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Dugger says goodbye to the force

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CPPD captain retires after 15 years of service

After 15 years of service to the city of Cedar Park in numerous positions, Capt. Debbie Dugger is hanging up her gun belt and tucking away her badge for a peaceful life raising horses with her husband, also a retired law enforcement officer.

Dugger never imagined 15 years ago when she answered an ad for a dispatcher that she would ever be where she is today. At the time, she was working in the Liberty Hill schools and was trying to get her teaching certificate. “I only planned to stay for a couple months through the summer until school started back,” said Dugger.

Her job as a dispatcher for the summer turned into a lot more than Dugger ever thought it than Dugger ever thought it would. On April 23, 1993, Dugger became a dispatcher with the Cedar Park Police Department and began a successful career in law enforcement that has seen her voted Cedar Park City Employee of the year in 1994 and Police Officer of the year in both 1995 and 2000. She also holds the distinction of being the most highly decorated officer in the department.

As a firearms specialist and competitive pistol shooter, Dugger has served as the department lead firearms instructor. She was also the first Cedar Park Police Officer to graduate from the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute, Leadership Command College at Sam Houston State University.

Dugger's days as a dispatcher are long since gone as she has worked her way up to become one of two captains for Cedar Park - one of the highest positions in the department. It's also a position to which Cedar Park Police Chief Henry Fluck had to appoint her.

“She moved from dispatcher to all the way up,” said Fluck. It's an accomplishment he said has not happened before in the department.

Along the way to becoming a captain, Dugger has served in numerous divisions and capacities within the department including communications, patrol, community services, honor guard, criminal investigations, special response team, gang unit detective, patrol sergeant and professional standards division sergeant. “What's really important is that in every position she's held, she's done an outstanding job,” said Fluck.

She was the first person Fluck promoted to sergeant in 2000 after he came to Cedar Park. Then, on March 12, 2004, he appointed her to captain over the operations bureau and in July 2007 she became captain over the support bureau, the position she holds today.

Dugger said she never considered being a police officer, much less that she would be retiring with 15 years of service under her belt. “I had never ever thought about becoming a police officer,” said Dugger.

It was something she was being drawn to do. “It was a calling for me to become an officer,” said Dugger. She met her husband of 14 years, Rick, while she was in training.

At first, Rick, who retired in November from the Travis County Sheriff's Office, did not like the idea of Dugger being in law enforcement, but has since been the biggest influence in her career. “Rick has been my mentor my entire career,” said Dugger.

Having worked in many different divisions within the department, Dugger has gotten to experience a variety of roles, but she liked being a patrol officer best. “I've enjoyed every division, but patrol officer was my favorite. It's the unknown of what the next call will be.”

Dugger said she has been offered positions with other departments throughout her career, but she could never leave Cedar Park. “This is where my heart has been. The Cedar Park Police Department, it's my second family,” said Dugger.

Over the years, Dugger said she has found her job to be very rewarding. “You can make a positive difference. It might be a small thing, but it's important to them,” she said.

Though her career has changed her life in many ways and has brought good times and bad times, Dugger said what impacted her most was seeing that “people make wrong decisions and it changes lives forever.”

When Dugger leaves the Cedar Park Police Department today for the final time, she said it will be very hard, but she is looking forward to sharing retirement with her husband. “I feel blessed to do this and that we can spend time together,” said Dugger.

Fluck said Dugger's retirement is “a tremendous loss to the department, but I wish them the best for the future.”

“She's been an important part of the department for so many years. I'm going to miss her dedication and loyalty to the department,” he said.

Dugger, a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, said she plans to spend her retirement doing the things she enjoys: riding Harley motorcycles, running and doing competitive shooting.

Debbie and Rick are planning to move to Cherokee, Texas, to raise horses and be closer to Debbie's son Ray and their grandchildren.

E-mail jennifer@hillcountrynews.com

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