Billy Garrett, Jr. has been serving Haywood County as Sheriff since November 2017.

He was born in Memphis and grew up in Haywood County where he graduated from Haywood High School in 1975. He joined the Memphis Police Department in 1978 as a jailer then graduated from the Memphis Police Academy in October 1979 as a police officer. He later graduated from Memphis State University with a BA degree in Criminal Justice in 1982.

Sheriff Garrett retired from the Memphis Police Department in 2010. During his tenure as police officer, he received numerous notable awards including the selection as Optimist Club Officer of the Year. He rose through the ranks of this large metropolitan police department where he was appointed as one of the department’s first Colonels in 2008. He was assigned as the precinct commander of Union Station in mid-town Memphis. As a young patrol officer, he served in many different assignments; from uniform patrol, school officer, investigator, first line supervisor, and then police manager. The Union Station led the department, under his guidance, in total part one crime reduction during the Blue Crush initiative. He served as one of the department’s first CIT officers, along with many other specialized assignments, such as the Organized Crime Unit, Internal Affairs, and Community Policing Units. After retiring, he worked two years as a Customer Relations manager for Phelps Security in Memphis, before joining the University of Memphis Lambuth as Campus Police Commander. He remained there for 5 years, where he grew the campus police office and served as a police consultant by the City of Memphis.

In 2017, following the untimely death of former Haywood County Sheriff Melvin Bond, Garrett was appointed by the county commission to complete his term. In 2018, Garrett was elected to a four year term, and then easily re-elected in 2022.

Sheriff Garrett has been married to his wife Vickie since 1977. She is a native Haywood Countian. Together they have one daughter, Brittney, son in law Jonathan and two grandchildren, Abby and Clayton.