The Sheriff

Billy P. Wofford has served as the Sheriff of Pickens county since 1981. he has worked in Pickens County Law Enforcement since 1971. He first was a Deputy for Sheriff Harley Cantrell. Sheriff Wofford and his family lived in the Old Jail located on main street and his daughter Billie Jean ( a former Deputy) was raised as a child at the Old Jail. Sheriff Wofford first ran for office in 1980 and took office on January 1, 1981. He is now serving in his seventh consecutive term.

When Sheriff Wofford first took office he had a jail that had twelve (12) beds and he had only a handful of Deputy’s. in 1982, he and his staff moved into the “new” jail that was locted on the site where the jail stands today. This was a forty four (44) bed facility and it served the county well until the late 1990’s. In 2003, Sheriff Wofford and then Commissioner Bill Newton began the process to build a new jail that would meet the long term needs of Pickens County. In January 2006 (100 years after the opening of the main street Jail) Sheriff Wofford and his staff moved into a new one hundred forty four (144) bed facility that has an expantion capacity of up to 400 inmates on the same location. Sheriff Wofford is one of only a handful of Sheriffs in the United States that has had the taks of designing and buildining more than one jail during their tenure as Sheriff.

Sheriff Wofford has served on numerous Boards and Task Forces while serving as Sheriff of Pickens County. He has seen the growth come through Pickens county and as such he has seen the call volume for services increase dramatically.

Sheriff Wofford is married to Donna Jean Wofford. Together they have two grown children, Billie Jean and Phillip. They have one granddaughter Baylee. In his spare time Sheriff Wofford enjoys riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle.