Harold Ray Presley
Harold Ray Presley | |
|---|---|
| Sheriff of Lee County, Mississippi | |
| In office 1993–2001 | |
| Preceded by | Jack Shirley |
| Succeeded by | Larry Presley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 5, 1948 Tupelo, Mississippi |
| Died | July 6, 2001 (aged 52) Tupelo, Mississippi |
| Relatives | Brandon Presley (nephew) Elvis Presley (first cousin once removed) |
Harold Ray Presley (October 5, 1948 – July 6, 2001) was an American sheriff known for his war against narcotics. He was the elected sheriff of Lee County, Mississippi, from 1993 to 2001. In 1995, he won the Buford Pusser Officer of the Year Award for his tough stance against illegal drugs. According to the Buford Pusser Home and Museum in Adamsville, Tennessee, Presley's department had confiscated more than $1 million in drugs including marijuana.
A cousin of Elvis Presley, he was a popular sheriff. He started a D.A.R.E. program in his department to work with schools and educate children about resisting drug use; he also started GED and work programs for inmates. During Presley's tenure as sheriff, the county built a new juvenile detention center and a jail with capacity for 202 inmates.
On July 6, 2001, Presley died in a shootout with an alleged kidnapper near Tupelo after pushing his deputy to safety. In January 2008, a 7,766-pound monument which had been dedicated in his memory mysteriously vanished after having stood near the Lee County Jail for five-and-a-half years. On July 6, 2022, 21 years after his death, the intersection of Interstate 22 and Auburn Road, Exit 90, in Lee County was dedicated as the Sheriff Harold Ray Presley Memorial Interchange.