Bill Hollenbeck

Bill Hollenbeck grew up in Fort Smith Arkansas and is a graduate of Northside High School. He attended the University of Arkansas Fort Smith and graduated from John Brown University with a degree in Organizational Management. Mr. Hollenbeck has been a past adjunct instructor at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith where he taught Criminal Justice and Introduction to Criminology. He has been a Law Enforcement Officer for over thirty nine years. He started his career with the Dallas Police Department where he served in the Patrol Division and then transferred to Dallas SWAT team for 8 years.

He moved back home and went to work for the Sebastian County Sheriff Department where he has assignments in patrol, detective, and Captain over the Criminal Investigative Division as well as Swat team leader. He was elected Sheriff in 2010 and served as Sheriff until 2018. Bill has worked on several federal and state task forces, including assignments with U.S. Marshal Service, DEA and the FBI. He had been with the Sheriff’s Department for 27 years until retirement as Sheriff. Hollenbeck is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy.

After retiring as Sheriff Mr. Hollenbeck was hired as the first Director of Security for the Fort Smith Public Schools. Since then Bill worked to transition the security team to a fully certified law enforcement agency, one of the first in the state. The Fort Smith Public Schools Police Department was established July of 2019 and Bill serves as the Chief of Police.

Hollenbeck is involved in several civic groups and sat on several nonprofit boards in his community. He is the past Legislative Chair and President for the Arkansas Sheriff’s Association as well as a member of the Executive Board. As Sheriff Hollenbeck was honored as the Northwest Arkansas Officer of the Year by Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. Bill enjoys hunting, fishing and the outdoors. He is married to his wife Dr. Karen Hollenbeck and they have five children and two grand children.