WARNER ROBINS -- The fatal shooting of high school classmate and sheriff’s deputy Danny Ray Jr. by a Houston County jail inmate was “the fire that lit underneath” for Alan Everidge to make the step into law enforcement.

Everidge, 46, a 25-year veteran of the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, recently stepped into the role of jail administrator at the Houston County jail. He was promoted to the rank of major.

In 1986, the year Ray was killed during the inmate’s escape attempt, Everidge was working for Greyhound transportation as his father had before him. But Everidge said he already was feeling the tug toward public service having served as a volunteer Houston County firefighter.

The May 10, 1986, death of Ray, who served one year as a sheriff’s deputy before he was shot and killed by an inmate he’d shared pizza with the night before, was a defining moment for Everidge.

He knew he wanted to have a career in which he felt like he was making a difference.

By the end of that year, Everidge had landed a job with Warner Robins police where he began his law enforcement career. He joined the sheriff’s office the following year. He’s since served in most divisions including patrol, juvenile investigations, criminal investigations and warrants. He served 15 years on the sheriff’s response team, a tactical unit.

But this is the first time he’s served in the jail. It is not the first time he’s ran a division. He was head of the warrant division before assuming his new role Aug. 6.

“Managing people is managing people,” Everidge said.

He also noted the expertise of his staff to draw on.

As the jail administrator, Everidge oversees a $12 million budget, 156 employees and a changing jail population that was at 489 inmates Thursday. The 10-year-old jail’s capacity is 666 inmates.

He said he’s not planning in any major overhauls. He and Capt. Beth Shafer, second in command at the jail, are reviewing jail policies that may need “minor tweaking” to make sure they’re up to jail standards.

For Everidge, the jail is a nearly self-contained community or small city with its own kitchen, laundry and medical facilities.

It’s his job to ensure inmates are fed, clothed and watched over in a humane way in the most efficient manner possible, he said.

Everidge noted working in the jail is demanding.

“You got to get tough,” he said. “This is not a job for the faint of heart. It’s just as hard as being an investigator or patrol officer or a 911 operator.

“Every person has a spoke in the wheel of the criminal justice system.”

Serving in law enforcement also means time away from family, Everidge said. It’s also hard on friendships, and some people just don’t like police officers, he said.

“If you’re going into law enforcement, it’s got to be a career -- not a job,” Everidge said.

As jail administrator, Everidge earns a salary of about $70,000.

In his previous role overseeing a staff of 25 people in the warrant division, Everidge usually came in a little before 8 a.m. and left at 5 p.m. He rarely got calls at home.

In his new job with all its responsibilities, he’s in at 5:30 or 6 a.m. and leaves anywhere from 5 to 8 p.m.

“I like a challenge, what can I say?” Everidge said.

Sheriff Cullen Talton said he’s confident Everidge can more than meet the challenge.

“Wherever I put him, he’s always done an excellent job,” Talton said. “He’s just got that knack about him dealing with people.”

Everidge holds an associate degree in criminal justice from Central Georgia Technical College, a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from American Intercontinental University and a master’s degree in public administration with an emphasis in criminal justice from Columbus State University.

He received his Command College Certificate from Georgia Law Enforcement Command College. He also is a September 2002 graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va.