Boyd announces new chief deputy

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

Burnet County Sheriff-elect Calvin Boyd introduced his choice for a new chief deputy Monday, Dec. 19, introducing Mike Cummings of Houston at a morning press conference.

“Mike Cummings has a great resume and he is going to be really good for the Sheriff's Office,” said Boyd. “There is a lot of excitement in the Sheriff's Office.”

Boyd, who won his post handily in the Republican Primary, will quietly take the oath of office at midnight on New Year's Eve to step into the shoes of retiring Burnet County Sheriff W.T. Smith.

He went on to enumerate the chain of command reporting to Cummings: Chris Jett, as the new administrative captain; Capt. Ricky Bindseil, continuing as patrol captain; Capt. Dwight Hardin, in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Special Operations Unit (SOU), and Capt. Matt Kimbler, in charge of the Burnet County Jail.

Jett stepped aside from his elected third term as Precinct 4 Constable for the appointment of Bindseil's spouse, Millicent “Missy” Bindseil to the post, Tuesday, Dec. 13.

Cummings succeeds Chief Deputy Randy Servise, who retiring along with Jett's predecessor, Administrative Capt. Bill Eppler.

“Almost the entire CID is retiring,” said Boyd. “We are heading in a complete new direction. There will be a lot of new faces, a lot of new blood.

“The Burnet County Commissioners Court has been good to us (in the new budget). We have four new patrol officers coming in and six new vehicles. The county has outgrown the sheriff's department.”

“What I heard throughout the campaign was 'response time,'” said Boyd. “We would like to have enough deputies to drive through areas instead of going from call to call as we have been.”

Cummings brings a solid law enforcement background to his new assignment.

“I started in police work in the Houston Police Department in 1977,” he said. “I retired in 1999 and we moved our family to my wife Christine's hometown, Walnut Illinois, where I was police chief.

After serving there and the Bureau County, Illinois, Sheriff's Office it was back to Houston to work as public safety director for the Westchase Municipal Management District, the City of Liberty Police Department and, finally, eight years as an investigator in the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office.

As time went on, the Cummings and their two sons began to enjoy a vacation get-away in Council Creek and get-togethers with his sister-in-law and her Burnet County native husband.

“We went to our first Blue Bonnet Festival three years ago,” said Cummings. “I met the new sheriff at one of his election fundraisers. I met Chris Jett there for the first time, too. It turns out his father was my lieutenant in the HPD.”

Cummings and his wife, also a law enforcement officer, already have a second home in Burnet, now, ready to begin a new phase in their lives.

Boyd said Jett would be working with the other captains to create the first-ever policy manual for the BCSO.

“I have always had a passion for professionalism in law enforcement,” said Jett, during the introductions. “When Calvin offered this job I thought it would be a great opportunity to build something we can all be proud of.”

Boyd praise his new command officers for their “tech savvy” ways.

“I was justice of the peace when we went paperless,” he said. “It is much more efficient.

“Even patrol cars have technology they didn't have 10 years ago (when he was a Department of Public Safety trooper on patrol). I want to bring that to the sheriff's department.”

Bindseil said the department already has five body cams for use among it's 45 deputies.

“We want to be more involved with the community,” he added. “We want to be proactive, rather than reactive and guide our younger generation.”