Discover how Southern Hospitality mingles with law enforcement in our captivating chat with Chief Doug Wright, Police Chief in the charming town of Summerville. Chief Wright's tireless dedication and unique perspective on the changing face of law enforcement provide a fresh insight into the community’s growth, its unique challenges, and the role he plays in maintaining its strong character. From his early days in the Marine Corps Reserves to his current position as Police Chief, Wright's journey is an inspiring narrative of community building, personal growth, and adaptability.
Have you ever wondered how the rapid growth of a town can impact the law enforcement's approach? Summerville's story is a fascinating example. With its roads straining under the burgeoning population, the town presents a unique set of challenges that Chief Wright navigates. Listen as he shares his experiences with a town that attracts people of all ages and covers a quarter of a million people in its zip codes. Wright’s insights on how the police force has evolved to handle the influx of people is a testament to his commitment, leadership, and vision.
But this episode is more than just a deep dive into the complex dynamics of a growing town. It’s also a candid discussion on how social media has transformed law enforcement, and how they're meeting the challenge of adapting to the influence of the newest generation. In a finale that puts a spotlight on leadership, Chief Wright shares how leading with equity and respect, and investing in personnel has allowed the Summerville Police Department to thrive. Get ready to be inspired by a leader who is truly making a difference.
Thank you for listening! Please contact me if I can ever be of service:
Roni Haskell
www.thatSCrealestatechick.com
843.297.1935
roni.haskell@kw.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, got it All right.
You want me to do theintroduction at the end there,
right?
All right, All right.
Well, I'm glad that you're here.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, you bet.
So today I'm joined by ChiefDoug Wright and you are with the
town of Somerville.
(00:20):
What?
the reason that I've got you onthe podcast today is because
you're a.
You are a town leader.
You've been integrated in thistown.
You've watched it grow.
You've seen some challenges,I'm sure, along the way, So
we're going to talk about all ofthat today.
What builds a strong communityto you, in your opinion?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
The people, yeah, the people 100%.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, so how does, how do you integrate the police
influence into the community tostrengthen it and the presence?
And of course we understand thesafety aspect of it, but talk
to us more about really theinfluence that the police
department can have.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So we have to be a replica of our population and
who we please, so we.
Our challenge has been in thisprofession to get good people
And we've been very blessed tobe in the town of Somerville
because we're we're actually anattraction for a lot of people
that are coming from afar tomove here.
(01:26):
So obviously we are very heavilyinvolved in the community here
as a police department, verycommunity oriented, and we make
it a point to go out of our wayto shake hands, say hello, hold
doors for people, and thatSouthern hospitality, as you say
, as you would say, is alive andwell here.
So we like to extend that to,through our police officers, to
(01:49):
the community.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
You've been integrated in this neighbor, in
this community, for a long time.
When did you join the policeforce here?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I came here in 1997.
I actually I'm a James Allenboy.
I grew up over there So Ialways tell people they laugh.
But the only time I ever cameto Somerville was to lose in
sports A three letter athlete.
So I always came to Somervilleas a long back then it was
considered a long ride.
I 26 was smaller.
I was a two lane road cominginto Somerville and you drove to
(02:16):
this football stadium that'snestled in between the trees And
then all of a sudden, just allthese people come out of the
woodwork to watch the sportshere And then it was a long ride
home And presumably that youall lost Yes.
Yes, Usually that was the case,In fact almost always, But I
always.
What I admired about Somervillethen that is still the same now
(02:38):
is how tranquil it is.
But also I always looked at howclean it was.
The grass is cut, The trash isnot on the street A lot of the
things that you want to see whenyou think of a picture book
type neighborhood town.
That's what Somerville is.
So I hated leaving the saltwater, being down in Charleston
(03:00):
and being and smelling that saltthere and the fluff mud.
But coming up here you have thepine trees.
The Azea is obviously just.
It's just a great place.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
So low country by nature, born and bred in the low
country.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Born in New Jersey, but I don't hold it against you.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Well, I sell a lot of real estate to people from
Northern states, and they aremigrating here, But there is.
you describe perfectly thesetting for which people love to
migrate here because of just acouple of weeks ago I had some
friends and some clients comingin from Queens, new York, and
they said the same thing, likedon't hold it against me.
(03:40):
But quite frankly, this is.
there's been a lot of growthwithin the Dorchester County
area, but specifically town ofSomerville.
I looked back into this, intothe census.
I was selling real estate inSomerville exclusively, even in
2010.
And but I looked back into thepopulation.
We had 43,400 residents inSomerville at the time And then
(04:04):
I looked at 2020 and we had50,900.
So that's a 15% growth in thetown of Somerville within a 10
year span.
What challenges have you beenfaced with with that kind of
growth?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So it's good, it's actually a good question.
I'll tell you why because We asa town are trying to, as the
town government are trying tokeep it that small town, feel
tranquil.
You know, southern town if youwill.
But we have to grow at timesand we're doing that.
And There's a little bit ofunfortunateness here and that is
(04:43):
the roads weren't built to towithstand the amount of
population we're seeing rightnow.
So we're a little bit behind onthe on the transportation part
of it.
But, um, the people here, ithink for the most part we're
kind of pessimistic, if you will, about people coming from so
many places to move here.
But I think that's changingbecause what used to be an older
(05:05):
population in the town ofsummerville has now become a
much younger generation ofpeople who are living here, and
so that it's very attractive tocome here because it's safe.
Um, we have great parks, uh,great schooling in district, two
schools.
Obviously, brookley county hasgood schools too and, um, you
know What I tell people, eventhough we're over, we're
(05:26):
probably in the mid 50 range ofpopulation right now.
You know, we police about aquarter of a million people
because, um, 29483 is asummerville zip code, it's the
most populous zip code in southcarolina And I believe 29485 is
the third most populous.
So there's four summerville zipcodes.
Um, and we're policing thosepeople because they're coming
(05:47):
here to eat, they're coming hereto to shop, they're coming here
to to go to their, theirworship centers And, uh, so we
we want to keep all those peoplesafe and that's policing.
Fire, we're really big onpublic safety here in
summerville.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
And we have a lot within the town of summerville
that attracts people.
You were talking about thedowntown area and Just the
landscaping, but we have tons offestivals and there it seems
like there is dream.
Is is a wonderful um communityresource that really does Pull
it.
It draws people into thedowntown Um summerville area,
(06:18):
which with that, i would imagine, brings its own levels of
challenges and such that y'allface.
But you, what really umImpresses me is how Your it's
not just police enforcement.
You guys do a lot of servicewithin the community outside of
Just the interactions of your Umlaw enforcement details, right.
(06:42):
So tell us about that.
How do, how do you pull yourteam Uh over into the service
side?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So we have, um, obviously, a lot of uniform
officers, um, but they'reassigned to different tasks.
Obviously, we have officersassigned to patrol, who patrol
on your streets.
They're responding to calls forservice.
We have a traffic unit thatobviously is is out enforcing
and handling traffic collisionsand whatnot.
We have several different unitswithin the agency, but our um,
(07:09):
our hospitality team, as we callit.
We sent them up two years ago,um, out of hospitality tax and
we have officers assigned tothis, this team, there's five of
them And basically what they dois they they police and help
the merchants in town.
So They've been very helpfulwhen it comes to hit dealing
with shoplifters or panhandlersOr different things like that.
(07:31):
But what they also do very wellas they attend a lot of
community functions So, uh,community crime watch meetings.
Obviously, you're talking aboutthe different festivals and
different things.
We have a, uh, we created or werepurposed a vehicle, a bread
truck, and made a paddy wagonwhich is an ice cream truck, and
so we take that through theneighborhoods and give away free
ice cream to the kids, play thesiren and the music and Um, so
(07:53):
we do a lot of cool things likethat.
But, yeah, we're very involvedwith the schools, um, a lot of
their programs, a lot of thechurch programs around.
We we're constantly Uh involvedand engaged with that way.
Uh, we also have a programthat's called the ddd project.
We stood up with the coastalcrisis chaplaincy program and,
uh, basically it's a grassrootseffort for us to break down the
(08:13):
the walls between different uhraces and ethnicities, um, in
law enforcement with thecommunity.
So that's I'm really huge thatwe're doing too.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
So one thing I was recognizing, because you've got
stats that are on your websitefor public reading and knowledge
Um, even though the town ofsummerville has seen
considerable growth in the last10 years um, i was quite
impressed that really the, the,the level of um Fraud yeah, well
(08:43):
, it's just fraud and all allthe the law Enforcement that
y'all are having to do it reallyhasn't seen at the same kind of
level of growth that thepopulation has.
So I guess what I'm saying isthe population continues to grow
in the town, but your team mustbe doing a fantastic job
because the numbers have itgrowing.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
So one thing I've been very Um outspoken about in
my time here is is aboutproactive policing And there's a
way to be proactive and do itright where you're not um overly
aggressive but you could sendthe message through education
and enforcement.
So we do give second chanceshere as far as people who are
(09:25):
doing wrong, depending on whatit is.
But we are very proactive inthe quality of life type crimes,
because we feel like you know,obviously the broken windows
theory is if you walk past apiece of trash and you don't
pick it up, that you justacknowledge that piece of trash
is okay to be there.
So it's.
The same goes if I have apanhandler or someone who's
public drunkenness.
Those are the quality of lifetype issues that, if we take
(09:48):
care of, people feel morecomfortable and have more pride
in the town that they live in.
So the proactive policing,instead of being reactive and
just responding to the callsafter they happen, we wanna be
out there and be seen and dowhat we need to do.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
And the community involvement in your efforts I
think is outstanding withinSomerville as well, because as a
community I do feel like peopletake great pride in where they
live, not just the people thathave lived here for their whole
lives.
You know, it's a generationalkind of community.
There's a lot of families thatthey've lived here.
(10:23):
Their children, grandchildren,still continue to live in this.
You know small town USA, so tospeak.
But we're talking about earlierthe attraction for people
moving here from out of stateand they too are coming here and
continuing to take pride Is myperception.
Would you agree with that?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Oh, yeah, in fact I was with the police chief of
Miami police department.
He actually retired two yearsago, this police chief.
I was with him the other dayand he said that he has heard
nothing but good things.
I mean, this is Miami policechief telling us I've heard
nothing but good things aboutSomerville.
That's the place to move to.
You know, it was veryimpressive that we had that.
(11:00):
We were on the map with him Andso you know, having said that,
i think everybody's kind ofclosing their eyes and putting
their finger on the map and it'sjust ending up right here in
the Charleston metropolitan area.
And what a lot of peopleunderstand is they've said that
Charleston will be the size ofJacksonville within 20 years,
(11:21):
and I think that was five yearsago.
Wow.
And then they said let's saythey untitled sources that
Somerville would actually becomethe epicenter of the low
country.
So what you think about is themoratorium and the different
things that are going down inthe Charleston is nowhere else
to build And unless you go toRavenel or Allendall,
mcclellanville area, right,johns Island maybe, but
(11:41):
everything's moving up here, youobviously have the moving up
towards Ridgeville in theSomerville area.
You have Volvo up there.
You know they're widening thehighway for that and different
things are doing there.
They have Walmart'sdistribution center up the road,
so if they're saying that thisis a very good place for people
to employ people, then obviouslythey know how hard South
Kilinians work.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
So you were talking just a while ago about the Miami
police chief coming up here.
I just was in Miami actuallyearlier this week.
I get to do some travels.
Let's get into a personal lifeof chief for a minute.
So do you get to travel withyour family much?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I used to do it a lot .
So I used to teach.
I was considered a subjectmatter expert for criminal
interdiction.
So I traveled around the entirecountry for a long time as a
side gig while being a policeofficer here.
So I was able to take my wifeand then my young kids with me
on some of those differentthings.
(12:39):
But you know what?
I'm one of those people thatdoesn't use sick leave, don't
use annual leave.
I'm always here.
I mean, I know there's times atthe end of the year I have to
burn my leave because I haven'tused it.
I just love coming to workevery day.
But yeah, my hope is that onetime, when I eventually do
retire, I'll actually get to dosome of those things.
But my wife was a professor tocall to Charles and so we did
(13:02):
some study abroad for a coupleof years And that was really
interesting because I got to gowith the students and my wife
and we got to go to Europe andAfrica and different things like
that.
So that was cool.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
So when you travel, do you stay guarded?
Your eyes always are out right.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
It's a cop thing.
People think we're kidding whenwe say that.
But when we walk into arestaurant, we always sit where
we can see the door, and it'sthe same thing when we're off
duty.
The things you see and thethings you do you're always
watching.
Your eyes appeal, you're peoplewatching.
You're looking for bulges onpeople's clothing.
I mean the things that you'rejust trained to do and you do it
(13:40):
.
You take it with you.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yes, yes, let's.
you talked a little bit aboutsome of your past experience,
but what I've read about you andyou can tell me if this is
correct K9 unit you've beeninvolved with Marines for six
years.
graduated of the FBI NationalAcademy You've got quite a
(14:01):
accomplishment under your belt.
I'm not done.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Yet I'm actually.
I have two and a half classesleft for my masters And just to
tell you how I mean, I was oneof those kids that I had to
fight really hard in school tohave to make passing grades.
I fought really hard.
I was like I said, i was anathlete so I had to stay
academically eligible.
So it was really important tome.
That was all I had in highschool was my life with sports.
(14:24):
So I wrestled, i playedfootball and track.
I was in chorus too.
But you know, I ended up goingin the Marine Corps.
I couldn't get the SAT score Iwanted And I went in the Marine
Corps reserves, worked atCharleston County Sheriff's
Office as an animal controlofficer, then became a police
officer And, um, i had no.
I started an associate's degree.
It took me 17 years to finishthat Went to the FBI Academy and
(14:47):
came back and said you knowwhat I could do this?
So I went to my bachelor's andnow I'm at Liberty University
finishing up a master's degreein executive leadership.
So I hope to be done this year.
Fantastic, but 49 years old, andit's never too late to try to
better yourself, right?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
You never stop learning and growing.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
But as a parent of some teenage girls, you've just
given me hope, because onedoesn't make all the best grades
and so, but you've just given,you've planted a seed of hope
there that even though gradesdon't they're not everything I
mean, it does matter.
but you have paid the path forwhere you are today because of
(15:26):
your diligence and your hardwork.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Listen, i gotta tell you something like this that my
only motivation was first, iwanted to be a police chief.
so I said I have to have amaster's degree.
Well, i think, since my towncouncil had seen me continually
educate myself, they gave me thepass on that because I was
halfway through my degree then.
But to me, just to be able tosay you've accomplished that,
(15:47):
something you can never takeaway.
And we have a lot of policeofficers who have a lot of
college and haven't finished.
So we're trying to incentivizethem by having, if you have a
different degree or if you havemilitary service, we will pay
you a stipend for having adifferent level of degree, and
it's to incentivize that?
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Who was one of your mentors?
Who would you say is a mentor,and why?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
My dad.
I know everybody's gonna saytheir parent, but my dad was a
police officer.
He was a Marine.
I knew at the age a singledigit age that I was gonna be a
US Marine and I was gonna be acop.
Now my dad was a cop, heretired as a cop And my entire
career was really I wanted tofollow in his footsteps And so
he's first Sheriff Al Cannonfrom Charleston County Sheriff's
(16:35):
Office, retired.
I always looked up to himbecause he really was able to
bring police departments andagencies together and to
collaborate.
There's a lot of people, butobviously my mentors in the
military, my wrestling andfootball coaches from high
school.
When you're in sports you're atpractice every day, especially
(16:56):
three-letter athlete.
You're never off.
You have summer.
In the summertime you're atpractice, but that's your dad
Actually.
They're there parenting youthrough your entire life when
your dad's not around becauseyou're there.
So that very powerful rolemodel for me was my coaches.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Nice.
So really it just goes to speak.
We don't know who we'reinfluencing.
Well, we are.
We're influencing everybodythat's around us every day, And
so we really have to take thatwith a lot of honor, but a lot
of make sure that we haveintegrity in everything that we
do as well.
Tell me a little bit more aboutyour dad.
(17:33):
What would you say is likenumber one key element of life
lessons that he taught you thatyou still carry?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
with you Self-discipline.
He was a drill instructor inthe Marine Corps, so I grew up
with that mentality And you wokeup on time, you made your bed.
You weren't late to anything,you were early.
If you're 15 minutes early orlate, just the way I dressed I
had to tuck my shirt in and weara belt, so I was got made fun
(18:00):
of and little coming up throughschool, Always had my hair
combed to the side.
All these other kids werehaving you know styles, but I
didn't know any different.
That's what I knew.
And I had to work for myallowance.
It was 45 cents a week And Imean the stuff that I had to do
And I had a brother and a sisteras well early in life.
(18:21):
So it's yeah, it's myself-discipline, i think, is
what's really in perseveranceand never quitting.
I've never quit anything.
It's why I'm finishing myschool at the age of 50, almost
as I just have an ethos in meabout you never quit.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, and you had made mention to me before that
you've got children that are now, or you've got two Marines.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, so I have one.
my oldest one is 23.
And he's just now getting outof the Marine Corps.
He is now working at a localsheriff's office, following in
my footsteps, i suppose.
My middle son is 21.
And he's.
He's a infantry Marine, and Ihave a 14 year old daughter who
is the apple of my eye.
She does no wrong.
(19:06):
Yeah, my wife hates it.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I do have a 14 year old and talk about influence
there, Social media, right, theinfluences of communication.
Today, with internet and socialmedia, it's vastly different,
not only for our teenagers butjust as a population as a whole.
What would you say would be achallenge that you have been,
(19:30):
that you've had to face from lawenforcement, you know from the
law enforcement side.
What would you say has been achallenge that the social media
has really posed on you and your?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
team The biggest thing with not dealing with
children, but dealing with lawenforcement.
Social media has really I'llput it.
I'll give you an exampleSomething like you saw happen in
Minnesota, where the gentlemanwas murdered by the police
(20:06):
officers And I say the old days,but you know, literally 15
years ago, you would read aboutthat in a paper, maybe two,
three, four days later if it wasin another state, or you may
never have heard of it all.
We were able to see thathappening in real time, i mean
within minutes.
It was being live broadcastedand simocasted around the world,
and so that is one thing we'rehaving to deal with now is real
(20:30):
time.
People live streaming theircrime in real time.
You know manifestos anddifferent things like that and
fulfilling their, whatever theircrime they're committing.
You know a lot of Snapchat, alot of this stuff.
But I'm gonna tell yousomething right now when it
comes to law enforcement Andsome may disagree with me if
(20:52):
you're some of the old timersout there Law enforcement is
smarter than they've ever beenbefore as a profession, and the
way you gotta look at it is thisway When we came up, you had to
go, you needed to fact checksomething.
You had to go check out a book.
There was no internet.
These kids today can hit Googleor Siri and they have answers
(21:14):
in seconds.
They researched everything theyreally do Now, whether it's
right or wrong, whatever they'regetting or where their sources
are, they're smarter thanthey've ever been.
So having these police officerscome in they understand
technology, they understand howto research, they understand how
to do these things withtechnical computers and phones
(21:35):
is important, because that's howwe're solving crime now is
through that electronicfootprint.
Whereas before you couldn'tteach an old dog new tricks I
mean it was a typewriter Whenyou put a MS-DOS computer in
front of them and they had totype all of a sudden it was very
difficult transition forprobably all professions, but
particularly for law enforcement, because we've always
handwritten everything.
(21:56):
So technology has been achallenge in the aspect that
people commit crimes and whatnot, but we're also solving the
crimes through the electronicfootprint.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Like most things, it's pros and cons, right, yeah,
just that.
I just kind of come in fullcircle.
back to the children.
but they are smarter, thisgeneration.
I mean I was just helping mymom clean out some bookcases in
the national geographic that wehad Cyclopedias Yes,
encyclopedias, those are oldcommodities, i mean, they just
(22:30):
don't, they're not applicableanymore to this generation.
but it's just interesting tosee the influence of this newest
generation coming up and howthat's gonna continue to affect,
from a social standpoint, fromlaw enforcement all the way to
real estate.
I don't it just it is influenceand we just have to learn how
to adapt to it.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Well, you're exactly right.
I remember the first time I wasbeing videotaped by somebody's
cell phone on a traffic stop Itwas probably 15, 20 years ago,
and I walked up and they'revideotaping me and I'm like,
yeah, i didn't know.
I kind of went vapor lock.
I didn't know what to do, but Iknew I couldn't do anything
about it because we were in apublic place.
but it was just very odd for meto see that.
(23:11):
But then I realized this isgonna be the norm.
So now we just tell them hey,we're recording you too.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So Yeah, just like every time I show a property, i
have to tell people before we goin.
Just assume that your owncamera and the sellers are
hearing everything that you'resaying.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Funny.
you say that I mean the house Ibought had cameras in it and I
walked in and I purposely wastalking to the cameras.
I was like I really want yourwasher and dryer.
Can we throw that into the deal?
And I actually did get thewasher and dryer in the deal.
So yeah, i really did that.
It was fun.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Oh good, Maybe I should try that.
I haven't tried that tactic.
I'm actually talking directlyto them.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I was pointing at it talking to us.
Yeah, This is what I want andthis is what.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I love that.
Well, good, we will have to tryit.
Well, thank you so much forjoining me today.
I think we've learned from adifferent viewpoint about our
town, a lot of the benefits thatSomerville has to offer for our
community and how integratedthe police force is here.
So thank you for your serviceand thank you for joining us
today.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
You're so sweet.
I appreciate it If I could sayone thing Yeah, please, if you
see Somerville police officers,say hello to them, force them
out of their comfort zone.
If they're not saying hello toyou, say hello to them.
We have some of the best peopleon the planet working here and
living here.
I encourage you, if you're notliving here, to look to live
here.
Certainly you'll be safe.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, let me on that note.
There was a recent.
I got a little distracted,let's say at a stop, signed it
and come to a complete stop.
The police officer had everyright to pull me over and she
did.
I had not really, i had neverknown her before, but she came
up, did her duty and I did walkaway with a traffic violation
(24:53):
ticket.
It's called coupon.
Well, i paid the sucker.
As soon as I could online Ijumped on, get it knocked out,
so you don't forget it right.
Next thing I know I see her inthe local coffee shop that our
friend Brad Mallard owns and Iwalked up to her and I said I
just wanted to really formallyintroduce myself to you and we
(25:13):
had a good, great conversationright there.
Really I was gonna pay fortheir coffee but they had
already gotten what they needed.
but since then I've seen her atthe Somerville farmers market.
I've seen her at differenttimes and now she'll give me a
big warm hug And she was doingher job right And there was no
(25:35):
fault in that.
I needed the friendly reminder.
Thankfully I got it in the formof a coupon and not a fender
bender, But that's the style ofcommunity that we live in.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Well, even you being brave to go up to her, i mean,
what a bigger person you arethan that's cool.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Well, it's saying hi.
It's saying you know, justhere's my name, you know, and
you're a community member, i'm acommunity member.
We get to both love on thistown.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
So Well, I'll take a quick story.
I don't know you're trying toend it.
There's two people who arecommunity members, who you all
know and I will not say theirnames that when they were
younger they had interactionswith me as a police officer.
It makes me feel old nowbecause they're now older and
they're community members andthey remind me all the time
about my interactions I had withthem when they were younger,
running the streets.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
So I bet you could tell some tales around this town
.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
You won't tell them tales, all right.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Well, you bet.
Thank you for joining us today.
Miss Love, do you have anythingyou'd like to add?
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah, i can, yeah, i can Do they familiar, i mean um.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
He was he's Charleston County.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Charleston City.
He was.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Charleston City.
Well, oh, he just oh yeah.
Yeah, let me out.
Yeah, So what he'll do is he'llgo in and plug this in.
So tell me about yourmentorship or the let me start
that You had made mention ofChief Reynolds and the influence
and mentorship that he had withyou.
(27:06):
Elaborate on that with me, withFubo.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
So Chief Reynolds was late Charleston Police Chief
who just passed away, lost hisbattle with cancer And he came
to us from Montgomery County,virginia I'm sorry, maryland
where he was a deputy chief andhe was only here for, i think,
five or seven years.
But what a tremendous impact hehad on not just his department
at the City of Charleston PoliceDepartment but other local law
(27:30):
enforcement agencies.
He really was a collaborator.
He was a someone who just whata great speaker and mentor and
he would show up at somethingand just bring both sides
together.
And so it's a tremendous lossto see someone so physically
strong and well fit, who was arunner, who was very athletic.
(27:52):
you know, fight the good fightand he passed away.
So obviously, on behalf ofSummerville Police Department in
town of Summerville, we'd liketo say we're sorry for the loss
of Chief Reynolds to his policedepartment and, most importantly
, his family, because he reallydid have a big impact on me and
the other law enforcementofficers in the low country.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Sure, throughout the low country.
he's been honored.
So thank you for bringing thatup.
Cool Sure, that's a goodquestion.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, all right, let me ask that That's good, well,
that's what we are, so I'll tellyou about it.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
All right, so tell me about the leadership within the
town of Summerville.
You're the chief.
You got a lot of cap to a lotof different personnel
underneath you.
How do you manage all thosedifferent personalities?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
It's actually my specialty.
My favorite thing to do is lead.
I don't even call it management, it's.
I lead people and I leadpersonalities, like you said.
So one personality is enticedby for intruistic, you know,
(28:59):
reward or whichever it is, youjust got to manage or lead that
person, knowing that, knowingthat you can't lead to the same
to the same people, or twodifferent people the same way.
We have the same mission andthe same cause, but the way you
do it might be a different waythan I would do it, as long as
we're not breaking the law orpolicy, you know, you just found
(29:21):
a different way to get it done.
So recognizing that, instead oftelling them, no, you're not
going to do it that way, you'regoing to do it this way, there's
more than a way to skin a cat.
So you know reallypersonalities is important
because in law enforcement a lotof type A personalities right,
you have people who feel likethey're authoritarian type
people.
They don't like to be toldthey're wrong.
(29:44):
They're they.
They've always got to be firstplace.
They hate to lose that type ofpersonality.
And there's outspoken, you knowextrovert and you also have
introvert of the same type ofpersonality.
So having everybody togetherfor a common goal and theme and
knowing that we're going toaccomplish the mission.
However gets done, as long asit's done right, is important
(30:06):
And the big thing that we'vereally.
You'll actually like this, thismetaphor, if you will.
But we don't like renters, wewant homeowners.
So what we talk about is youknow people who are invested in
the community.
They take or they they'repaying for their house or not
(30:26):
renting the house they're goingto take care of the house And
then you build a community in aneighborhood based off of that.
But if you have people who rentI'm not making fun of renters,
because there's really goodrenters out there But it's kind
of like when you're a kid inhigh school and your dad gives
your brand new Corvette, you'renot going to take care of the
brand new Corvette.
You know the kids you went toschool with to have new stuff
and they were trash in their carand doing like.
(30:48):
And then I went and worked hardall summer for four years and
bought a car.
I took better care of it.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
It's having equity in equity.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
That's the word.
Yeah, so that's what we do.
You can take that back to yourteam.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
They put equity, you know, into it.
It is, it's building this teamof ownership.
So it's not just as a leader,right, it's not just one person
on top and everybody else is on.
No, you as a leader.
what do they say?
We lead from the back right.
We kind of allow other peoplethe liberty to shine and to be
(31:22):
able.
I'm sure you have differentforms of leadership, even, you
know, over, over over each ofthe different components, even
over the different departments,and so leading those
personalities and just leadingthe people to their successes.
So that's what you do PreciselyThey get to put equity into
their ownership.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, we don't want people who are just going to be
on holdover.
They're here just for a shortperiod of time because they're
not going to be invested in thecommunity either.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
It's not just a job.
It's not just a job, it's, it'sthey're pouring themselves into
it Just as you have, yeah.
Just as you have.
Well thanks, you bet.
All right, yes, i, oh.
Okay, i am Ronnie Haskell,otherwise known as that SC real
(32:13):
estate chick, and this is forthe love of real estate podcast.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Some talent.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
I've done this a few times, but do you want me to go
ahead and do?
because I haven't I reallyhaven't introduced him, i want.
I'm joined today by the town ofSomerville leader.
Okay, all right, i'm joinedtoday by the town of
Somerville's wrong leader, chiefDoug Wright.
Thank you for being here today.
(32:45):
Good.
No this is awesome Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
This is really cool.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Well, you did a great job of using the platform to
deliver.
Thank you.
Yeah, got it All right.
You want me to do theintroduction at the end there,
right?
All right, All right.
Well, I'm glad that you're here.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, you bet.
So today I'm joined by ChiefDoug Wright and you are with the
town of Somerville.
(00:20):
What?
the reason that I've got you onthe podcast today is because
you're a.
You are a town leader.
You've been integrated in thistown.
You've watched it grow.
You've seen some challenges,I'm sure, along the way, So
we're going to talk about all ofthat today.
What builds a strong communityto you, in your opinion?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
The people, yeah, the people 100%.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, so how does, how do you integrate the police
influence into the community tostrengthen it and the presence?
And of course we understand thesafety aspect of it, but talk
to us more about really theinfluence that the police
department can have.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So we have to be a replica of our population and
who we please, so we.
Our challenge has been in thisprofession to get good people
And we've been very blessed tobe in the town of Somerville
because we're we're actually anattraction for a lot of people
that are coming from afar tomove here.
(01:26):
So obviously we are very heavilyinvolved in the community here
as a police department, verycommunity oriented, and we make
it a point to go out of our wayto shake hands, say hello, hold
doors for people, and thatSouthern hospitality, as you say
, as you would say, is alive andwell here.
So we like to extend that to,through our police officers, to
(01:49):
the community.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
You've been integrated in this neighbor, in
this community, for a long time.
When did you join the policeforce here?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I came here in 1997.
I actually I'm a James Allenboy.
I grew up over there So Ialways tell people they laugh.
But the only time I ever cameto Somerville was to lose in
sports A three letter athlete.
So I always came to Somervilleas a long back then it was
considered a long ride.
I 26 was smaller.
I was a two lane road cominginto Somerville and you drove to
(02:16):
this football stadium that'snestled in between the trees And
then all of a sudden, just allthese people come out of the
woodwork to watch the sportshere And then it was a long ride
home And presumably that youall lost Yes.
Yes, Usually that was the case,In fact almost always, But I
always.
What I admired about Somervillethen that is still the same now
(02:38):
is how tranquil it is.
But also I always looked at howclean it was.
The grass is cut, The trash isnot on the street A lot of the
things that you want to see whenyou think of a picture book
type neighborhood town.
That's what Somerville is.
So I hated leaving the saltwater, being down in Charleston
(03:00):
and being and smelling that saltthere and the fluff mud.
But coming up here you have thepine trees.
The Azea is obviously just.
It's just a great place.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
So low country by nature, born and bred in the low
country.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Born in New Jersey, but I don't hold it against you.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Well, I sell a lot of real estate to people from
Northern states, and they aremigrating here, But there is.
you describe perfectly thesetting for which people love to
migrate here because of just acouple of weeks ago I had some
friends and some clients comingin from Queens, new York, and
they said the same thing, likedon't hold it against me.
(03:40):
But quite frankly, this is.
there's been a lot of growthwithin the Dorchester County
area, but specifically town ofSomerville.
I looked back into this, intothe census.
I was selling real estate inSomerville exclusively, even in
2010.
And but I looked back into thepopulation.
We had 43,400 residents inSomerville at the time And then
(04:04):
I looked at 2020 and we had50,900.
So that's a 15% growth in thetown of Somerville within a 10
year span.
What challenges have you beenfaced with with that kind of
growth?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So it's good, it's actually a good question.
I'll tell you why because We asa town are trying to, as the
town government are trying tokeep it that small town, feel
tranquil.
You know, southern town if youwill.
But we have to grow at timesand we're doing that.
And There's a little bit ofunfortunateness here and that is
(04:43):
the roads weren't built to towithstand the amount of
population we're seeing rightnow.
So we're a little bit behind onthe on the transportation part
of it.
But, um, the people here, ithink for the most part we're
kind of pessimistic, if you will, about people coming from so
many places to move here.
But I think that's changingbecause what used to be an older
(05:05):
population in the town ofsummerville has now become a
much younger generation ofpeople who are living here, and
so that it's very attractive tocome here because it's safe.
Um, we have great parks, uh,great schooling in district, two
schools.
Obviously, brookley county hasgood schools too and, um, you
know What I tell people, eventhough we're over, we're
(05:26):
probably in the mid 50 range ofpopulation right now.
You know, we police about aquarter of a million people
because, um, 29483 is asummerville zip code, it's the
most populous zip code in southcarolina And I believe 29485 is
the third most populous.
So there's four summerville zipcodes.
Um, and we're policing thosepeople because they're coming
(05:47):
here to eat, they're coming hereto to shop, they're coming here
to to go to their, theirworship centers And, uh, so we
we want to keep all those peoplesafe and that's policing.
Fire, we're really big onpublic safety here in
summerville.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
And we have a lot within the town of summerville
that attracts people.
You were talking about thedowntown area and Just the
landscaping, but we have tons offestivals and there it seems
like there is dream.
Is is a wonderful um communityresource that really does Pull
it.
It draws people into thedowntown Um summerville area,
(06:18):
which with that, i would imagine, brings its own levels of
challenges and such that y'allface.
But you, what really umImpresses me is how Your it's
not just police enforcement.
You guys do a lot of servicewithin the community outside of
Just the interactions of your Umlaw enforcement details, right.
(06:42):
So tell us about that.
How do, how do you pull yourteam Uh over into the service
side?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So we have, um, obviously, a lot of uniform
officers, um, but they'reassigned to different tasks.
Obviously, we have officersassigned to patrol, who patrol
on your streets.
They're responding to calls forservice.
We have a traffic unit thatobviously is is out enforcing
and handling traffic collisionsand whatnot.
We have several different unitswithin the agency, but our um,
(07:09):
our hospitality team, as we callit.
We sent them up two years ago,um, out of hospitality tax and
we have officers assigned tothis, this team, there's five of
them And basically what they dois they they police and help
the merchants in town.
So They've been very helpfulwhen it comes to hit dealing
with shoplifters or panhandlersOr different things like that.
(07:31):
But what they also do very wellas they attend a lot of
community functions So, uh,community crime watch meetings.
Obviously, you're talking aboutthe different festivals and
different things.
We have a, uh, we created or werepurposed a vehicle, a bread
truck, and made a paddy wagonwhich is an ice cream truck, and
so we take that through theneighborhoods and give away free
ice cream to the kids, play thesiren and the music and Um, so
(07:53):
we do a lot of cool things likethat.
But, yeah, we're very involvedwith the schools, um, a lot of
their programs, a lot of thechurch programs around.
We we're constantly Uh involvedand engaged with that way.
Uh, we also have a programthat's called the ddd project.
We stood up with the coastalcrisis chaplaincy program and,
uh, basically it's a grassrootseffort for us to break down the
(08:13):
the walls between different uhraces and ethnicities, um, in
law enforcement with thecommunity.
So that's I'm really huge thatwe're doing too.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
So one thing I was recognizing, because you've got
stats that are on your websitefor public reading and knowledge
Um, even though the town ofsummerville has seen
considerable growth in the last10 years um, i was quite
impressed that really the, the,the level of um Fraud yeah, well
(08:43):
, it's just fraud and all allthe the law Enforcement that
y'all are having to do it reallyhasn't seen at the same kind of
level of growth that thepopulation has.
So I guess what I'm saying isthe population continues to grow
in the town, but your team mustbe doing a fantastic job
because the numbers have itgrowing.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
So one thing I've been very Um outspoken about in
my time here is is aboutproactive policing And there's a
way to be proactive and do itright where you're not um overly
aggressive but you could sendthe message through education
and enforcement.
So we do give second chanceshere as far as people who are
(09:25):
doing wrong, depending on whatit is.
But we are very proactive inthe quality of life type crimes,
because we feel like you know,obviously the broken windows
theory is if you walk past apiece of trash and you don't
pick it up, that you justacknowledge that piece of trash
is okay to be there.
So it's.
The same goes if I have apanhandler or someone who's
public drunkenness.
Those are the quality of lifetype issues that, if we take
(09:48):
care of, people feel morecomfortable and have more pride
in the town that they live in.
So the proactive policing,instead of being reactive and
just responding to the callsafter they happen, we wanna be
out there and be seen and dowhat we need to do.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
And the community involvement in your efforts I
think is outstanding withinSomerville as well, because as a
community I do feel like peopletake great pride in where they
live, not just the people thathave lived here for their whole
lives.
You know, it's a generationalkind of community.
There's a lot of families thatthey've lived here.
(10:23):
Their children, grandchildren,still continue to live in this.
You know small town USA, so tospeak.
But we're talking about earlierthe attraction for people
moving here from out of stateand they too are coming here and
continuing to take pride Is myperception.
Would you agree with that?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Oh, yeah, in fact I was with the police chief of
Miami police department.
He actually retired two yearsago, this police chief.
I was with him the other dayand he said that he has heard
nothing but good things.
I mean, this is Miami policechief telling us I've heard
nothing but good things aboutSomerville.
That's the place to move to.
You know, it was veryimpressive that we had that.
(11:00):
We were on the map with him Andso you know, having said that,
i think everybody's kind ofclosing their eyes and putting
their finger on the map and it'sjust ending up right here in
the Charleston metropolitan area.
And what a lot of peopleunderstand is they've said that
Charleston will be the size ofJacksonville within 20 years,
(11:21):
and I think that was five yearsago.
Wow.
And then they said let's saythey untitled sources that
Somerville would actually becomethe epicenter of the low
country.
So what you think about is themoratorium and the different
things that are going down inthe Charleston is nowhere else
to build And unless you go toRavenel or Allendall,
mcclellanville area, right,johns Island maybe, but
(11:41):
everything's moving up here, youobviously have the moving up
towards Ridgeville in theSomerville area.
You have Volvo up there.
You know they're widening thehighway for that and different
things are doing there.
They have Walmart'sdistribution center up the road,
so if they're saying that thisis a very good place for people
to employ people, then obviouslythey know how hard South
Kilinians work.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
So you were talking just a while ago about the Miami
police chief coming up here.
I just was in Miami actuallyearlier this week.
I get to do some travels.
Let's get into a personal lifeof chief for a minute.
So do you get to travel withyour family much?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I used to do it a lot .
So I used to teach.
I was considered a subjectmatter expert for criminal
interdiction.
So I traveled around the entirecountry for a long time as a
side gig while being a policeofficer here.
So I was able to take my wifeand then my young kids with me
on some of those differentthings.
(12:39):
But you know what?
I'm one of those people thatdoesn't use sick leave, don't
use annual leave.
I'm always here.
I mean, I know there's times atthe end of the year I have to
burn my leave because I haven'tused it.
I just love coming to workevery day.
But yeah, my hope is that onetime, when I eventually do
retire, I'll actually get to dosome of those things.
But my wife was a professor tocall to Charles and so we did
(13:02):
some study abroad for a coupleof years And that was really
interesting because I got to gowith the students and my wife
and we got to go to Europe andAfrica and different things like
that.
So that was cool.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
So when you travel, do you stay guarded?
Your eyes always are out right.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
It's a cop thing.
People think we're kidding whenwe say that.
But when we walk into arestaurant, we always sit where
we can see the door, and it'sthe same thing when we're off
duty.
The things you see and thethings you do you're always
watching.
Your eyes appeal, you're peoplewatching.
You're looking for bulges onpeople's clothing.
I mean the things that you'rejust trained to do and you do it
(13:40):
.
You take it with you.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yes, yes, let's.
you talked a little bit aboutsome of your past experience,
but what I've read about you andyou can tell me if this is
correct K9 unit you've beeninvolved with Marines for six
years.
graduated of the FBI NationalAcademy You've got quite a
(14:01):
accomplishment under your belt.
I'm not done.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Yet I'm actually.
I have two and a half classesleft for my masters And just to
tell you how I mean, I was oneof those kids that I had to
fight really hard in school tohave to make passing grades.
I fought really hard.
I was like I said, i was anathlete so I had to stay
academically eligible.
So it was really important tome.
That was all I had in highschool was my life with sports.
(14:24):
So I wrestled, i playedfootball and track.
I was in chorus too.
But you know, I ended up goingin the Marine Corps.
I couldn't get the SAT score Iwanted And I went in the Marine
Corps reserves, worked atCharleston County Sheriff's
Office as an animal controlofficer, then became a police
officer And, um, i had no.
I started an associate's degree.
It took me 17 years to finishthat Went to the FBI Academy and
(14:47):
came back and said you knowwhat I could do this?
So I went to my bachelor's andnow I'm at Liberty University
finishing up a master's degreein executive leadership.
So I hope to be done this year.
Fantastic, but 49 years old, andit's never too late to try to
better yourself, right?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
You never stop learning and growing.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
But as a parent of some teenage girls, you've just
given me hope, because onedoesn't make all the best grades
and so, but you've just given,you've planted a seed of hope
there that even though gradesdon't they're not everything I
mean, it does matter.
but you have paid the path forwhere you are today because of
(15:26):
your diligence and your hardwork.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Listen, i gotta tell you something like this that my
only motivation was first, iwanted to be a police chief.
so I said I have to have amaster's degree.
Well, i think, since my towncouncil had seen me continually
educate myself, they gave me thepass on that because I was
halfway through my degree then.
But to me, just to be able tosay you've accomplished that,
(15:47):
something you can never takeaway.
And we have a lot of policeofficers who have a lot of
college and haven't finished.
So we're trying to incentivizethem by having, if you have a
different degree or if you havemilitary service, we will pay
you a stipend for having adifferent level of degree, and
it's to incentivize that?
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Who was one of your mentors?
Who would you say is a mentor,and why?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
My dad.
I know everybody's gonna saytheir parent, but my dad was a
police officer.
He was a Marine.
I knew at the age a singledigit age that I was gonna be a
US Marine and I was gonna be acop.
Now my dad was a cop, heretired as a cop And my entire
career was really I wanted tofollow in his footsteps And so
he's first Sheriff Al Cannonfrom Charleston County Sheriff's
(16:35):
Office, retired.
I always looked up to himbecause he really was able to
bring police departments andagencies together and to
collaborate.
There's a lot of people, butobviously my mentors in the
military, my wrestling andfootball coaches from high
school.
When you're in sports you're atpractice every day, especially
(16:56):
three-letter athlete.
You're never off.
You have summer.
In the summertime you're atpractice, but that's your dad
Actually.
They're there parenting youthrough your entire life when
your dad's not around becauseyou're there.
So that very powerful rolemodel for me was my coaches.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Nice.
So really it just goes to speak.
We don't know who we'reinfluencing.
Well, we are.
We're influencing everybodythat's around us every day, And
so we really have to take thatwith a lot of honor, but a lot
of make sure that we haveintegrity in everything that we
do as well.
Tell me a little bit more aboutyour dad.
(17:33):
What would you say is likenumber one key element of life
lessons that he taught you thatyou still carry?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
with you Self-discipline.
He was a drill instructor inthe Marine Corps, so I grew up
with that mentality And you wokeup on time, you made your bed.
You weren't late to anything,you were early.
If you're 15 minutes early orlate, just the way I dressed I
had to tuck my shirt in and weara belt, so I was got made fun
(18:00):
of and little coming up throughschool, Always had my hair
combed to the side.
All these other kids werehaving you know styles, but I
didn't know any different.
That's what I knew.
And I had to work for myallowance.
It was 45 cents a week And Imean the stuff that I had to do
And I had a brother and a sisteras well early in life.
(18:21):
So it's yeah, it's myself-discipline, i think, is
what's really in perseveranceand never quitting.
I've never quit anything.
It's why I'm finishing myschool at the age of 50, almost
as I just have an ethos in meabout you never quit.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, and you had made mention to me before that
you've got children that are now, or you've got two Marines.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, so I have one.
my oldest one is 23.
And he's just now getting outof the Marine Corps.
He is now working at a localsheriff's office, following in
my footsteps, i suppose.
My middle son is 21.
And he's.
He's a infantry Marine, and Ihave a 14 year old daughter who
is the apple of my eye.
She does no wrong.
(19:06):
Yeah, my wife hates it.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I do have a 14 year old and talk about influence
there, Social media, right, theinfluences of communication.
Today, with internet and socialmedia, it's vastly different,
not only for our teenagers butjust as a population as a whole.
What would you say would be achallenge that you have been,
(19:30):
that you've had to face from lawenforcement, you know from the
law enforcement side.
What would you say has been achallenge that the social media
has really posed on you and your?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
team The biggest thing with not dealing with
children, but dealing with lawenforcement.
Social media has really I'llput it.
I'll give you an exampleSomething like you saw happen in
Minnesota, where the gentlemanwas murdered by the police
(20:06):
officers And I say the old days,but you know, literally 15
years ago, you would read aboutthat in a paper, maybe two,
three, four days later if it wasin another state, or you may
never have heard of it all.
We were able to see thathappening in real time, i mean
within minutes.
It was being live broadcastedand simocasted around the world,
and so that is one thing we'rehaving to deal with now is real
(20:30):
time.
People live streaming theircrime in real time.
You know manifestos anddifferent things like that and
fulfilling their, whatever theircrime they're committing.
You know a lot of Snapchat, alot of this stuff.
But I'm gonna tell yousomething right now when it
comes to law enforcement Andsome may disagree with me if
(20:52):
you're some of the old timersout there Law enforcement is
smarter than they've ever beenbefore as a profession, and the
way you gotta look at it is thisway When we came up, you had to
go, you needed to fact checksomething.
You had to go check out a book.
There was no internet.
These kids today can hit Googleor Siri and they have answers
(21:14):
in seconds.
They researched everything theyreally do Now, whether it's
right or wrong, whatever they'regetting or where their sources
are, they're smarter thanthey've ever been.
So having these police officerscome in they understand
technology, they understand howto research, they understand how
to do these things withtechnical computers and phones
(21:35):
is important, because that's howwe're solving crime now is
through that electronicfootprint.
Whereas before you couldn'tteach an old dog new tricks I
mean it was a typewriter Whenyou put a MS-DOS computer in
front of them and they had totype all of a sudden it was very
difficult transition forprobably all professions, but
particularly for law enforcement, because we've always
handwritten everything.
(21:56):
So technology has been achallenge in the aspect that
people commit crimes and whatnot, but we're also solving the
crimes through the electronicfootprint.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Like most things, it's pros and cons, right, yeah,
just that.
I just kind of come in fullcircle.
back to the children.
but they are smarter, thisgeneration.
I mean I was just helping mymom clean out some bookcases in
the national geographic that wehad Cyclopedias Yes,
encyclopedias, those are oldcommodities, i mean, they just
(22:30):
don't, they're not applicableanymore to this generation.
but it's just interesting tosee the influence of this newest
generation coming up and howthat's gonna continue to affect,
from a social standpoint, fromlaw enforcement all the way to
real estate.
I don't it just it is influenceand we just have to learn how
to adapt to it.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Well, you're exactly right.
I remember the first time I wasbeing videotaped by somebody's
cell phone on a traffic stop Itwas probably 15, 20 years ago,
and I walked up and they'revideotaping me and I'm like,
yeah, i didn't know.
I kind of went vapor lock.
I didn't know what to do, but Iknew I couldn't do anything
about it because we were in apublic place.
but it was just very odd for meto see that.
(23:11):
But then I realized this isgonna be the norm.
So now we just tell them hey,we're recording you too.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So Yeah, just like every time I show a property, i
have to tell people before we goin.
Just assume that your owncamera and the sellers are
hearing everything that you'resaying.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Funny.
you say that I mean the house Ibought had cameras in it and I
walked in and I purposely wastalking to the cameras.
I was like I really want yourwasher and dryer.
Can we throw that into the deal?
And I actually did get thewasher and dryer in the deal.
So yeah, i really did that.
It was fun.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Oh good, Maybe I should try that.
I haven't tried that tactic.
I'm actually talking directlyto them.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I was pointing at it talking to us.
Yeah, This is what I want andthis is what.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I love that.
Well, good, we will have to tryit.
Well, thank you so much forjoining me today.
I think we've learned from adifferent viewpoint about our
town, a lot of the benefits thatSomerville has to offer for our
community and how integratedthe police force is here.
So thank you for your serviceand thank you for joining us
today.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
You're so sweet.
I appreciate it If I could sayone thing Yeah, please, if you
see Somerville police officers,say hello to them, force them
out of their comfort zone.
If they're not saying hello toyou, say hello to them.
We have some of the best peopleon the planet working here and
living here.
I encourage you, if you're notliving here, to look to live
here.
Certainly you'll be safe.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, let me on that note.
There was a recent.
I got a little distracted,let's say at a stop, signed it
and come to a complete stop.
The police officer had everyright to pull me over and she
did.
I had not really, i had neverknown her before, but she came
up, did her duty and I did walkaway with a traffic violation
(24:53):
ticket.
It's called coupon.
Well, i paid the sucker.
As soon as I could online Ijumped on, get it knocked out,
so you don't forget it right.
Next thing I know I see her inthe local coffee shop that our
friend Brad Mallard owns and Iwalked up to her and I said I
just wanted to really formallyintroduce myself to you and we
(25:13):
had a good, great conversationright there.
Really I was gonna pay fortheir coffee but they had
already gotten what they needed.
but since then I've seen her atthe Somerville farmers market.
I've seen her at differenttimes and now she'll give me a
big warm hug And she was doingher job right And there was no
(25:35):
fault in that.
I needed the friendly reminder.
Thankfully I got it in the formof a coupon and not a fender
bender, But that's the style ofcommunity that we live in.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Well, even you being brave to go up to her, i mean,
what a bigger person you arethan that's cool.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Well, it's saying hi.
It's saying you know, justhere's my name, you know, and
you're a community member, i'm acommunity member.
We get to both love on thistown.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
So Well, I'll take a quick story.
I don't know you're trying toend it.
There's two people who arecommunity members, who you all
know and I will not say theirnames that when they were
younger they had interactionswith me as a police officer.
It makes me feel old nowbecause they're now older and
they're community members andthey remind me all the time
about my interactions I had withthem when they were younger,
running the streets.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
So I bet you could tell some tales around this town
.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
You won't tell them tales, all right.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Well, you bet.
Thank you for joining us today.
Miss Love, do you have anythingyou'd like to add?
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah, i can, yeah, i can Do they familiar, i mean um.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
He was he's Charleston County.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Charleston City.
He was.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Charleston City.
Well, oh, he just oh yeah.
Yeah, let me out.
Yeah, So what he'll do is he'llgo in and plug this in.
So tell me about yourmentorship or the let me start
that You had made mention ofChief Reynolds and the influence
and mentorship that he had withyou.
(27:06):
Elaborate on that with me, withFubo.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
So Chief Reynolds was late Charleston Police Chief
who just passed away, lost hisbattle with cancer And he came
to us from Montgomery County,virginia I'm sorry, maryland
where he was a deputy chief andhe was only here for, i think,
five or seven years.
But what a tremendous impact hehad on not just his department
at the City of Charleston PoliceDepartment but other local law
(27:30):
enforcement agencies.
He really was a collaborator.
He was a someone who just whata great speaker and mentor and
he would show up at somethingand just bring both sides
together.
And so it's a tremendous lossto see someone so physically
strong and well fit, who was arunner, who was very athletic.
(27:52):
you know, fight the good fightand he passed away.
So obviously, on behalf ofSummerville Police Department in
town of Summerville, we'd liketo say we're sorry for the loss
of Chief Reynolds to his policedepartment and, most importantly
, his family, because he reallydid have a big impact on me and
the other law enforcementofficers in the low country.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Sure, throughout the low country.
he's been honored.
So thank you for bringing thatup.
Cool Sure, that's a goodquestion.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, all right, let me ask that That's good, well,
that's what we are, so I'll tellyou about it.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
All right, so tell me about the leadership within the
town of Summerville.
You're the chief.
You got a lot of cap to a lotof different personnel
underneath you.
How do you manage all thosedifferent personalities?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
It's actually my specialty.
My favorite thing to do is lead.
I don't even call it management, it's.
I lead people and I leadpersonalities, like you said.
So one personality is enticedby for intruistic, you know,
(28:59):
reward or whichever it is, youjust got to manage or lead that
person, knowing that, knowingthat you can't lead to the same
to the same people, or twodifferent people the same way.
We have the same mission andthe same cause, but the way you
do it might be a different waythan I would do it, as long as
we're not breaking the law orpolicy, you know, you just found
(29:21):
a different way to get it done.
So recognizing that, instead oftelling them, no, you're not
going to do it that way, you'regoing to do it this way, there's
more than a way to skin a cat.
So you know reallypersonalities is important
because in law enforcement a lotof type A personalities right,
you have people who feel likethey're authoritarian type
people.
They don't like to be toldthey're wrong.
(29:44):
They're they.
They've always got to be firstplace.
They hate to lose that type ofpersonality.
And there's outspoken, you knowextrovert and you also have
introvert of the same type ofpersonality.
So having everybody togetherfor a common goal and theme and
knowing that we're going toaccomplish the mission.
However gets done, as long asit's done right, is important
(30:06):
And the big thing that we'vereally.
You'll actually like this, thismetaphor, if you will.
But we don't like renters, wewant homeowners.
So what we talk about is youknow people who are invested in
the community.
They take or they they'repaying for their house or not
(30:26):
renting the house they're goingto take care of the house And
then you build a community in aneighborhood based off of that.
But if you have people who rentI'm not making fun of renters,
because there's really goodrenters out there But it's kind
of like when you're a kid inhigh school and your dad gives
your brand new Corvette, you'renot going to take care of the
brand new Corvette.
You know the kids you went toschool with to have new stuff
and they were trash in their carand doing like.
(30:48):
And then I went and worked hardall summer for four years and
bought a car.
I took better care of it.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
It's having equity in equity.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
That's the word.
Yeah, so that's what we do.
You can take that back to yourteam.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
They put equity, you know, into it.
It is, it's building this teamof ownership.
So it's not just as a leader,right, it's not just one person
on top and everybody else is on.
No, you as a leader.
what do they say?
We lead from the back right.
We kind of allow other peoplethe liberty to shine and to be
(31:22):
able.
I'm sure you have differentforms of leadership, even, you
know, over, over over each ofthe different components, even
over the different departments,and so leading those
personalities and just leadingthe people to their successes.
So that's what you do PreciselyThey get to put equity into
their ownership.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, we don't want people who are just going to be
on holdover.
They're here just for a shortperiod of time because they're
not going to be invested in thecommunity either.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
It's not just a job.
It's not just a job, it's, it'sthey're pouring themselves into
it Just as you have, yeah.
Just as you have.
Well thanks, you bet.
All right, yes, i, oh.
Okay, i am Ronnie Haskell,otherwise known as that SC real
(32:13):
estate chick, and this is forthe love of real estate podcast.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Some talent.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
I've done this a few times, but do you want me to go
ahead and do?
because I haven't I reallyhaven't introduced him, i want.
I'm joined today by the town ofSomerville leader.
Okay, all right, i'm joinedtoday by the town of
Somerville's wrong leader, chiefDoug Wright.
Thank you for being here today.
(32:45):
Good.
No this is awesome Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
This is really cool.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Well, you did a great job of using the platform to
deliver.
Thank you.
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