Sheriff Causey, the son of the late Sidney Artie Causey, Sr., and Margaret Sneeden Causey, who grew up in the Seagate Community of New Hanover County, is a native of the county and was educated in the public schools of the county.

Sheriff Causey was raised in Carolina Beach where he worked as a beach lifeguard for four years during summers off from high school. Upon graduation from New Hanover High School he worked for Donald Sneeden Construction Company performing survey work from 1965 to 1970. He started his law enforcement career in 1970 when he went to work for the Carolina Beach Police Department, where he was employed until 1973 when he transferred to the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office working for the late Sheriff H.G. Grohman. Sheriff Causey left the Sheriffs Office in 1978 to go to work for the New Hanover County Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board as a County ABC Officer from 1979 until 1986. In 1986 he returned to the Sheriffs Office -having been specifically hired by former Sheriff Joseph McQueen, Jr., to command the Sheriff's Office Vice and Narcotics unit and to spearhead an increased emphasis on enforcement of narcotics laws in the County.

Throughout his thirty-nine years in law enforcement, Sheriff Causey gained invaluable experience in patrol, routine criminal investigations, juvenile investigations, traffic law enforcement, and vice and narcotics investigations. He has been the commander of the City-County Vice and Narcotics Unit since its inception.  Sheriff Causey oversees the day-to-day administration of a Office of approximately 400 employees and an annual operating budget of approximately 33.7 million dollars.

Sheriff Causey, as commander of the City-County Vice and Narcotics Unit, has saved the taxpayers of both New Hanover County and the City of Wilmington millions of dollars through his innovative and aggressive use of federal laws allowing the seizure of drug dealers' assets gained from illicit drug sales and money laundering. The money gained from this program has allowed New Hanover County and Wilmington to enhance their joint law enforcement capabilities without having to significantly raise taxes. During his tenure, the City-County Vice and Narcotics Unit has arrested and successfully prosecuted over seven thousand individuals on various drug charges in New Hanover County.

Sheriff Causey has received over three thousand two hundred hours of law enforcement training sponsored by local, state, and federal agencies. He has been personally involved in over four thousand arrests and has twice been awarded "Officer of the Year Awards" from various local service organizations. He is past president of the New Hanover County Law Enforcement Officers' Association. Sheriff Causey is also a member of the National Drug Enforcement Officers' Association, a group which requires its membership to attend and complete the Drug Unit Commanders' Academy in Quantico, Virginia, sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. 

Based upon both his training and experience, Sheriff Causey has been awarded the Advanced Law Enforcement Certificate by both the North Carolina Criminal Justice Training and Standards Council and the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association Education and Training Standards Commission.

Sheriff Causey is married to India Carter Causey and they have two grown children - Brian, who resides in Wilmington, and Martha of Raleigh. Sheriff Causey and his wife, India are both active members of the First Baptist Church and have been intimately involved in the church's extensive mission work.