Dec. 14—Princeton — Mercer County’s new sheriff and chief deputy were formally sworn in this week, readying them to serve the public when the year 2025 arrives.
Alan Christian, who currently serves as chief deputy, was sworn in as Mercer County’s new sheriff by Circuit Court Judge Mark Wills on Wednesday. Captain Jesse Ruble was then sworn in as the new Chief Deputy of the Sheriff’s Department.
“This has been three years in the making,” Christian said later. “I’m thankful for outgoing Sheriff Tommy Bailey who brought me in three years ago and basically let me run this department on my own. So apparently I’ve been in training for three years now to learn the ins and outs. That’s not just a benefit for me, but also for the community. There will be a seamless change in leadership. It’s been a good three years and I’ve learned a lot in the last three years.”
Being county sheriff will be a change from Christian’s previous positions in law enforcement.
“I have a long history in law enforcement, but being a sheriff is a different aspect of law enforcement because it also involves other issues, such as taxation, that I had limited knowledge of before coming here. I have a lot learned since I’ve been here,” he said. “We hope to improve the sheriff’s department and the tax department. We want to be a shining example of what law enforcement can do for our community. I guarantee that we will become a professional organization. We are human, we don’t’ We won’t always get everything right, but we will do our best to do a good job and be an asset to Mercer County.”
Plans are underway to move the sheriff’s department from the basement of the Mercer County Courthouse to the former professional building across the street. The building was purchased with funding from the American Rescue Plan.
“That’s been in the works for a while,” Christian said. “We hope this will bear fruit soon. We have been tight, a department of 30 people and we have the space of a mobile home to work from, so this is going to be huge for us, to free up some space so that the employees to be able to breathe a little bit in the courthouse, get some more offices and maybe get some more things that would benefit the community in the courthouse.
Christian began his law enforcement career in the mid-1990s with the Princeton Police Department.
“I worked for the Princeton Police Department for two and a half years and then transferred to the West Virginia State Police,” he said. “I retired from the State Police after 22 years, and two days after I retired, Tommy Bailey appointed me as Mercer County Deputy Chief. I got a whole weekend off before I started. Good guys. Good people in the community. We have good community support. Without that it’s difficult to be a good, capable office and help the community. We have some good community members behind us.”
“During my tenure here, I think I’ve hired a total of nine new deputies and we could probably use 15 more,” Christian said. “It’s extremely busy here in Mercer County and I’ve worked all over the state and it’s pretty busy here and it’s not always criminal calls. They are calls to help people in need. We have taken a new turn here in addressing our mental illnesses. Mercer County. A lot of training is given on this, and not just for the people we help with mental wellbeing within the department. I have to unpack. We need someone to talk to and that’s what we’re working on, getting peer programs. If we are not doing well, how can we help others? . I can’t complain.”
The Mercer County Sheriff’s Department has established many new programs, Christian said.
“We have a lot of new equipment and we are definitely on the rise, but none of this is just me,” he said. “This is a team effort: the county commission, community members, probation and judges and prosecutors. This is a huge team effort and it’s going very well.”
Christian was elected in the November general election.
“I want to thank the community for voting me into this position and having the confidence in me to come in and take over as sheriff,” he said. “It’s humbling and I certainly appreciate it. We’re going to do our best.”
Judge Wills then swore in Captain Jesse J. Ruble as the new chief deputy.
Ruble said he has been with the sheriff’s office for 23 years. He began his law enforcement career in the department.
“I went to Bluefield College (now Bluefield University), got my criminal justice degree and started in May 2001,” Ruble said.
The Chief Deputy is the senior deputy of the department.
“He’s basically right under the sheriff,” Ruble said. “He watches over the patrol division and the tax office and basically assists the sheriff in keeping them running smoothly.”
Ruble said he didn’t know what he wanted to do until he took criminal justice classes in college and enjoyed them. He interned with the Bluefield Police Department.
“When I got there and saw how everything worked, I was hooked,” Ruble said. “And the sheriff’s office started hiring after I graduated, and I’ve been there ever since.”
Christian and Ruble will begin their new positions on January 1, 2025.
Contact Greg Jordan at
gjordan@bdtonline.com
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
