Bluffton narrows police chief search to 4 candidates. Here’s who they are
The search to replace former Bluffton Police Chief Chris Chapmond is down to four applicants.
Marc Orlando, Bluffton’s town manager, released a list of the finalists to become chief of the Bluffton Police Department, after receiving more than 100 applications.
Orlando said he hopes to have a final decision by mid-September.
Here’s who the finalists are:
Ricky Pinksaw
Pinksaw, chief of police in Emporia, Virginia, said he thought about applying in 2018, when the job of Bluffton police chief opened up.
He decided against it because he said he had a few more things he wanted to accomplish.
Now feels like the right time, said Pinksaw.
“My experience, my education . . . it would be a good fit for the Bluffton Police Department,” he said in an interview.
Bluffton’s Police Department, which is looking to hire its fourth chief since 2017, needs continuity, according to Pinksaw.
“Bluffton needs stability. Bluffton needs leadership that’s gonna stay,” he said. “I want to be there as long as I can be there.”
Former Bluffton Police Chief Chris Chapmond left the department after less than two years when the chief position became available in his hometown.
Pinksaw, a Pennsylvania native, became the chief in Emporia in January 2016, after spending 25 years with the Culpeper, Virginia, Police Department, where he started as a patrol officer.
Addressing the national conversation on police reform, Pinksaw said the killing of George Floyd felt like a step back for policing and is a gap he would work on bridging in Bluffton.
“Emporia was a department and a community that I was building racial relationships,” he said. “We’re a predominantly African American community, and I knew how important it was to build (those) relationships.”
“We need to be moving forward. We need to be constantly building those bridges.”
Stephenie Price
Price currently works as assistant chief of police for the Savannah Police Department.
She has been with the department for a year and a half and spent 20 years with the Kansas City Police Department.
Price worked multiple divisions within Kansas City, and served as an emergency medical technician, paramedic and a licensed practical nurse, according to the release.
She could not be reached on Friday afternoon.
Michael Ricks
Ricks is the only candidate in Bluffton’s final four who lives in Beaufort County.
He works as program director for criminal justice technology at the Technical College of the Lowcountry and lives in Beaufort.
Ricks served as chief of police for two different police departments in the South: in Tuskegee, Alabama, and Moss Point, Mississippi.
Ricks said he respects what Bluffton’s department has been able to do, as it was forced to expand alongside the rapid growth of the town in the past decade.
“It’s a young agency. They’re growing,” he said. ”They’re looking at how to be one of the leading agencies in the county.”
Ricks, the only candidate who lives in South Carolina and the only person of color, has lived in the Lowcountry for the past decade.
As police chief in Moss Point, he said he had to turn the department around and restore the community’s trust in local police.
“When I got to Mississippi, three of the officers there were under indictment. The Department of Justice was investigating,” said Ricks. “The citizens had no confidence in the police department.”
Ricks pointed to reforms he put in place, such as setting up an internal affairs division for the department and streamlining hiring of officers who actually lived within the communities they police.
He said the first thing he would do as Bluffton’s chief is take a long, hard look at what police policies are in place.
“Over the last 10 years, all these chiefs . . . all of them brought something good, and all of them brought something bad,” said Ricks.
“I think anyone getting this job, before making any decision,” he said, “They should take an assessment and see what is working and what is not working.”
Gene Sapino
The police departments in Bluffton and the city of Delray Beach, Florida, are very similar to one another, according to Sapino.
The Michigan-born assistant chief of police of operations for the Delray Beach Police Department has spent over 25 years at the South Florida department.
Sapino said he would seek to help Bluffton match the diversity of its community like Delray Beach.
Bluffton is “a very progressive police department. They utilize social media effectively,” said Sapino. “They do outreach in the community. They give virtual ride-alongs.”
“They’re doing all the things we do,” he said.
Like the other candidates, Sapino said unequivocally he will stay in Bluffton for a long time if hired.
“Leadership is key, and my plans are to stay there,” he said. “I’m not using it as a stepping stone.”
He also said that officers in Bluffton wouldn’t be those fired from other agencies, a practice that was a problem pre-Chapmond.
“We do not take employees with substantial baggage,” said Sapino. “We vet them thoroughly before they become a police officer.”
“I can tell you I would strive for professionalism,” he said. “The people of the town deserve that. I would do everything I can to gain the trust of not only the citizens but of the (officers).”
