Mike Houston, the longest serving school resource officer in the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, has loved every moment of his career.
“I enjoy coming to work every morning,” Houston, who has worked for the sheriff’s office for 22 years, said in a telephone interview. “It’s a labor of love.”
In contrast to the experiences fellow African American Charles Lowery Jr. had during the start of his career with the same agency, Houston said he hasn’t had to deal with much prejudice. He said one of his biggest challenges has been the changing technology and how social media is making everything quickly accessible to people.
“The way we do our reports and send them in, you know, it’s changing the type of reports that we do,” Houston said. “Over the years, I’ve kind of seen that whenever there’s an accident or something that happened in the community, you’d have to go home [and] watch the news [to] get the details of what was going on, but now with social media, it’s immediate, it’s instantaneous.”
Houston, who also coaches the archery team at Loftis Middle School in Hixson, where he is stationed full time, said it was his love for community service and respect for law enforcement that were motivating factors in his decision to become a police officer. Houston began practicing being an officer in middle school, where he was part of the school patrol.
“I did that for years, in middle school,” Houston said. “I think that was kind of my push to get into it, because my dad was in the military, just being service-oriented, that was kind of my start.”
He also spoke about the power and importance of adaptability, not only in life, but with work as well. Throughout his career, he’s seen several changes in leadership within the sheriff’s office and has adapted to the changes.
“There’s so many things that change, I mean, that’s just a part of life, everything changes, and you have to change with it,” Houston said. “Especially with the sheriff’s office … there’s changes in technology, there’s changes in the way we do paperwork, everything changes.”
(READ MORE: Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly makes 5 appointments to his administration)
One thing Houston would like to change is the perception of what it means to be in law enforcement.
“I would try [to] change the nation’s outlook on law enforcement. Currently, I guess our perception as pillars of society has chips in it,” Houston said. “Being [a school resource officer] and doing it as long as I’ve done it, having parents come and say, ‘Man, you helped me with this’ and you go to the restaurants and you run into kids and they run to you, instead of running away from you, [and] want to speak to you, that’s my reassurance that I’m doing the best that I can.”
Houston said part of keeping a strong relationship with students and their parents is following his mother’s advice to lead by example.
“My mom always told me it’s all in how you approach people, it’s all in how you carry yourself,” Houston said. “I tell the kids in this building that I’m the biggest kid in [here], because when I want to have fun, [I] have fun. When it’s time to work, then they know that it’s time to work.”
Sheriff Jim Hammond praised the work and dedication Houston has put forth during his career.
“Mike is one of our better success stories,” Hammond said in a telephone interview. “He loves his job, and I’m certainly proud of what he does for the sheriff’s office.” Hammond also commended Houston for coaching archery and going above and beyond the call of duty.
(READ MORE: Tennessee ‘truth in sentencing’ bill would mean no early release for 14 crimes)
Still, while Houston strives to be a positive example within the community, he understands the relationship between law enforcement and the community needs to be improved and it is a two-way street.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t look at me and look at my skin color and judge me any less than you or anyone else in this world or in this community, because I’m here to do a job, I’m here to do the best job that I can for you.” Houston said. “Officers and deputies out here have more training now than they’ve ever had in years past, from de-escalation tactics, to [crisis intervention team] training, we have so much training, there is no excuse for not being able to help someone out in the community.”
Contact La Shawn Pagán at lpagan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow her on Twitter @LaShawnPagan.