When Duncan Wiggins first arrived in Trigg County, it was 1994.
Not long out of Fort Campbell and Guthrie, the Cadiz Police Department was supposed to another lily pad. A place where he and his small family could gain experience, grow and then leap elsewhere. Somewhere bigger. Somewhere better.
Somewhere other than here.
But 29 years later, retired as the town’s “Chief Of Police,” Wiggins remained. And earlier last week, he recounted his time and efforts to a rapt audience with the Cadiz Rotary Club, looking to glean the perspective of being fair to all concerned.
Wiggins said he remained in Cadiz for a number of factors, but was especially stunned by the local friendliness, graciousness and integrity of Trigg County. He cited the inaugural Relay For Life as inspiration, in which less than 20,000 residents raised more than a quarter million dollars for cancer research and awareness.
A conversation with former and the late Mayor Jim Ricks, however, all but sealed his stay.
Since then, Wiggins has been a part of three other Chiefs of Police tenures, three mayoral terms and more than 45 officers at the department.
Early on, he was a D.A.R.E. representative inside the Trigg County Schools, and spent considerable time as a Housing Authority cop for Cadiz.
In the mid-90’s, around 10% of the city was living in government subsidy, and the desire was to mitigate crimes here while improving quality of life.
In 1999, Columbine, Colorado, and its school shooting forced the Cadiz Police Department, and the nation, to rethink school safety, search and rescue, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Since then, Wiggins said at least one school resource officer has been on Trigg’s campus, and this fall, three will be patrolling the 11-acre grounds. With 2,600 people on the property any given school day, Wiggins noted the district is a “city within a city,” and must receive special attention.
Trigg County Schools, meanwhile, has become one of the premier training grounds in the region for active shooter situations.
In August 2014, following the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Wiggins heard the concerns of Councilwoman Susan Bryant, and about what those next steps needed to look like.
Wiggins noted from that point forward, he’d never again work in police without on-the-job camera activation.
In 2012, he had his first chance to be Cadiz Police Chief, only to spurn it because he “wasn’t ready” for the buck to stop with him, and he had other career goals in mind.
In 2019, those notions shifted because he wanted to bring three things into focus:
— A fully improved and “squared away” evidence room;
— A fully hired and trained police force for Cadiz, something he said citizens “deserved;”
— and a UAS Drone Program in place, to be used in first response on a great many mission objectives.
All three happened under his watch, and he shared a drone story from this past Trigg County Country Ham Festival.
Wiggins will remain on staff in an advisory role until his official retirement in August, and noted he and his family will stay in Trigg County. In the mean time, he is employable under his drone company, “Blue Line Aerial Photography LLC,” which can be found on Facebook.