Andy Hughes is a retired law enforcement executive with over thirty years of experience at the municipal, county and state level. He started his career as a dispatcher with the Houston County, Alabama Sheriff’s Office in 1986. He later served as a Deputy Sheriff and Narcotics Investigator before continuing his career with the Dothan, AL Police Department in 1990. While working with the Dothan Police Department Hughes served in the Patrol, Vice/Intelligence and Special Operations Divisions. He attained the rank of Sergeant in 1994 and served in that capacity as a supervisor until he made the decision to run for Sheriff in 2006. He was elected as the Sheriff of Houston County, Alabama in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010. In 2014 he was appointed as an Assistant Director for Homeland Security/Chief of Tactical Operations for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. While serving at the state level he commanded the Aviation Unit, EOD Team and the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT). Hughes retired in 2016 and has served as an independent consultant on law enforcement and security matters. Since January 2019 Hughes has served as the Special Projects Manager for FirstGuard LLC, a company that specializes in providing off duty law enforcement officers for various security projects throughout the United States.