The Nebraska Law Enforcement Hall of Fame on Oct. 3 welcomed a new member, Capt. Dave Wood, who served a 47-year tenure with the Seward County Sheriff's Dept. and had a profound impact on civil processes in the state.
Administrative Captain Timothy Huntington and Civil Process Deputy Jordan Legband of the Seward County Sheriff’s office nominated Wood for the honor. In their letter, they said Wood left an undeniable mark on the department, state and community he served.
Wood, who retired last year, was a dispatcher for the Seward County Sheriff’s Dept. for four years before becoming a deputy sheriff. He was promoted to sergeant in 1981 and developed a special interest in understanding all aspects of civil processes.
In 1983, he took over process duties at the Seward County Sheriff’s Dept. and was responsible for 95% of the paperwork related to lawsuits and court orders. He had to handle collecting taxes, processing fees, serving warrants and summons and more.
His knowledge of the job led him to become known as the “civil process guru,” and he taught classes on civil processes to sheriff’s department employees throughout the state for 15 years. Much of the information he taught could not be found in any other classes or workshops in Nebraska.
“We got stopped and questioned by a lot of attorneys and some judges about how we were doing things but they always came back and said that we are correct in doing it that way,” he said.
If a sheriff or staff member files something incorrectly, they can be held personally liable and have to pay a civil judgment out of their own pocket. Wood said he did not like the thought of that happening and was inspired to teach others about civil processes to help protect sheriffs as they do their jobs.
“I always felt good about helping them out because, if it wasn’t me, there really weren't too many places they could turn to,” he said.
Multiple times per week, Wood would receive calls from other sheriff’s departments in Nebraska that had questions about how to handle different types of paperwork. Wood said his curriculum has now been accepted by the training center, and continuing education hours are awarded for its completion.
Seward County Sheriff Mike Vance worked with Wood for about 16 years and said he was always friendly, easy to get along with and knowledgeable. He said it is rare to see someone put in so much time with the one agency.
“(The induction into the hall of fame) was well deserved. Dave worked a lot of years and learned everything possible about civil process. He worked hard for that,” Vance said.
Wood’s wife, Annette, said his success feels extra special because they met through her father, Sheriff Marvin Pollock, who was the sheriff when Wood started at the department.
“There are hundreds of law enforcement officers in this state, and very few are on this list of inductees into the hall of fame,” she said. “I’m very proud of him and everything he’s done.”
Legband and Huntington kept Wood’s nomination under wraps until a couple weeks before the award ceremony. Upon finding out about the honor, Wood said he felt surprised, appreciative and humbled.
“I always believed that they gave that award to sheriffs across the state and once in a while to a deputy. I never even thought I would get brought up for that,” he said. “It was very much appreciated.”
