Beaufort County sheriff's captain to become new Sea Pines security chief
After 25 years at the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, Capt. Toby McSwain will step into a new role July 1 as Sea Pines' director of security.
McSwain, the Sheriff's Office Southern Enforcement Branch commander, will direct the Hilton Head Island community's armed security patrols and entrance gates, overseeing a staff of 42, said Cary Kelley, executive vice president of Community Services Associates.
"On an annual basis, we have over 380,000 daily passes to Sea Pines," Kelley said. "He's responsible for handling that correctly."
Kelley said McSwain was selected after an extensive search, assessment and interviews. The community has gone without a director of security since former security chief George Breed took a leave of absence last August -- about three months after a jury ordered him and Community Services Associates to pay more than $6 million to a local judge in a defamation suit.
Hilton Head Island Municipal Judge Maureen Coffey accused CSA and Breed of harassing and defaming her and her family during an investigation of a series of break-ins in 2004 and 2008, in which her brother was a suspect. Kelley said Breed retired in the fall, and he and other senior staff have been filling the role in the interim.
Since 2006, McSwain has been responsible for uniform patrol, marine patrol, K-9 patrol and airport security for southern Beaufort County. He oversees the first responders to all calls for service south of the Broad River, he said.
"We've come a long way," McSwain said. "I've worked for three sheriffs in 25 years, and each one of them has been very good to me."
His job at Sea Pines will be a little different. For example, the armed security patrols have arrest powers but not investigative authority, McSwain said.
"He's an excellent choice for the director of security in Sea Pines," Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said. "We'll still see him quite a bit because we work very closely with the private security companies in our county."
Joey "JoJo" Woodward, who served as the lieutenant over the Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Force, has been promoted to captain as of Tuesday and will take over operations in southern Beaufort County for the Sheriff's Office after McSwain leaves, Tanner said.
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This story was originally published May 29, 2013 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Beaufort County sheriff's captain to become new Sea Pines security chief."