EDUCATION/FAMILY

Rick was born in 1953 to Richard and Patricia Thalls.  He attended Findley, Starr and Hibberd Elementary.  After Elementary he went to Hibberd Junior High where he reached 6’ 4” by the eighth grade.  His art teacher even yelled at him one day for standing on a stool in the classroom when he in fact was just sitting there minding his own business.  Of course, you can’t grow to that height without being recruited to play basketball.  He played for Richmond High School in the early 70s and on the Indiana All-star team in 1972.  Went on to play ball for the Dayton Flyers and finished up at Earlham College.  He was on the Indiana College All-star team in 1978.

Rick married his high school sweetheart and cheerleader Gloria Thalls in 1974.  Rick has two sons, Ricky and Ryan, who both attended Richmond High School, obtained their college degree and have both decided to remain in Richmond for their professional careers.
Rick has a daughter-in-law, Carolyn and two grandchildren, RJ (4) and Gracie (2).

PROFESSIONAL CAREER
Rick started his professional career in law enforcement at the Wayne County Sheriffs Department in 1979.  He went from a jail officer to a road deputy in 1980.  He then graduated from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy.

Rick is now employed with R.P.D. and has been the school resource officer for Richmond High School for the past 19 years.

View Full List of Community Involvement and Professional Training

YOUTH INVOLVEMENT
Rick is very passionate about our youth.  He revived Camp Clements as an opportunity to give today's youth some valuable childhood memories like so many of his own and a place to develop their social skills.  He has been running the camps since 1998.

SCHOOL SAFETY
Rick is well aware of the concerns associated with public safety issues especialy when it involves our youth. 

Rick felt a need to address this community's level of preparedness in case of an unfortunate event such as a school shooting. 

He developed the idea of holding a mock drill at the Richmond High School to test this preparedness.  This gave the opportunity for multiple agencies of Emergency Personal to meet in one place to test how well they could collaborate, communicate, and problem solve together.