Tom Selman, right, is sworn in Thursday as Angelina County sheriff by Judge Billy Ball.
JESS HUFF/The Lufkin Daily News

Tom Selman’s first official day as Angelina County sheriff began in the commissioners’ courtroom surrounded by family, friends and community leaders as he took his oath of office.

Selman has spent the last two decades as the Precinct 1 Constable serving the part of Angelina County encompassing Lufkin and the surrounding area. He was appointed sheriff after Greg Sanches retired from the position at the end of 2022.

His mom, Sally, said she is proud of her son, who had wanted to be in law enforcement since his junior high days or earlier, she said. She recalled the time he served as a dispatcher, then as an officer.

“Then he went to the (Department of Public Safety) Academy in Austin and graduated No. 1 in his class,” she said. “And then he came back and he was a highway patrol, state trooper.”

Though people pestered Selman to run for sheriff, Sally said he liked his job as a constable. It was around Sanches’ retirement when he began thinking it was time to run, she said.

“He’ll be a good one, I promise,” she said. “He’s got a good head on his shoulders.”

Selman had already been up to the sheriff’s office and said the department is in very good shape and has some really good people. His plan is not to go in like a wrecking ball and tear things down because it is a good institution, he said.

“Leadership is key to the success of any organization, and I hope that my style of leadership and the things I bring to the table will make a difference,” he said.

His oath signals the “dawning of a new age and a new day of cooperation” with the county partners, he said. Regardless of the cause, there has been friction between the sheriff’s office and other entities, which cannot happen, he said.

The sheriff’s office will now be a place for other agencies, whether at a local or state level, to work together to tackle crime in the community. He has begun by issuing keys to state troopers so they don’t have to ask permission to enter the building or take people they have arrested to jail.

And he wants the office to be the place for smaller agencies to ask for help when they need it.

The sheriff’s office has served as the place for that for Diboll, Police Chief Michael Skillern said. The agency has tools, such as surveillance equipment, that may not make sense for Diboll to purchase itself but come in handy occasionally.

Police Chief Michael Skillern

He thinks the county made a “fantastic choice” in appointing Selman to the role.

“As soon as I got the job, in February, within two weeks Tom came to visit me,” Skillern said.

Selman offered assistance at that point, and they have built a great relationship since then, Skillern said.

“I have no doubt that he was the right man for the job,” he said.

Selman also plans to work closely with prosecution to align investigations with the needs of prosecutors to make sure cases are rock solid going into court, he said.

District Attorney Janet Cassels said her office appreciates working with law enforcement, and while their jobs are different, they are related at the end of the day as each seeks positive results for the community and accountability.

District Attorney Janet Cassels

“There are certainly some cases where coordination earlier on can make a big difference,” Cassels said.

Law enforcement’s job is to gather evidence, she said. But that work means little if the results in court do not follow, so working together can make the system more effective as they reach for the same goals: a safer community and accountability for criminal conduct, she said.

“I’m very serious about this,” Selman said. “I’m not blowing a bunch of smoke up everybody’s skirt. This is the kind of guy I am, and I’m going to be very sensitive to the needs of the people in the county.”

His goal is to help the system get to a point where those who are arrested are not turned away as they are currently due to jail overcrowding. It goes against his nature to turn people away and to know there may not be accountability, he said. The jail is the front line of defense alongside law enforcement officers to protect citizens.

Selman is hitting the ground running in his position, something he likened to drinking water from a fire hose, but said it will be a success because of the team already assembled there.

“I may make a mistake here and there along the way, but I am always going to seek advice and consent from my people and the community,” he said. “That’s what they want from our department. I just look forward to blue skies and calm waters in the days ahead.”