Bastrop County has a new sheriff in town. On Nov. 8, voters elected Republican Maurice Cook as the county’s top law enforcement officer. On Wednesday, he was sworn into office at a public ceremony at the Bastrop County Courthouse.

"I stand here humbled before you because I don’t take this position lightly," Cook said to a packed room. "I have been in law enforcement a long time. I don’t mind telling you this is one of the proudest days of my life."

Cook, who calls himself a "working sheriff," was a Texas Ranger for 29 years. He was a highway trooper, then investigator, then chief of the agency. After leaving the Rangers, he got his law degree and ran the Alvin Community College police academy for 13 years.

He replaced interim Sheriff Rosanna Abreo, who took over for Terry Pickering in May when he resigned ahead of schedule to take a consulting job.

Cook spoke with the Bastrop Advertiser after his swearing in and laid out his plans for his first 100 days in office.

Q: How is the transition going?

The day after the election I met with Abreo for quite a while. She gave me an update on the state of the union, I guess you could say — the pending investigations and pending issues with the sheriff’s office. We’ve been in continuous contact since then.

What is the main thing you want to address as you take office?

Retention is something that definitely has to be looked at. It’s not always about money to retain people. It’s about a good work place. You can go to other counties and make more money, but you don’t have the same work environment. Plus, we’re growing. It’s exciting to see the things we’re going to go through. We’ve got to make plans for the future.

Have you seen a morale problem in the department?

Morale is something that is long-term and departmentwide. I have said throughout the campaign that esprit de corps is something that I think influences morale — making a good workplace, treating people like they need to be treated, recognizing people for doing a good job. I am going to try to represent the Bastrop County sheriff’s office in the best light. That’s my goal.

Abreo reinstated the narcotics unit in October to deal with heightened drug violence. Is that something that you want to keep active?

Not only keep it, but I want to improve it. The county needs attention to the narcotics problem. That was the one thing that was a common theme throughout the county as I was campaigning. There are so many collateral issues with the narcotics problems: the thefts, the burglaries, the robberies, the murders. Anytime you have a narcotics problem, you have a lot of collateral crime.

Can you say anything about the county’s open murder investigations?

I’ve been briefed on them, but I haven’t gotten into the nuts and bolts. I will be pretty closed-lipped about that. I certainly don’t want to do anything that could hurt the investigations.

Would you be willing to move around resources to address the increased crime on the Travis and Bastrop County line?

Absolutely. I want to see the footprint of crime in the county in order to best utilize resources. I am a big on targeting or assembling a concentrated task force to address issues. I hope to use our resources to identify the crime footprint so we can concentrate on some of these areas. The criminal element doesn’t consider the county line. We have to be united. I look forward to partnering with law enforcement here and in neighboring counties.

What is the status of the county’s SWAT team?

It is in suspended status right now. That’s something I will review when I get in there to determine if we need a SWAT team. Possibly it could be reorganized into special response teams, since we have a lot of issues or have had a lot of issues other than just criminal issues. We’ve had floods. We’ve had fires. We’ve had other natural disasters, which a special response team could be trained in those, as well as a criminal response. I am going to look at all that and determine how we can make it economically feasible. Can we partner with Travis County and DPS and serve the same purpose without tying up all our resources?

The budget for this fiscal year is already set. Can you go back and re-evaluate things?

The budget is set. As far as how the budget is spent, I’m sure the Commissioners Court — if I can justify it to them — would let me move some things around if I identify things that need to change. The budget has to be a little fluid anyway. Things change. Technology changes.

What about the jail. Any adjustments there?

That jail is an overwhelming management issue. It’s going to take some study. I have confidence in the jail administrator. I don’t see any changes. I want to work with her to make the jail operations smoother and to continue to take in contract prisoners, because that’s a big revenue resource for the county.

In July, the county moved 911 communications out from under the sheriff’s office. Did you support that?

I said in the forum I would not have supported that had I been there. I might have agreed to it had I had their perspective, but I didn’t. In the textbooks that I had, the communications center was the nerve center of the agency. We’ve taken the nerve center out of the agency. I need to work with the judge and the communications administrator to figure how we can overcome any shortcomings that might have developed because of it. The biggest downfall I see from my perspective is that, when the public calls in, they think they’re talking to the sheriff’s office but they’re not. The public doesn’t understand it. I don’t think they have a good grasp what’s happened with the communications center. Education will be important.

Have you named a chief deputy?

I have not named a chief deputy. It may be that I don’t appoint a chief deputy. I may flatten the organization, simply to put me closer to the work. I know most sheriff’s offices have chief deputies. But for a semi-small agency like we have here, it just seems like so much of a pyramid. Too much at the top.

Any additional thoughts or ideas?

I want to look at the organizational structure of the department. Make sure the work is dispersed in the proper manner. Is there any way we can consolidate work? It needs to be fair. It needs to be equal. And it needs to be of benefit to the county.