Carter County Sheriff Ken Grace has announced the selection of Mike Armstrong as administrator of the Carter County Detention Center.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to have Mike as our jail administrator,” Grace said. “His experience and education in this area will be a tremendous asset to the detention center. A good jail administrator must wear many hats and must be able to relate to not just the staff and inmates but the families of inmates as well. Mike is a person who has the ability to see both sides and I have all the confidence in the world he has both the attitude and the ability to handle the job professionally and efficiently.”
Armstrong, who said he was delighted to have been selected for the job, officially began his new duties Aug. 9. He said is overall view of the detention center’s current operations is positive.
“I have met with most of the detention officers and I believe they are doing a good job. I’m not going to be making any drastic changes. My attitude is if it’s not broke then I’m not going to fix it and if and when we need to change something there will be discussion before making any determinations about changes,” Armstrong said.
The new jail administrator said his first goals are centered on his own job performance.
“I’m getting my feet wet and learning my role from an administration standpoint,” he said. “My goal will be to continue to take the detention center in a positive direction from a team perspective — I am a team player — a spoke in the wheel.”
Armstrong said he also wants to “give as much to the department as they are giving me,” and the way he will do that is to serve as a reserve deputy during nonworking hours.
A 1989 graduate of Ardmore High School, Armstrong obtained a bachelor degree in 1994, from East Central University in Ada where he majored in adult corrections and minored in juvenile justice. While attending the university he completed an internship with the Carter County Sheriff’s Department and upon graduation went to work at the detention center as an officer.
In 1997, he made a career move to the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs, serving as a juvenile justice specialist. In March, 2004, he was promoted to OJA assistant district supervisor.
Armstrong said with his selection as the administrator of the Carter County Detention Center his “career in the criminal justice field has turned full circle, going back to where it all began. I’m honored Sheriff Grace and Undersheriff Anthony have given me the opportunity ... I hope to use my experience with the Office of Juvenile Affairs and law enforcement to continue to make the Carter County Sheriff’s Department one of the best departments in the state.”
Armstrong and his wife, April, have been married for nine years. The couple has four sons.
