Horry County’s interim police chief, first female takes helm

Horry County Police Capt. Saundra Rhodes has arrested drug dealers while working undercover, delivered a baby in the back seat of a car she stopped for erratic driving and helped strengthen relations between the department and community.

And now she is guiding the department into a new era as its interim chief, the first female and African-American lead the department.

“I don’t discount the fact that I am the first female and I hope I am opening doors for others to come along. We’re still a minority and I hope I spark interest for female applicants to apply,” Rhodes said. “It’s OK to dream big and not limit yourself.”

Rhodes, a 19-year police veteran, assumed her new role Monday following the retirement Friday of Johnny Morgan after 41 years in law enforcement, including 38 years with the department.

Horry County officials appointed Rhodes as interim chief. Paul Whitten, public safety director, will handle hiring the next chief, said Lisa Bourcier, Horry County spokeswoman. No timeline was given for the naming of a chief.

Morgan will be on leave until he retires officially on June 30. In a statement about his retirement, he said he waited to make an announcement until the State Law Enforcement Division was finished with a review of the department.

After the review SLED cleared the department of wrongdoing concerning evidence handling and allegations of thefts from the evidence room made in an anonymous letter sent in August to Horry County Council and other elected officials. SLED was asked in October to investigate the allegations, which included the mishandling of evidence, missing drugs and money from the room.

A statement from the state attorney general’s office on Feb 7, said the claims made in the anonymous letter lacked prosecutorial merit and the office would not proceed further with the investigation.

Rhodes said she was confident in the SLED findings after the assertions called the department’s image into question, and will now work with “an amazing staff and a very capable and caring command staff” to improve the image.

“We want to make sure our community has an accurate perception of our county police,” Rhodes said.

On Monday morning, while sitting in the sparsely decorated office that she moved into on Sunday, Rhodes said she was nervous and didn’t sleep much the night before. But she “hit the ground running” with a command staff meeting in her first action as chief.

Two sticky notes with encouraging words from her 13-year-old son, Cameron, decorated Rhodes’ computer screen. A couple of inspirational photos sat on chairs, waiting to be placed on the walls, and a Bible held a corner spot on Rhodes’ desk among several piles of paperwork and folders.

“I was honored and humbled at the same time,” Rhodes said when she learned she was appointed interim chief earlier this month. “I was proud they had the faith in me and my ability to keep this department going.”

Among Rhodes’ first tasks as interim chief will be completing the annual budget process and planning for the challenges of the annual May motorcycle rallies, she said.

“We’re going to police them regardless of how many people come and regardless of how long they stay,” she said of the motorcycle rallies. “We’re going to enforce the law whether they are here for three days or 14 days.”

Being a police chief was always in Rhodes’ thoughts, even though she was hired with the department in a nontraditional way.

The Horry County native was born in the Huckabee Heights complex and went to the University of South Carolina where she graduated in 1992 with a degree in criminal justice.

She had planned to pursue a job in probation, parole or work with children, but soon after graduation, Rhodes came to the police department with a notebook in hand to talk about policing; instead she ended up in then-chief Gordon Harris’ office because officials thought she was a journalist.

After talking for a while, Harris offered her a job.

Rhodes said she didn’t plan to return to Horry County after graduation.

One of her sisters became terminally ill and Rhodes returned after college to help her mother care for her. Rhodes briefly left and worked as an agent with SLED in 1998, but missed being “home” at the Horry County Police Department, she said.

“Once I got the taste for policing I was done. That was it,” Rhodes said. “I’ve always been a police officer at heart. . . . I still love law enforcement as much as I did 19 years ago when I walked through the door. The community still matters to me.”

Rhodes began her career as an undercover narcotics officer and worked under a fake name before she was promoted to Sergeant in 1997. That was when she decided to stay in the area and she began working with the community oriented policing division, where she helped deploy four of the department’s five COPE teams.

“Community policing has been my very favorite assignment here at the police department. I love the aspect of the community and the police working together. It’s a relationship that has to exist for us to be successful,” Rhodes said.

In 2001, Rhodes was promoted to Lieutenant over support services and worked with narcotics and the uniform patrol divisions in the department.

In October 2006, Rhodes was promoted again to Captain over support services, which includes more than 100 officers. She also decided she wanted to operate a police department, so Rhodes went back to school that year and graduated in 2009 with a master’s degree in criminal justice.

“I had made a conscious effort to put myself in that position,” Rhodes said. Then-chief Morgan “did everything he could to give me experience in all areas of this police department. . . . He really helped me grow in my law enforcement career. He was a pillar for this department for such a long time.”

Even though Rhodes was still getting accustomed to her new office and the leading role in the department on Monday, she pledged to enhance community partnerships and make residents feel safe.

“I still will give everything I have every day to make the community better, safer and improve the quality of life in Horry County,” she said with a bright smile.