Dickson Mayor Don L. Weiss Jr. administered the Peace Officer’s Oath to a new park ranger and police officer at the Oct. 16, 2023, Finance and Management Committee meeting.
Mayor Weiss swore in and welcomed Molly Adams as a new ranger for the Dickson Parks and Recreation Department and Kevin B. Kelley as a new officer in the Dickson Police Department.
A Dickson County native, Adams began working with the City of Dickson as a lifeguard in 2017. She became manager at the J. Dan Buckner Park municipal swimming pool in 2019.
After graduating from Creek Wood High School in 2020, Adams attended Columbia State Community College to receive an Advanced Emergency Medical Technician license.
In 2021, she started as a 911 telecommunicator with the City of Dickson Emergency Communications Department and in June 2023 returned to the Parks and Recreation Department as program coordinator and park ranger.
Adams will attend the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy in January. Park rangers in the Dickson Parks and Recreation Department are commissioned as law enforcement officers by the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission.
“I would like to thank my parents for their continued love and support,” Adams said. “I look forward to serving the City of Dickson.”
Kelley grew up in Sharon, south of Martin in Weakley County, Tenn. He graduated from Sharon High School in 1990 where he was a two-sport athlete.
He joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served four years. Following his military service, Kelley graduated from the North Carolina Basic Law Enforcement Training Center in 1994 and became a public safety officer.
In 2000, Kelley transferred to the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office in Beaufort, N.C., and became a deputy sheriff. He rose through the ranks to patrol lieutenant.
He earned certifications as a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) operator, traffic accident investigator, radar speed detection/Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)/visual average speed computer and recorder (VASCAR) operator, National Association of School Resource Officers Basic and Advanced school resource officer and general law enforcement instructor.
In 2013, Kelley retired in North Carolina and returned to Tennessee. In 2016 he graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin with a bachelor of science degree in Interdisciplinary Studies.
In 2021 he joined the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office in Brownsville, Tenn., as a patrol deputy and graduated as class president from the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy.
In 2022, Kelley moved to Dickson to be closer to his girlfriend and now wife, Kristy, an instructor at TLETA, and became a deputy with the Dickson County Sheriff’s Office. He joined the Dickson Police Department’s Patrol Division in June 2023 and is currently assigned to the Traffic Unit.
Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter!
