Everyday Heroes 2018

HOUSTON COUNTY
SHERIFFS OFFICE
CHIEF DEPUTY WILLIAM “BILLY” RAPE, JR
By KRISTIN MORIARTY
Journal Staff Writer
Chief Deputy Billy Rape is in his 45th year with the Houston County
Sheriff’s Office. He was born in Byron, Georgia, but that’s only
because there wasn’t a hospital or many doctor’s offices in Houston
County at the time. Other than serving in the Air Force for four years,
and working as a special agent with the Atlanta Westport Railroad for
a couple of years, he has always lived in Houston County.
“My family’s roots run deep here in Houston County,” Rape said.
“There’s no other place like it. I graduated from Warner Robins High
School in 1964 and then went off to college in Atlanta. But Vietnam
was just getting started, and I received my first draft notice. I came
back to have my physical done. While waiting for notice of which
branch they were going to put me, my friend and I just decided to go
ahead and join the Air Force.”
Rape joined the Air Force in 1966. He was an electronic technician
on the F4 aircraft, and while in service, he deployed to Thailand
twice, and served a total of four years. When it came time for him to
re-enlist, he decided to move on to a new career.
“I enjoyed my time in the Air Force, but I didn’t re-enlist because
at that time there was too much of politics involved and not letting
the military do what they needed to do,” Rape said. “So I came back
home in 1970 and started thinking about law enforcement. My father
had been the chief of police for Warner Robins for 17 years, I had
always been around it, and thought it would be a good career for
me.”
Rape first became a special agent for the Atlanta Westpoint
Railroad, who later sent him to the police academy. Not long after
becoming certified, the railroad transferred him to Montgomery,
Alabama. In 1972, Sheriff Cullen Talton ran for office. After being
elected in November, he was taking applications for deputies.
“I got tired of traveling every weekend from the railroad,” Rape said.
“Once I learned Sheriff Talton was taking applications,
I immediately put one in and I was blessed to be hired
as an investigator.”
Rape said originally the Sheriff’s Office started out
with three investigators and then expanded to five.
At that time there was no chief deputy, just two
captains, one over the patrol unit and the other over
the investigation unit.
“After a couple of years the chief deputy’s position
was created,” Rape said. “Our first was Willie Talton.
When he was promoted, I was promoted to captain
over investigations. I have actually worked in every
division over the years except for juvenile. Lucky
enough, when Chief Talton retired I was appointed
to chief deputy in late 1990s. I have really enjoyed
working for the Sheriff and for this office. We are like
a family here. Time has flown. If you’d told me my
first day that I would be here 45 years, I would have
said you’re crazy.”
When Rape was an investigator he said he had a
variety of cases. Some turned out good while others
were tough to handle. One case that he thinks about
from time to time involved a young boy who returned home from
school to find his mother deceased.
“It was ruled a suicide, but everyone we had been interviewing
had strong feelings that it wasn’t,” Rape said. “I even had trouble
wrapping my mind around that it was a suicide. Well, the man
who she had been dating, we found information and tried to make
it where we would catch him at home. I had my guys sit on his
apartment a whole day but had no luck, so I told them to try again
in the morning. Next day they go back, hear music playing in his
apartment. The landlord let us in, and we found him and his daughter
deceased.”
“Through more investigating, we found out that the lady’s sister had
called him after it was ruled a suicide,” he went on to say. “While we
couldn’t really prove it, our thoughts were, after the sister had called
him, he felt guilty and killed his daughter and himself. But what has
stuck with me is, had I not pulled my guys off the night before that
we might have saved that little girl. It’s a hard burden to take on, but
in this business you have to make decisions on the spot a lot of time,
and it can be tough.”
One thing Rape has always kept in mind and heart is the advice
Sheriff Talton gave him and the other two investigators who were
sworn in with him on Jan. 1, 1973, which was, “Whatever determines
how long we’ll be here is how we treat people.”
“That has stuck with me all these years,” Rape said. “It may be
‘corny’ to others, but it has worked for me - it has worked for
this whole office because we try to instill that into our deputies
when they are first hired on. Even though we have to make arrests
sometimes, we always have to think about how it’s going to impact
someone’s life. We try to do it with as much compassion and make it
as easy as possible.”
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