HOT SPRINGS – After nearly 34 years of service in Garland County, including 27 years as a Garland County Sheriff’s Deputy and as director of the county’s 911 Communications Center since 2017, Corky Martin retired July 29.

“It was great,” Martin said at a party held in his honor at the Garland County Armory Building, surrounded by his colleagues and members of the community he has served throughout his career.

“I’ve been given incredible opportunities by all the sheriffs and judges. I’ve learned so much from all of them,” he said. “I’ve met so many great people. I’ve had a great time and I’ve learned something from everyone in that room at some point and I’ll keep that forever.”

Martin began his law enforcement career in 1991 as a jailer at the old detention center next to the sheriff’s office, 525 Ouachita Ave., and ended his service in the same building after being assigned in 2017 to manage the communications center, which began operations in the booking area of ​​the old jail in 2018, ushering in a new era of public safety communications in the county.

“I’ve had the privilege of working with four great sheriffs and four district judges. Two of them I didn’t know very well, but the last two I know very well,” Martin said.

Martin told the Sentinel-Record that he started as a deputy in the sheriff’s reserve in February 1991 and became full-time in September 1991.

“It’s been turbulent since then, but it’s been really fun.”