Greg Gomes ready to serve North Charleston as chief of police

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey introduced Greg Gomes as the city’s new police chief during a swearing-in ceremony at City Hall on Friday morning.

It comes as Mayor Summey said the city turns 50 – it’s the first time the city’s police chief is younger than the city itself.

Mayor Summey spoke about how he coached Gomes in little league, and the city’s outgoing chief, Reggie Burgess, was Gomes’ school resource officer in high school. Burgess talked about how he later brought Gomes into his team at the police department.

“I had a draft. Some of you all don’t know that – I had a little draft set up and I said, okay, I need two people to be my quarterback and I need somebody to be a center,” Burgess said. “Greg became a quarterback. We turned things around. We made our city safe.”

Family and friends surrounded Gomes as he was sworn in, during which he thanked his parents for teaching him important values.

“We grew up and my parents instilled in us service. I remember watching my parents serve at the ballpark concession stand and that laid the foundation. That planted the seed for me,” he said.

Gomes said that while violent crime has gone down in the city, he is working on some other issues.

“We’ve had an influx in burglaries, right? Vehicles getting broken into. That’s something we’re looking into; I think that we’ve identified a suspect in that, but it’s making sure we try to do things, put things in place, that would help stop those crimes before it happens.”

He wants to use technology and work to grow relationships in the community to help solve and possibly even prevent some crimes from happening.

“So, Mr. Mayor, citizens of the city, police officers here – I pledge to work with you all to continue to make North Charleston a great place to live, work, and play,” he said.

Chief Burgess is retiring from the department to focus on his run for North Charleston mayor. His last official day as a city employee is Monday.

Photos courtesy City of North Charleston