going into the police academy, they looked at him like he was crazy.
Twenty-eight years later, Henry is leaving his holster and the adrenaline behind, retiring from the Sheriff’s Office to pursue a career in youth ministries at New Site Baptist Church in Monett.
A native of Washburn, Henry said he never intended to go into law enforcement, blaming his whole career through Friday on Rob Evenson, former Barry County deputy and current McDonald County Sheriff.
“A friend of mine I was rodeoing with was Rob’s roommate, and he invited me to go on some ride alongs with him, and it just clicked,” Henry said. “That’s what I decided I wanted to do. So, I came home and told my parents I was gonna enter the Law Enforcement Academy, and they looked at me like I was crazy.”
They may have been on to something, as Henry’s first call on the job or Barry County involved an individual with little clothing and a weapon. Yet, it was those moments in the uniform Henry found most alluring.
“I mean, it’s just really the adrenaline rush of it for the most part,” he said. “And then, you know, the first time you really get to help some people out. I don’t think people are not community minded today, but it just felt like they were a little more community minded back then. Nowadays they’re scrambling to find people for volunteer fire departments and anything else under the sun, just for people to help. So it just really felt good to help people.”
Henry began as a civil process server, moving to the patrol shift before becoming a sergeant on night shift in about 2005. Two years later, Henry took the detective role vacated by Doug Bounous, who took a job at Lawrence County.
Henry worked under Ralph Hendrix as his term ended and Mick Epperly’s began, then he went to Benton County, Ark., for a time before returning to Epperly’s office. He also worked under the late Gary Davis from 20162020, and he has worked for Danny Boyd from then to his last day Friday.
Henry said what stands out most about his career was mostly the people he met, then some of the cases he worked, a few of which have left a lifelong impact.
“It’s the people you meet and people you get to work with,” Henry said. “There’s a lot of first responders and firemen that have since gone on to be with the Lord that I’ve seen come and go. And, it’s the bigger cases — like Rowan Ford will never go away from my mind. I would love to have seen Gary McCullough’s case come to a close and would love to have seen Justin Hocutt’s case come to a close.”
Though those three cases went cold, Henry said it was satisfying to give others closure.
“I did get to help the family come together with Janice Younger’s remains, so that was kind of a good deal to release her to the family so they could have a burial and some closure,” he said. “And there was another one we located and were able to get him identified and turned back over to his family as well. But there’s just, there’s too many to really talk about because when it boils down to it, at the end of the day, whenever you’re dealing with with people, it may seem like a big deal to just some, but it’s a big deal to them at the moment.
“That’s something I’ve not always remembered. I’ve not had a career of perfection by no means. So I’ve had my bad days where I wished I would have treated people better. My life was in a different place and my focus was not on the Lord like it should have been. So, there’s some things I wish to have done different, and there’s some things I’m glad I did the way I did them. But yeah, 28 years, there’s a lot of there’s a lot of stuff.”
Through all that time and dealing with all that stuff, Henry said law enforcement in 2024 looks markedly different than it did in 1997.
“I got my first bag cell phone in 1993, and I still have the same phone number,” he said. “That’s how my wife knew our marriage was going to last — I don’t change very often for me to do this was a big deal. When I started, I had to buy my own car and my own uniform, everything from head to toe. I had to buy everything except the radio that was in my car. It was about a year before they bought me a car. Of course, they were all extremely used, overused cars. I think it kill more mosquitoes than anything. But was grateful to get it.”
Henry said he started with a salary of about $16,000, which made equipment purchases difficult at times.
The day they bought us our bulletproof vest was a big deal, and then whenever they were able to buy us our uniforms, that was a big deal,” he said. “One of the things I love the most is when we quit wearing uniform pants and started wearing start wearing BDU (battle dress uniform) pants. I mean, it’s okay if you work in a city or the Highway Patrol, but for county, running through the brush or doing whatever out there, you just ripped them up all the time and a pair of pants would cost you 80 bucks. When you weren’t making that much money, it was a lot of money.”
Along with changes in equipment in uniform came changes in crime in general. The advent of the internet, Henry said, led to more widespread crime versus the typical local issues.
“It used to be when you dealt with someone, if there was a crime happening in, say, Exeter, it was usually somebody from the Exeter area doing it; maybe the outskirts of Cassville or Washburn, Wheaton,”Henry said. “But most of the time, the criminals stayed in their little area right there, almost the the zip code Then, you see the the as technology progressed and the internet did come along, it really has demonized crime on so many levels, because now you have somebody here is easily connected to somewhere else.
“Just in being able to traffic stolen property, we went from seeing pawn shops now to everything being sold on Facebook marketplace. And, locals used to buy their drugs off the local dope guy who would spend two weeks gathering enough stuff to create a little ‘eight ball’ of meth. Now, it’s coming in by the pounds.”
Henry said technology has been a benefit to law enforcement, but it has also given criminals new opportunities.
“They’re just better connected and they’re networking,” he said. “So, it’s harder, but it’s also easier because in the digital world, nothing goes away. You can hit delete, but it’s still there. [With the internet], we saw the rate and child pornography ramp through the roof. We used to be looking for Polaroids.”
Henry said the world of computers has changed everything, and law enforcement does all it can to keep up.
“The hard part is getting phones processed and computers processed and all that stuff, and it takes months for it to get back from anywhere you send it to,” he said, “Fingerprints have sped up and get back faster, but DNA takes so long to get back. And then the other thing is the state keeps shutting down prisons, so there’s nowhere to put anybody.
“And, we’re dealing with America taking a shift, and I don’t know if it’s America, the media or whatever is, we deal with the stigma that got put on law enforcement with the some others making bad decisions.”
While technology and societal evolution has brought challenges, it has also made things a little simpler.
“I remember having to take photographs in a crime scene and have somebody come right behind you to take photographs, because you were using 35 millimeter and you wanted to make sure you got that photograph because you know what it’s going to turn out like,” Henry said. “It’s not like we’re all professional photographers, right? Now, with digital cameras, that is so much nicer and easier, and then body cams came along, and that helped a bunch with recording scenes.”
Henry said for those still serving in law enforcement, some of whom have asked his advice, the best way forward is to always continue trying to learn.
“Never stop being a student,” he said. “I went and got so much training that it kept me busier than I wanted to be with other agencies calling for this or that. I had some of the guys come up and ask me for advice on just law enforcement period, and I’ve told them, one of the greatest things you can have is an outlet outside of work that’s not law enforcement. Don’t run around with people that you work with, because you’ll never be off work. You just constantly talk about work.
“I always encourage them have some kind of hobby, some kind of something that that that you can find that’s not got you constantly thinking about work.”
Henry also said he did his best to live up to the advice he got when he started as a deputy.
“I guess my dad gave me some really good advice today the first day I walked out the door,” Henry said. “He told me, ‘Treat people like family till they give you a reason not to.’ So I’ve always tried to stick by that. I’m not going to say always have, because I still have bad days, too. But, I guess if I had to tell the guy who’s taking my spot some advice: just listen to people and understand what they’re going through is a big deal to them. Whether you think it’s a big deal or not, still treat it like it’s one.”
Henry said transitioning from public service via law enforcement to service through the church has been a longtime coming, but not his plan.
“I think the good Lord did me a favor by putting [the church] in my life,” he said. “I can remember when the job got the best of me, when I just was just totally at the end of burnout. I was single and didn’t really date a whole lot because the job’s kind of hard to do that. When I was at burnout, that is when God introduced some really good people into my life. I grew up in church and had good parents that took me to church and all that. But, it was really that was God was preparing for this day, like he said, ‘I need you for something. So I’m going to put these people in your life, because we’re going to do this down the road.’” That message became more clear in recent years, both in Henry’s faith and in what opportunities arose.
“My wife knows when I have bad dreams because I get up and go sit in the recliner at night,” he said. “She knows I’m sitting there reading my Bible because that’s how I cope with it. I know that doesn’t work for everyone, but that’s how I found I didn’t need medication. That was what walked with me through that dark time, what I would say saved my life. So, how can I not give him everything I have?
“I started teaching adult Sunday school class at mission, and then the youth spot came open there, and so they asked me to start teaching it. So I did, and then it just progressed and progressed and progressed and started just being more and more and more. Whenever January came, I walked into the house and said, ‘I don’t know what this means, but the Lord is pretty much impressed on me that I can retire this year if I want to.’” At the time, Henry did not know what that meant, and a couple opportunities came and went before the New Site job was offered.
“I think [for the options that did not work out], God, just want to see if I’d say yes to something,” he said. “And then New Site called really seeing a need for discipleship in their church. I went through the interview process with them, and then it transitioned into youth position as well, kind of unexpectedly, so that ramped things up a little faster.
Henry said he’s most excited to have such a reach at New Site, ministering youth from multiple communities in Monett and Lawrence counties.
“It’s not like I’m going to be sitting there doing nothing,” he said. “It’s the same kind of thing, just I won’t be carrying a gun to do it. I’m not going to have to put up with all the ugliness of the world. And my wife is excited, most of all, for the phone to not ring at midnight.
“Part of me feels guilty leaving the Sheriff’s Office, because it’s so hard to find people to do the job anymore, and you feel like you’re just trading around with everybody left and right.”
Henry plans to retain his commission in Barry County, and he also holds a commission in Lawrence County, should the need — or itch — arise.
“If anything major happens, I’m around,” he said. “Or, you may find me on a Friday when I’m off from New Site just show up and go, ‘I’m bored today. I want to go extra patrol this area for a couple hours, if you don’t care.’” Henry said he will miss the people and agencies with whom he worked, but he is also looking forward to separating from the stress of policing.
“It’ll be different not seeing that patrol car parked in the driveway,” he said. “I’d like to go back and tell a lot of people sorry. There’s been some I’ve been just a teetotal jerk to, and I was explaining to kids last night, this job will make you hard. You look it us as everybody’s out to get you, and especially the way you get trashed now on social media, and it doesn’t have to be true. Just you’re getting trashed, yeah, and people buy into it or they don’t. That’s why I’d love to see the ugliness on social media just come to an end. I’d love to get back to the days of where, when you showed up in a gas station, everybody wanted to talk to you, wanted to say hi to you, wanted to tell you about what’s going on the community.”
Henry also hopes as he moves away from law enforcement and more into ministry, the dreams that come with the job change, too.
“I hope the dreams stop when this all ends, but they probably won’t because the dead come back to visit a lot,” he said.
