From a family of successful barbecuers, Sheriff Greg Hamilton paved a different path and built his career in law enforcement. Hamilton is currently participating in the re-election process that will end May 29, 2012.

Killeen, Texas, a small city near Fort Hood, has been Hamilton’s hometown since he was born on January 21, 1959. Hamilton graduated high school in 1977 and attended Southwest Texas State University, now Texas State University, in San Marcos, Texas. “My college buddies and I would come to Austin all the time to have a good time,” Hamilton said. “That was the start of the love I now have for Travis County.” Law enforcement has always been Hamilton’s life plan since he was a kid. Hamilton was one of the few people that knew what he wanted in life and then achieved it. “When I was growing up, I would always watch the western shows and always wanted to be the ‘po-po’,” said Hamilton. Criminal Justice was Hamilton’s major at Southwest Texas.

Hamilton’s mother, 82, has always been his inspiration and role-model. Hamilton’s family owns Maurice’s Barbecue in Killeen, Texas. “I worked there for three days in high school and I couldn’t get the smoke out of my pores,” said Hamilton. “I just couldn’t do it.” Hamilton’s grandfather, father and son are all in the barbecuing business, but Hamilton said it just wasn’t for him.

After college, Hamilton began his first job with the Texas Department of Corrections at a penitentiary in Gatesville, Texas. Hamilton spent a year at the prison and then applied for a job at the sheriff’s office in Travis County. He became a deputy sheriff for about ten years, where he spent a year and a half in the jail and then patrolled the streets for the other eight and a half years.

In 1994, Hamilton was appointed chief of law enforcement over the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for the state of Texas. Hamilton was in charge of 55 offices around the state. “While I was at TABC, I became president of the National Liquor Law Enforcement Association,” Hamilton said. After ten years at TABC, a headhunter from Washington D.C. offered Hamilton a job as chief of police. Two weeks before he planned to accept the job in D.C., Hamilton decided to run for sheriff of Travis County and won.

Hamilton has been in law enforcement for 28 years with eight of those as sheriff of Travis County. “I loved this city when I was in college,” said Hamilton. “I decided to come back and once I got here, I never left.”

“The employees in our agency are more involved in the community than ever before in the history of Travis County,” said Hamilton. In most segments of the community, they have built a level of trust and a relationship with the people that they serve. “We’re giving back,” said Hamilton. The agency seeks out causes and organizations, especially for the elderly and children, and assists them by helping to fundraise money by way of golf tournaments, kick-ball games, softball tournaments, etc. “If we don’t keep these kids involved, they are going to be my client down the road,” said Hamilton.

During his ten years, Hamilton has implemented programs in the jails to help the inmates further their education. “The average grade level of the people that come in here is fifth or sixth grade,” said Hamilton. The program helps the inmates get GEDs, as well as teaches them how to be plumbers, painters, etc. The program also uses these inmates to help maintain the cleanliness of the jails so the county isn’t spending taxpayer’s dollars or hiring outsiders to do the job.

“We are maintaining our facilities with inmate labor so that we don’t have to go out and spend money on big time contracts,” said Hamilton.

Elections for sheriff occur every four years. “I think it’s going pretty good,” said Hamilton, referring to the elections that are currently ongoing. “Travis County is going to be one of the major metropolitans,” said Hamilton. “I think it’s going to turn into a California, which is kind of scary in a way.” Managing this office will be vital to the future growth of Austin and the safety of its citizens said Hamilton.