Raccoon County Sheriff's Department

The Raccoon County Sheriff's Department is the local law enforcement agency of Sheldon, North Carolina.

## History

The first sheriff of Sheldon, North Carolina was an old African-American lawman by the name of "Big John Beaudry" (who was rumored to be an illegitimate son of Bass Reeves) He was chosen for this position because he was skilled with a firearm and had a sharp mind. From 1905 until 1921, Big John made sure Sheldon was a safe place.

In 1919, the department received their first patrol cars, a fleet of 5 1919 Ford Model Ts, all of them were painted black. Horses were still kept around for beat officers but soon they were later put out to pasture as soon as more cars arrived on the scene.

The 1920s - 1940s was a colossal time for the department when they had to deal with a local crime family, led by a Sicilian mob boss named Federico Giordano. Giordano ran several moonshine operations around the hills of Raccoon County and killed anyone who got in his way. No matter how hard the department tried, Giordano could never be prosecuted. In 1931, the paint scheme of the patrol cars changed from all black to grey and black when the department received its new vehicles from Chevrolet. When FDR repealed prohibition in 1933, most of Giordano's moonshining business went bust, but he still had a good number of rackets going ranging from extortion, illegal gambling, bookmaking, kidnapping, and corruption.

His crimes got so bad, he even murdered Sean Mulligan, the current sheriff who was trying to gather evidence against him. With the sheriff position open, he used Joe Ross, the local state police captain whom he had in his pocket. Since it was an election year, he "convinced" Ross to become the town's acting Sheriff as well as running for the position. But Giordano didn't reckon on Frank Beaudry, a highly decorated war hero who returned from the Army to run for sheriff. Mulligan was an old friend of his and vowed to bring Giordano to justice, in which he did.

Giordano saw that Beaudry was a huge problem and ordered many of his capos to eliminate him, but it wasn't until too late when the capos saw what they were up against. Some of them met their fates whilst others he spared in exchange for their testimony. After a huge gunfight, Giordano finally surrendered and was arrested. Beaudry won the election and held on to his position in office for the next 52 years.

In 1949, the paint scheme of the department's vehicles changes from grey and black to the L.A.P.D. inspired Black and White. This was later changed in 1971 to the two-tone Brown and Khaki.

## Former and Current Sheriffs

**Big John Beaudry:** A African-American who ran as Sheriff of Sheldon from 1905 until 1921.

**Virgil Pierce:** Served as Sheriff from 1921 - 1929. This man took on more moonshiners than J. Edgar Hoover.

**Andrew J. Trousdale:** Served from 1929 - 1933. Lost the 1933 election.

**Edward Goodfellowe:** Served from 1933 - 1937.

**Sean Mulligan:** An Irish American who won the 1937 election and attempted to take on Federico "Rico" Giordano for years until his death in 1945.

**Joe Ross:** The local State Police Captain who served as Acting Sheriff until the election. Highly disliked because of his connections to both the Giordano Crime Family and the Dixie Mafia. Arrested by Frank Beaudry who later won the 1945 election.

**Franklin Tobias Beaudry:** Beaudry was Sheldon's longest-serving Sheriff who held onto office for 52 years until his retirement in 1997. He is the adopted grandson of Big John Beaudry.

**Michelle Robinson:** Sheldon's first Female African-American sheriff who served as Sheriff from 1997 until 2017.

**Tucker Deltrane:** The current Sheriff of Raccoon County.

## Known Officers

* Frank T. Beaudry (Sheriff)
* Michelle Robinson (Chief Deputy)
* Joe Bryne (Deputy)
* Nancy Robertson (Deputy)
* Emanuel Rodriguez (Deputy)
* Howard Nicholson (Deputy)

## Uniforms

In the early days of the department, the Sheriff and his deputies patrolled the town on horseback. They wore black coats and cowboy hats with a badge. Later, deputies wore victorian style dark blue police uniforms and silver buttons and British style custodian helmets.

Later on in the 1920s, the only change to the uniforms was the replacement of the Custodian hats with white peaked hats. When the stock market crashed in 1929, the change of uniform was reduced to simply wearing a light gray button-up shirt with a badge, a gun belt, and a fedora while the Sheriff continued to bare a cowboy hat. In 1937, the uniform changed to a light tan button-up shirt, black tie, brown khaki trousers, and matching peaked hat. Later after world war 2, the shirts bore patches of the department's seal on the shoulders.

In the early 1950s, the department began hiring female officers. Female uniforms were the same as men's with the only difference is that female deputies bore a Brown Campaign Hat instead of the brown peaked hat of their male counterparts. Like always, the Sheriff continued to wear a brown cowboy hat. This uniform is still in use today.

S.W.A.T. teams wear black body armor with hard helmets with the RSCD seal on them.

## List of RCSD Cars

One of the known patrol cars used by the Sheriff's Department back in the day was the 1957 Plymouth Plaza 4-door sedan (which Barney was one of them). They were painted in black and white with the department star shaped seal on the front doors and the lettering in orange. The cars were fitted with a red rotating gumball light and 2 red tin can lights. The siren was placed in the engine.

## Trivia

* *The Liveries of the police cars are the sterotypical black and white, inspired by the Los Angeles Police Department. Only difference is that the lettering is orange outlined in black and they tell you the location of the department, the unit number, the word SHERIFF, and indicating the department's been protecting Sheldon, NC since 1905.*
* *Barney was originally a member of the RCSD until he was retired and sold at auction in 1966.*

(*To learn more about the RCSD, go to The Speed Demon wiki. Another creation by Vincent B. Berkan.*)

## Gallery

Barney in his former Sheriff paint jobSheriff BadgeFrank T. Beaudry, who served as Sheriff of Raccoon County from 1945 until 1997.Chief Deputy badgeMichelle Robinson, who served as the Chief Deputy and Sheriff Beaudry's second in command from the 1950s until 1997.Deputy badgeSergeant badge