Angelina County Sheriff's Department

1/3/77 - 7/11/78

After graduation from Lufkin High School, Tom attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville and was eager to pursue a degree and career in law enforcement.  Selman had previously submitted an application to the Angelina County Sheriff's Department and was offered a position in the dispatch office in late December.  Tom accepted the opening, returned to Lufkin and transferred his law enforcement studies over to Angelina College.  This was Tom’s opportunity to start at the ground level in law enforcement thanks to Sheriff Burl “Pete” McBride who gave Tom his first job with a law enforcement agency.  Selman worked graveyard shifts and weekends at the Sheriff’s Department while attending class at Angelina College by day.  Young men who got their law enforcement start working in the dispatch office and prisoner book-in for the jail at the County during this time were Barry Caver, Steve Sikes, Rocky Thigpen, Ricky Thigpen and Bo Dunkin.  All were working for the Sheriff and studying law enforcement at Angelina College and each eventually worked his way into the position of Trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety.  This group of guys were the first users of modern communications equipment at the local level when Angelina County was connected with other law enforcement agencies around the state through a new high speed telecommunications network.  At this point in the Sheriff's Department's history, the County had only one full time jailer at the old jail on the 3^rd floor of the courthouse and previously did not even have a Teletype machine for sending messages and running wanted checks.  Before receiving their teletype machine in 1977, the S.O. had to call over to Lufkin PD or the DPS Communications office to run a “10-27 or 10-28”, a drivers license search or registration check on a vehicle.