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As a longtime member of our courts division, Deputy Gary Dickey is a familiar face to any frequent visitor to the Montgomery County Courthouse or One Montgomery Plaza.
The 21-year MCSO veteran grew up in the Skippack area and attended Perkiomen Valley High School where he wrestled, played football and threw shot put, discus, and javelin on the track team.
“As the years progressed,” he remembered, “they had me running, and I don’t know why,” he said with a chuckle.
After school, he took a few classes at Montgomery County Community College before landing a job at a local gun shop. From there, he moved on to working for a small contractor doing home repairs for a couple of years, which transitioned into a job with a development company that specialized in stick framing houses.
But all the while, he knew he wanted to protect and serve.
“I've always known since I was a little kid,” he said, “We knew all the state police when they used to be at the Limerick barracks and some of the other smaller township cops.”
“I always had it in the back of my mind that it'd be cool to be a police officer and help people out, and then a very good friend of mine who was actually working for the Sheriff's Department at the time got me an application and said ‘you need to fill this out because you don't want to be building houses when you're 50 and older,’ so I filled out an application and got hired, and that was back in June 2001.”
During his tenure with the MCSO, Dickey has worked primarily in warrants and courts, but also has experience in the transportation and civil divisions.
“I could write a book, there’s just so many interesting people you meet from day to day,” he says of the job. “Whether it's good or bad, but mostly it's all been good. I can't complain about that.
“The biggest thing I like is the people that I get to work with, the people from other parts of the county and just everybody coming in. I've been pretty lucky and had pretty much all good dealings.
“Being here so long, I know a ton of people and some of them are ones I used to lock up years ago when I was in warrants. Seeing them now, when they're doing good, is just rewarding.
“I don't wish bad on anybody. Unfortunately, the world isn’t perfect, but when people can turn their lives around and do right, that’s definitely nice to see.”
As anybody who works with him can attest. Deputy Dickey is an avid outdoorsman. Some of his favorite pastimes are fly fishing, traditional archery, and shooting custom muzzleloaders.
He belongs to several gun and archery clubs and is slated to be the next president of the Pennsylvania Longbow Association — “Not a big deal,” he said coyly.
“It's a lot of fun with a lot of good people,” he said. ”The biggest thing is to just do what you're supposed to do and everything will work out for you. If not, you ain’t hitting targets, you’re missing —kind of like life.
“I enjoy hunting because I’ll be out there with family and friends. I don't care if I get anything or not. I'm out in the woods enjoying myself.”
Dickey said he enjoys the public facing aspects of the job and tries to approach visitors to the justice complex in a disarming way, realizing that sometimes they are frustrated and just need to vent.
He also shared a word of advice for anyone interested in career in law enforcement:
“In this day and age, with the way stuff’s going, it's really tough, but if this is what you want to do, do it. Just because you’re seeing all the stuff on the news that would deter a lot of people or make people want to leave, that doesn’t really matter. If you come in, do your job, and know you're gonna have good days and bad days. We need good people doing this job because if not, it's only gonna get worse.”
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