RINCON — The Rincon Police Department is ready for what lies ahead. Rincon's rapid growth in recent years carries with it the need for smart policing and Chief Jonathan Murrell is up to the challenge.

Murrell was named interim chief in 2019 and landed the job on a permanent basis a few months later in 2020. He faced several challenges with staffing initially but has hired four officers this year. The department remains 2 1/2 people short. 

A K-9 is set to retire this year and the department is waiting on a replacement to become available. K-9s perform drug sweeps at traffic stops and are also deployed to assist other agencies tracking suspects.

Murrell said COVID 19 virus continues to impact how his officers do their jobs. At this point in the pandemic, however, they are beginning to scale back somewhat on their precautions and COVID protocols.

The chief said city court has returned to a fairly normal schedule instead of people having to stand outside in line. The department is back to full traffic enforcement, he added, saying that stops were made for only serious infractions during the peak of the pandemic.

Murrell said calls run the gamut but that violent crimes have been much fewer recently, although there have been some that have stood out. He said he believes that largely stems from the rapid growth Rincon is seeing.

Murrell said Rincon had fewer than five shootings during his first 10 years with the department. It has had three since November and Murrell said none of them were random. They were connected with a robbery, drugs or domestic violence.

Most of the forensics for local cases are sent out to the local GBI offices. The Criminal Investigation Division handles homicides or even misdemeanors where an identity is needed. 

Murrell said, "They work general crimes, property crimes, violent crimes, drug investigations. They do the whole nine yards."

Like many surrounding first responders, Rincon officers went to the aid of Bryan County after a recent devastating tornado. They got a call from Effingham Emergency Management, asking if it could use its light towers on the scene in Bryan County. By 9:30 that night, they were on their way. 

They set up their lights and offered other help but with teams from Chatham, Effingham and other counties, they didn't need any other assistance at that time. Two officers stayed on that evening to help since they had previously worked for the City of Pembroke.

Occasionally, police have to deal with very intense situations where the outcome can literally be life or death. They got a call about a male in the road holding a gun with a female arguing with him. It turned out the woman was his mother who was trying to talk him into putting his gun down. Murrell said the officers were smart about how they handled the call, parking away from the scene and walking up, announcing themselves, and then having to duck as shots were fired. 

One of the officers, with no prior negotiation training, talked with the gunman for an hour, finally persuading the subject to surrender the gun. The male was only 13 or 14 years old.

The chief said his department has a good relationship with the Mayor Ken Lee and the Rincon City Council, and has a deep appreciation of the relationships they maintain with other law enforcement agencies throughout the area.

Murrell said the department is beginning to get back to community programs like Coffee with a Cop and others. One new program will help to train civilians on active-attack situations. It will include learning how to treat wounds in the field. He said rollout of the program involved city employees and he wants to take it into churches and local businesses.

The popular Citizens Police Academy will also start back later this year. They are also planning on classes about how to avoid getting scammed.

Murrell's big concern going into the next several years is managing the city's exploding growth. He said he's afraid the city might end up like a neighboring city whose growth came so quickly that it caught them unaware. 

He said, "Of course, nobody knows how fast our growth is going to come. If it comes overnight like it did over there, we could be in trouble."

He added that his department and the city council are mindful of that possibility as they plan and go forward.