Interim Chief Robert W. “Rob” Bryan didn’t pass up an opportunity to talk about the Statesboro Police Department’s current staffing levels, community relations in a turbulent time or the pending arrival of body-worn cameras while he shared a glimpse into the department’s past.

Bryan, whose continuing rank is now deputy chief, has served one year so far in the interim role as Statesboro’s chief of police, out of 18 years with the department in roles including patrol officer, detective, canine handler and  a progression of supervisory ranks.  He was featured speaker Monday at the Bulloch County Historical Society’s monthly meeting.

“Keeping a more in-depth history of the department is something that, over the years, I don’t feel that we’ve done as well as we could have,” Bryan said.

He was accompanied by Advanced Patrol Officer Terrell Lewis, who is working with a team designing a new website for the department. As part of that, Lewis is collecting historical materials on the department, and Bryan asked the public’s assistance.

Oldest SPD photo?

The Bulloch County Historical Society had helped the SPD with a photograph said to date from 1904. At that time, Statesboro apparently had a small police department made up of large men. Nicknamed “the Big Five,” the officers were said to weigh, together, more than 1,400 pounds.

Lee Roundtree donated the photograph, from the estate of Francis Floyd Carmen, to the police department last year. Bryan thanked the Historical Society for verifying the photo’s provenance and having it restored to museum quality.  A framed copy now hangs in the lobby of the department’s headquarters.

The little brass plaque gives the men’s weights, but not some of their first names. They are identified as Police Chief James Morgan Mitchell and other officers John Mitchell, Castinado, Kendricks and Watson.

“This is really the first bit of history of the police department, and the oldest piece, that I know exists,” Bryan said.

He is looking for a rumored photo of Mitchell with his nightstick – and a shot glass on his desk.

Past police stations and patrol cars were also part of Bryan’s slide show.

From 1911 until 1976, the Statesboro police headquarters was a very small building on the corner of Siebald and Courtland Streets, across from the Bulloch County Courthouse. In 1976 the department moved to a then-new complex at the intersection of South College and Grady Streets.

“Let me tell you, when we moved in 2006, we were way past the lifespan of that building for the size of our department,” Bryan said.

He praised the committee that designed the current SPD headquarters at 25 W. Grady Street for foresight.  The building has a crime lab large enough to process a car indoors, as well as an outdoor lab area. After 10 years in use, the “state of the art” building still has unused office space to allow for adding personnel, Bryan said.

A list of chiefs

A list of Statesboro’s chiefs of police gave him an opening to talk about recent developments. The list begins with James M. Mitchell as the first chief, with the date 1912. But the 1904 “Big Five” photo shows the department in existence, with Mitchell apparently the chief. Bryan noted that other dates in the list are vague.

Most chiefs are listed by the year they became chief, including 2001 for Stan York who was chief until 2010. The city then made an organizational change, replacing the police chief job with a public safety director, Wendell Turner, over both the fire and police departments. After Turner’s departure last fall, City Council restored the police chief position, and Bryan became interim chief.

However, J.R. Holloway, who had already been the department’s first African-American detective, division commander and assistant chief, served as police commander, a previously unused title, in 2010 and 2011. Earlier this year, at the urging of Bryan and others in the department, City Council unanimously bestowed the title “retired police chief” on Holloway.

Although after-the-fact, Bryan said, he believes this was the right thing to do because Holloway functioned as the chief while commander.

“To this day, J.R. is still very involved in the police department,” Bryan said. “There’s not a day that goes by that the phone can’t be picked up and he will be right there, not only for the police department but for all the citizens of Statesboro and Bulloch County.”

The slides also included a December 1968 photo showing Nathan Tremble Jr., the Statesboro Police Department’s first black officer. Milestones in the department’s diversity are an important part of its history, Bryan said.

Another circa 1968 photo shows Sgt. Clinton Tucker, Statesboro’s first motorcycle cop. The department still maintains one motorcycle and has various officers certified to ride it.

Bryan’s discussion of special units led to his comments on a continuing shortage of officers and efforts to overcome it. The special units include the Emergency Response Team, around since the early 1990s; the Crime Suppression Team, which is a joint venture with the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia Southern University police; and the SPD K-9 team, currently consisting of “four-legged officer” Rio and his handler, Advanced Patrol Officer Kyle Briley.

Manpower shortage

Another special unit that has existed off and on for years, the bicycle patrol, was reinstated in the last six months.  This patrol is a collateral assignment for officers who have other duties.

“The guys and gals have got the bikes assigned to them,” Bryan said. “Unfortunately, you’re not seeing them as much as I would like for them to be seen. The reason for that is our manpower shortage.”

He left the Historical Society meeting for the swearing-in of three new officers, and six were scheduled to leave for the academy Thursday, the largest class the SPD has sent in recent memory.

Earlier this year, Bryan got City Council’s approval to create an SPD Professional Standards Office, headed by a sergeant, to help address the officer shortage.

“So I have to take my hat off to Sgt. Jake Saxon, who is filling that role in actively recruiting and doing background checks to get these officers in and try to build our numbers back to where they should be,” Bryan said.

Authorized to employ 74 sworn officers, the department has 69 with the new hires, and so has five remaining vacancies, he said. But recruits spend three months at the academy followed by three months of field training in Statesboro. Subtracting officers now in these phases, the department has 56 who can patrol on their own, he said.

Community outreach

Bryan also talked about ongoing community relations efforts, including the Youth Citizens Police Academy, started two years ago; the regular Citizens Police Academy, which goes back about five years and has just started a new season, and the recently completed first Clergy Citizens Police Academy. All are designed to show civilians what being a police officer is like.

“The more understanding that we have between the community and law enforcement is that good prevention that’s going to keep us from becoming a Ferguson or a Baltimore, or things that have happened in New York, Charlotte,” he said.

Body-worn cameras were authorized in the city budget last year. The server that will make the system work has arrived, and the cameras will be shipped when the server is ready, Bryan said.

“It’s not the know-all, be-all and end all,” he said. “Cameras sometimes do not work. … But it’s just another layer that we put in place also to show more accountability to our citizens.”

Herald reporter Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.