North Charleston Police Chief Greg Gomes never really planned on being the department’s chief, he told the Charleston City Paper April 24.
But when now-Mayor Reggie Burgess — the former chief — announced his bid for the city’s top office, he simultaneously announced his retirement as chief of one of the largest police forces in the Palmetto State.
And that’s when Gomes stepped up and agreed to become chief, despite an intent to step down and retire as assistant police chief when longtime North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey left office in November. When Burgess eventually won the election, he asked Gomes to remain in the role to help the city navigate through one of the most impactful transitions it has ever seen, Gomes said.
The City Paper sat down with Gomes to discuss how he ended up in the chair he’s in now, how the last year as chief has panned out and what his hopes are for the future of the department he’s been with his whole career.
City Paper: So you’ve only been in this position for just under a year, was this always the plan?
Greg Gomes: I always envisioned myself leaving when Summey left. I kind of thought Burgess would leave then, too. I never had aspirations to be the chief, but I will say I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought, come January, or November, anybody other than Reggie might have gone in a different direction. And I thought, whoever wins would have enough going on without having an adversarial police chief, so I made it clear that whoever won, I would gladly step out of the way to let them bring in their administration and whoever they wanted to be chief. So I thought, all right, I’ll be out of here by January. But, of course, Reggie wins, and he and I had a talk, and I said, “I’m going to hang around a while, I’ll help get you settled, but I’m not the forever guy.” I’m just taking it one month at a time.
My boys are seniors in high school, and they’re going off to college, and they’re going to play baseball. I just want a little more time for that. And being the chief in North Charleston — it’s a beast. … This is the toughest police department in the state of South Carolina to be the chief of, bar none. It’s just the uniqueness of North Charleston.
CP: Break that down a little bit. What makes North Charleston so unique and such a beast to work for?
GG: Generally, we’re the No. 1 reporter of crime in the state — going back and forth with Columbia. Then, you have a very diverse community, and you have a lot of things you have to understand. The expectations are very different from community to community, so you have to understand the uniqueness of each community and what they individually demand. Law enforcement is only as effective as the citizens allow us to be. If you don’t have a relationship with the communities you’re serving, you’re not going to be successful. What they may want in Union Heights might be very different from what Coosaw Creek wants, so you have to tailor your policing to what they want.
Then, you have got to have relationships with the citizens and the community leaders of North Charleston. They will really impact a lot of your success, and they have got to trust you. When they have concerns, they have to feel like they can talk to you. And all of that takes a lot of time and dedication.
CP: What do you think have been the most significant steps you’ve taken in this position in the last year?
GG: First, the profession is short across the state. I think the last number I saw was 6,000 positions short in South Carolina. Inevitably what that causes is supply and demand — the price of police officers is continuing to go up. I was able, with the support of council and Mayor Burgess, to get all of our officers a substantial raise to remain competitive.
Second, we’re about to cut the ribbon on our new state-of-the-art training facility. It’s probably the nicest facility in the state and will give us the ability to really train our officers, both incoming and current, in one location.
CP: So you said you were taking this one month at a time, but was there anything you set in motion that you hope your successor continues to work on after you’ve left?
GG: I think a lot of what I’ve done has been a continuation of what Chief Burgess did. I hope whoever comes after me continues to understand the value of the relationships you have with community leaders in the city. Historically, we get so laser-focused on enforcement and reducing crime, we do it at the expense of the relationships with the community. It’s important for whoever takes over to understand there’s a balance there. You have to find the balance between these two things, and ultimately it comes through communication.
If you’re having a problem in a neighborhood, you go and let them know, “Hey, here’s the problem, and here’s what we’re thinking we’re going to do.” If you explain it to them, you get buy-in. Historically, if we had an issue, these people would just see all this police descend on their community. There was no conversation. That’s something that’s really important the next person does.
CP: I’m sure it helps that Mayor Burgess remained so close, physically, with the police department.
GG: Exactly. That’s what people told me when I first got the job. They’d ask, “Are you nervous about taking over?” and I would say, “I’m not nervous; he’s not going anywhere, and I’ve seen the blueprint for what made him successful.” If I screwed this up, it was really on me. All the tools were there and he was only ever a phone call away.
CP: Let’s take it back a bit — you’ve been here 30 years. How has the department changed since you arrived?
GG: The department and the city have grown tremendously over the years. But I still think we police like a small town. The officers know the citizens, the citizens know the officers. Someone not from this area, they find it amazing that anyone can just talk to the chief of police. We’re all so accessible. Even though we’ve grown we’ve continued to have this very personable approach to policing.
Over the last 30 years, I’ve seen so many ups and downs in this department. Obviously, we’ve had some pretty high-profile incidents over the years, too, and you can see so clearly how each one of these things helped to reshape the agency. The No. 1 thing is that people still call, people still need us.
I don’t have a bad thing to say. It’s just been an amazing ride, and I’m so grateful for all the people that have helped me along the way.
CP: What do you think is next for the department once you’ve moved on?
GG: I think they should stick with someone who understands this community — someone that’s local. … He’s going to get someone who understands this community, someone who has some sort of a relationship with the people here. As the chief of North Charleston, you’re intimately involved at the street level. If you bring someone that has no relationship or no knowledge, it would be difficult.
If anyone is going to pick the right chief, it’s Mayor Burgess. He’s just a great guy, and I mean, he was my school resource officer. He’s literally helped raise me, so you want to talk about someone who’s in the community — there he is.
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