Police Chief Carl Ritchie, who officially retires on May 7, received a First Responder Award and other accolades by the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce at their April 15 luncheon. One of his \u201cgifts\u201d was to become part of the Mount Pleasantopoly game and major fundraiser the Chamber is putting together for its fall Expo. Although rather than \u201cgo to jail\u201d Ritchie\u2019s card tells players to \u201cgo to the beach.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event was attended by Town Council members, Mayor Will Haynie, police officers and chamber members who spoke both lightheartedly and sincerely about their relationships with Ritchie. All praisd his leadership and character.<\/p>\n
Eddie Phipps, president of the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce, has known Ritchie for decades. He spoke of Ritchie\u2019s extensive background, noting he began his career in North Charleston in 1988.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 1989, Chief Ritchie accepted a position as a police officer with the Mount Pleasant Police Department, rising through the ranks to his current assignment as police chief. His previous assignments including major of the operations bureau, uniform patrol, traffic, narcotics, criminal investigation and administrative service and SWAT.\u201d Phipps said.<\/p>\n
Ritchie also served in the U.S. Air Force as a security force member and as a special agent with the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations in the Reserves. Phipps also said Richie \u201chas been responsible for the operational planning of many high profile events that have received national attention and he successfully led the Mount Pleasant police department to its ninth national reaccreditation, achieving the gold standard with excellence and is committed to community policing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Will Haynie added to his list of accomplishments by reminding the crowd that Ritchie is also a Ph.D. candidate. \u201cThose are things that can be listed on a resume. But the thing you know if you\u2019ve known Carl Ritchie is the reason he is a great police chief is he is a great person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haynie hesitated and was choked up by his emotions for a moment when he added that Ritchie was \u201cone of the finest human beings you will ever know. And I have witnessed, outside of the public eye, the true character of Carl Ritchie. And saying goodbye to him in uniform is going to be hard enough.\u201d He turned to Ritchie and said to him \u201cyou have to be around for us.\u201d Haynie, turning back to the crowd added, \u201cHe is a moral driving force for this town.\u201d He said that one of the reasons Mount Pleasant is a great town is because of Ritchie.<\/p>\n
Council member Howard Chapman said he enjoyed the privilege of working with a number of police chiefs prior to Ritchie. \u201cBut I can tell you, that Chief Richie is the best. He is definitely the best. We are so lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n
At one point Phipps told an intriguing story about when he worked with Ritchie as a police officer. \u201cI remember before I went to law school \u2014 which kind of caused me to go to law school \u2014 Carl and I were involved in an incident and it was his fault,\u201d Phipps said, eliciting a big laugh from the audience. \u201cBut I got wrote up for it. And there was a videotape that was erased by me by accident. I remember walking in one day, and Carl saying to me, \u2018Man, you know what they\u2019re saying?\u2019 I\u2019m like, what\u2019s that? He\u2019s like, \u2018they\u2019re saying that you erased this to protect me because we were friendly.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Phipps continues the story, \u201cThen the very next day, it was like deja vu. He\u2019s walking up, \u2018you know what they\u2019re saying now?\u2019 I\u2019m like, what\u2019s that? \u2018Now they\u2019re saying that you were making copies of the video to blackmail me.\u2019 And I thought to myself, this is bizarre. But that\u2019s the kind of pressure and the environment that law enforcement is\u2026 you don\u2019t really understand the rumor mills, the jockeying for position, the politics, and of course, now you have the social difficulties that are involved. I got out, I said this enough for me, and I\u2019m going to law school or doing something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course the audience wanted to know more about this bit of shared information so when Ritchie spoke he eased everyone\u2019s curiosity.<\/p>\n
Ritchie explained that Phipps had made a traffic stop and \u201cThis guy that he stopped was just being rude, obnoxious, and nasty. And the guy told us something that we\u2019re always hearing, \u2018I pay your salary.\u2019 I didn\u2019t miss a beat. I pulled the change out of my pocket and gave him a refund. That\u2019s what caused all that. \u2026 Yes, I got called into the chief\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n
His chief asked about what happened and Ritchie told the story. When asked if he would do it again he said, \u201cyes, sir.\u201d After the audience stopped laughing Ritchie explained. \u201cHe was nasty to my officer. I\u2019ve always had their backs where they\u2019re doing right. And that\u2019s what happened on that occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a more serious vein Ritchie said, \u201cWe have an amazing police department. Absolutely amazing, and a great succession plan. You know, I\u2019m staying here my family, my wife and I, we own a home here. Our kids grew up here. We\u2019re staying right here, in Mount Pleasant. This is where we want to be. \u2026 I\u2019m so proud of the men and women who are going to be stepping up and continuing to lead this agency and continue to keep this town safe. I\u2019ve been so fortunate. \u2026 I think I\u2019ve worked for five or six different mayors. My career spanned five decades from the 80s until now. I\u2019ve been very fortunate as a police officer and as a police chief to have the support of the Council. I thank y\u2019all. The town administrator took a chance on me, promoted me. He didn\u2019t know what he was getting. But hopefully I\u2019ve given you everything that you expect me as a chief and a police officer, so thank you all for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source: Google News<\/p>\n
#chamber of commerce #chambers #chamber news #business #the Mount Pleasant Chamber<\/p>\n
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