Since he was around 12 years old, Anthony Buckner knew he wanted to be in law enforcement. 

As a younger child, Buckner had always wanted to be a firefighter or paramedic but he changed course after watching an episode of the television show “Cops.” In the episode, an officer responded to a domestic assault and detained the abusive father. In an effort to comfort the man’s child, the officer handed her a teddy bear from the trunk of his squad car. 

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“I remember thinking this man has went from Superman and being a super aggressive, type-A officer to, all of a sudden, he has reduced himself in size, and now he’s a comforter,” Buckner said. 

Buckner, 44, is the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office’s new chief deputy and the No. 2 position in the office. He’s been with the SCSO for 22 years in various positions, such as school resource officer, gang unit detective and assistant chief deputy. 

It was that variety of experience — with Buckner working in nearly every bureau of SCSO during his career there — that the previous chief deputy, Claude Robinson, said helped Buckner get the chief deputy job. And in many ways, Buckner’s been preparing for this almost his entire life. 

Robinson retired in July, after working with SCSO for 42 years. He said he was confident Buckner could succeed him because of the younger man’s knowledge in the law, his capacity for hard work and his interest in the community. 

“He’s a hard-working young man,” Robinson said. “The future’s bright for him.”

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Buckner grew up in a single-parent home with two siblings. He lived in Orange Mound until he was 8 years old, when his family moved to Parkway Village. His family didn’t have a car, and he had to take the bus wherever he went.

But Buckner, who now has three children of his own, said he didn’t let those circumstances dictate his life and career. 

“I use those circumstances to prepare me, to challenge me and energize me,” Buckner said. 

Exploring a role with MPD and SCSO

Buckner got his first taste of law enforcement at 15 when he joined the Memphis Police Department’s Explorer Program, which exposes children ages 14 through 17 to law enforcement activities. Through that program, he shadowed dispatchers and desk officers. 

When SCSO Chief Inspector Wink Downen was a sergeant with MPD, he would pick Buckner up in his squad car and drop him off at the East Precinct, what is now Mt. Moriah Station. 

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“He was a very clean-cut, good kid,” Downen said. “He had a very strong desire to be involved in law enforcement as a police officer.”

Even as a teenager, Buckner wanted to be out in the field. So he switched over to SCSO’s Explorers Academy, where he could ride with patrol officers during evening Saturday shifts.

SCSO Assistant Chief of Patrol Services Derek Mills often let Buckner tag along with him.

“I was just impressed with him — to be a young teenage man, to be so compassionate about law enforcement, and wanting to learn and see what we did,” Mills said. “There’s not many teenagers that are disciplined enough and want to do that. Most teenagers want to ride around and have fun and do teenage stuff.”

After Buckner graduated from Wooddale High School in 1998, he joined the Marine Corps, where he served for two years. 

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In March 2001, he joined SCSO as a reserve deputy. Six months later, in October 2001, he started off his full-time SCSO job as a patrol officer. 

But about a month after Buckner landed the full-time gig, his mother unexpectedly passed away from a heart attack. 

“Less than two months after one of the most proud moments I had in life, the most tragic moment in my life happened,” Buckner said. 

His supervisor at the time told him to take all the time he needed, and that’s when Buckner knew SCSO was his family. 

“It wasn’t just an agency,” Buckner said. “Because he cared. And others cared. But I think if the conversation went differently, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

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Making a difference 

Although he has remained with SCSO for more than two decades, Buckner has dabbled in other occupations, including real estate agent, substitute teacher and college professor. 

“I found real estate to be a de-stressor,” Buckner said. “It was a way for me to step away from law enforcement mentally and help people in a way that had nothing to do with enforcing the law and being a cop.”

In 2004, Buckner became a gang detective. In that role, he dealt with what he considers one of his biggest cases, a murder for hire.

An inmate in the Shelby County Jail had overheard another detainee discussing plans to have someone kill a witness to a murder. Armed with that information, Buckner and other investigators got ahold of the victim and explained to him what was happening.

“I remember walking into the room, and I looked at that guy,” Buckner said. “And I said to him, ‘You’ve never seen me before. You don’t even know who I am. But I am telling you that you are literally days away from being murdered.’ And so I can see his eyes. He looked like a deer in headlights, because he knew then that this was very serious. And he cooperated with us.”

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Investigators arrested Ladarius Cowan before he could carry out the murder for hire. 

Although Buckner has accolades, like his 2015 Supervisor of the Year award, under his belt, he considers other successes more important. 

In 2007, he became a SCSO school resource officer for Southwind High School and was mentoring a girl who had transferred to the school from Chicago. She put on a tough facade but, deep inside, she was struggling. 

“She walked up to me early one morning, and she said to me, ‘Officer Buckner, last night I was going to commit suicide, but the only reason why I didn’t is because I thought you’d be disappointed in me,’” Buckner said. 

Linda Patterson, who was principal of Southwind at the time, said the students respected him and always listened to him.

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“His tone was always one that caused you not to want to stop listening to his talk,” Patterson said. “It would seem as though, ‘I’m hearing this gentleman. I’m hearing him. He’s making me feel better about myself. He’s helping me.’ He always put those young people first.”

By 2008, Buckner was made sergeant of patrol. During his five years in that role, he started attending Bethel University, where he ultimately earned both his undergraduate degree and master’s degree in criminal justice.

Buckner has since moved through various positions in SCSO, including sergeant of criminal courts, lieutenant, captain, public information officer, chief inspector and assistant chief deputy. 

During his career, Buckner has experienced significant challenges, such as the civil unrest that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. 

“I’ve always been proud to wear this uniform. I’ve always been proud to wear this badge,” Buckner said. “But I was so hurt. And watching someone from my profession do that to another human being … there were days that it was difficult to put the uniform on.”

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Traumatic events can also serve as a challenge to law enforcement officers. 

Buckner remembers a call he received as a patrol officer when a father had accidentally run over his 3-year-old daughter with his truck and killed her. 

“When I got out of work that night, I immediately grabbed my daughter and I just held her and I rocked her,” Buckner said. “Because I knew that one family was dealing with a tragedy that you cannot imagine. But then I had the opportunity to go home and hold my child.”

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner said in a July 31 news release that Buckner is “an exemplary law enforcement professional with a proven track record of excellence.”

“His commitment to proactive crime prevention initiatives and tireless efforts in engaging citizens is commendable,” Bonner said. “I do not doubt that under his leadership, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office will continue to make a lasting and positive impact on the communities we serve.”

Buckner hopes to live up to that testimonial. In his new role, he hopes to increase transparency in the office and deploy more speed detectors, license plate recognition cameras and drones. 

He also wants to continue partnering with the Tennessee Highway Patrol for an increased law enforcement presence in the county and he wants to bring back neighborhood watch groups, which suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The rest, Buckner said, is asking God what he would want him to do while he serves in that office.

“One thing that keeps coming to mind is make yourself small and make him big, and everything else will fall into place.”