ELBERTA, Ala. — New Police Chief Mickey Pledger said it’s a change going from federal law enforcement to local law enforcement, but he is settling in without difficulty. He has been on the job one week and one day and last week spent three days at a Chiefs Conference.

“It’s a great town to work in,” Pledger said this week of his new employer, the Town of Elberta.

Pledger, 54, was sworn in on Aug. 3, just days after retiring as resident agent of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office in Mobile.

Pledger was a Special Agent for U.S. Customs and worked out of the Tallahassee, Fla., office for 16 years.

A graduate of Jacksonville State University with a degree in criminal justice, Pledger was a second lieutenant in the Army, serving as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne. After getting out of active military service, Pledger joined the Birmingham Police Department while serving in the Army Reserve.

In 1980 he was called back into active military duty. He served as a company commander at the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. He was also with the U.S. Army Chemical School at Fort McClellan, Ala. He was in the invasion of Grenada in 1983 and released from active duty in 1986.

Pledger’s strong military background is one reason Mayor Marvin Williams said Pledger was “head and shoulders above the other candidates” the town considered over the past two months.

“He fits what Elberta is about,” Williams said this week of Pledger, who was approved unanimously by the Elberta Town Council.

“He’s really an outstanding individual and a real asset to our department. He is very concerned about the citizens and making Elberta a better place to live.”

Pledger and his wife have been married for 28 years and have two children. According to Williams, the Pledgers will live in Spanish Fort.

Pledger succeeds Gary Peaden, who resigned as police chief at the end of May. Peaden served as police chief for four years.