Nikki Wright will serve as Wood County Sheriff Kelly Cole's chief deputy.

A law enforcement veteran and Quitman High School graduate has taken on the opportunity to serve as Wood County Sheriff Kelly Cole’s chief deputy. 

Nikki Oglesby Wright has been tabbed by Cole as his second in command of the Wood County law enforcement structure. Cole has been filling in his department with law enforcement veterans, many with local backgrounds. 

Cole has also added former Alba Police Chief Tim Koonce next in command as the patrol captain. Koonce had been Alba chief for 14 years. Koonce has also served as a deputy in the Wood County sheriff’s office prior to becoming the Alba chief. Wood County veteran Lt. Robert Holland is the new patrol lieutenant, and Captain Michael Chilson comes from the Quitman PD to take over criminal investigations for the county. 

Wright served in the Longview Police Dept. for over nine years. She started there in 2010 right after graduating from East Texas Police Academy.

“I spent two to two and a half years on patrol and then I moved over and spent over five years investigating crimes against children and internet crimes against children,” Wright said. “I was on a task force that covered 27 counties in the Northeast Texas area working very closely with the FBI, Secret Service and Homeland Security. I posed as a kid online most of the time. I did that for five and half years. I also worked close with the Rangers (Texas) and other agencies. We helped in other areas as well.”

Wright went back to patrol for over two years. “I was promoted to sergeant on patrol, so I went back to patrol as the supervisor,” Wright noted. 

Wright had other plans when the Wood County opportunity was offered by Cole.

“I had to be a stay at home mom last year. There had been a couple of deaths in the family and I realized working nights, and not seeing my son who was in kindergarten at the time from Tuesday night when I laid him down to bed to Saturday afternoon when I got out of bed, and it was not what I wanted,” Wright confessed. “The FBI had contacted me and asked me to come and do some work for them, but said there would have to be some red tape stuff on the law enforcement side to deal with. They made an offer, but after the election we discussed me coming here.”

“She (Wright) was in the very first police academy I taught,” Cole said. “I have known her since she was in high school. In her 10 years at Longview and the circumstances she had to work with, she gained 20 years experience. She is as seasoned as a 20-year veteran, just because things move a little quicker at that level. You have to work faster. It’s the same stuff that happens here, but it’s a little more concentrated and a little more spread out, but it’s still the same. We all deal with the same crimes; we just have different degrees of them and the frequencies they happen. We do the same thing Dallas does; they just do more of it because of the population differences. We represent the citizens of Wood County.”

“I had reached out to him (Sheriff Cole) and asked him if he knew of anything and he said now that the election is over, I need to talk to you,” Wright said. “I kind of expected maybe as a reserve or maybe working children’s cases. He asked me if I would come. I prayed about it, thought about it, and decided, yeah!”

The chief deputy job was offered to her by Cole.

“The chief deputy opportunity was offered from the beginning. I think I stared at him for a good five minutes and it wasn’t computing what he had just said,” Wright explained. 

Wright has spent most of her life in Wood County. She has been married to her husband, Clint, for 17 years, and they have two sons and a daughter.

“We have been here for several generations. When Sheriff Cole and I visited we started talking about some of the changes in the things he wanted to bring back. God told me to come home, but I don’t think he meant to stay at the house,” Wright said. “I realize he meant come back home and go to work.” 

Wright said the position of chief deputy takes on many roles. “I am not just representing this office, but I represent the county and the community. We are the face, not just for this office, we are the face of the county throughout the country. When we go places, to trainings and to classes, we are what other counties see,” Wright said. “We want to make sure we represent our county professionally, with open doors and a positive light. We are also having to make sure we are training replacements. We have a lot of officers, staff and others who are leaders as well, so we have to guide them into those roles at some point when we retire or we are not here anymore. We want to have qualified people coming in behind us to carry on the positive changes.”

Wright was definitive when asked why she accepted the opportunity to be part of Cole’s administration as sheriff. “I am here because I want to be. There is no other reason. I love this county,” Wright said.