Posted on Sat, Jan. 13, 2007

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Crisp gets Thurmond award

Columbia police chief honored for work in 30 years of law enforcement

By ADAM BEAM

abeam@thestate.com

Columbia Police Chief Dean Crisp became the 21st chief to receive the Strom Thurmond Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement on Friday afternoon.

Crisp, who has been with the city since 2004, received the award for his 30-year law enforcement career, which includes stints as the Greer police chief and as a captain at the Asheville, N.C., Police Department.

“This award represents what I’ve been able to accomplish through other people,” Crisp said after the ceremony at the Fort Jackson Officer’s Club. “You can’t do this by yourself.”

Crisp started out as a dispatcher for the Asheville Police Department. He went to night school at Western Carolina University where he got his bachelor’s degree and his master’s in public affairs.

At 33, Crisp took over the Greer Police Department, which suffered from low self-esteem and community ridicule, U.S. Attorney Reggie Lloyd said. Crisp turned the department around and it won several national awards, including one for it’s traffic safety unit.

In 2004, Crisp came to Columbia to succeed longtime former chief Charles Austin. He introduced Compstat, a program that tracks crime trends and allows officers to monitor activity on their beats.

Crisp credits the program with reducing violent crime by 13 percent in its first year.

“Chief Crisp is known as an innovator and a positive leader,” Lloyd said during the award presentation.

Also receiving the award:

• York County Sheriff Bruce Bryant, who organized several police departments to fight drugs in York County.

• C.J. Hyman, resident agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Hyman was a key part in the investigation of Eric Rudolph, who pleaded guilty to the 1996 Olympic Park bombing.

• Col. Russell Roark, commander of the state Highway Patrol. Roark, of Sumter, has been with the patrol since 1982. His highway safety campaigns have been modeled by other states.

Reach Beam at (803) 771-8405.