Chief logs more than three decades in Springfield uniform

Story by Gail Parsons  |  Photography by Erich Perez

With more than 30 years of law enforcement behind him, Springfield Police Chief Paul Wynn lives and works by a simple code—treat all people with respect.

The respect he was shown by a police detective in Savannah many years ago was one of the guiding factors that led him to this career.

“I got married early and I got custody of my son when I was 17,” he said.

When he divorced his first wife, it was not an amenable situation and he had four contracts put out on his life.

“They convicted my ex-wife and her mom of conspiracy to commit murder,” he said.

Attempting to put that experience behind him, he took his son and moved to Jacksonville. He worked a number of odd jobs before heading back to Savannah where he had family. But he still didn’t have a grasp on what he wanted to do with his life and how he was going to support his child.

He looked into joining the military and took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. With a score of 86, he had a large field of career choices to pick from.

But then, the recruiter found out he was a single father.

“They were talking about signing custody over to someone and I was like, ‘I just went through all this and got custody of him, I wasn’t giving that up,” he said.

Finding His Way to Law Enforcement

When he came back from Jacksonville, he met up with a friend who was in law enforcement and went on a few ride-alongs with him.

“I’ve always been kinda small but I’ve always been that guy who took up for people,” he said. “I thought this might be a good thing to get into.”

When he went through Georgia Police Academy the state had just opened the school up for self-pay. Prospective officers could either be hired by a police department, which would send them or they could pay their own way.

“I put myself through school because I didn’t want to be tied down to any agency,” he said.

He earned his certification in October 1992. It would be several months before he landed in Springfield.

“It was the following July,” he said. “I saw the ad on Friday, and I came up here. I looked a little rough because I thought I was just gonna come in and pick up an application. I didn’t think I was going to see anybody.”

It turned out the chief was there, which was probably a good thing otherwise he may not have known the application period closed at the end of that day. He went home, filled out the application, and got it turned in before the deadline.

The next Tuesday he had his interview.

“I’ve been here ever since,” he said. “I started as a regular patrolman and just worked my way up.”

Growing into the Job

As he settled into his new career, Wynn realized this career was right for him, partly because of the philosophy the department operated under.

“My whole reason to get into law enforcement was to help people like I’d been helped,” he said.

Being able to make a positive difference in people’s lives kept Wynn in law enforcement for three decades. It’s also what kept him in Springfield. At a larger agency, officers are more compartmentalized. They’re running from call to call; they take a report and hand it off to a detective or investigator, they never get to really know the people.

“At a small agency, you got to do everything,” he said.

That allows them to meet the citizens and build generational relationships.

“In a smaller town, you’re dealing with the same people all of the time,” he said. “You can pay more attention to certain problems. You can concentrate more, you kind of know where your problems are.”

Wynn believes in community policing, a philosophy that encourages police officers to become familiar with their community and its residents as opposed to just answering calls.

“We go around and get out and talk to people,” he said. “We make sure we know what’s going on. We can’t be everywhere 24/7 but we’ll ride by and stop and ask how everything’s going and if there’s issues in the neighborhood.”

Having this kind of philosophy in place helps as the people of Springfield watch their small, tight-knit community grow.

“Over the past 20 years we’ve really started to see an influx into the school system because Effingham has a great school system and I think people are just trying to get their kids a better education,” he said.

As attendance grew, the school offered to help fund a school resource officer, which Wynn said was a God-send.

“We are very blessed to get that one,” he said. “That worked out great for us because as much stuff that has been going on in the world and across the United States, I just think it’s a lot better if you have an officer there.”

With growth comes an increase in crime and police calls. From 2018 to 2022, Wynn said his department’s call volume went up 100%. Part of that is because Springfield’s footprint is growing with the annexation of land into the city limits.

Above all — Respect

Over the years, Wynn had opportunities to move on—at one point he could have gone to the FBI Academy—but Effingham County had become home. He was moving up in the ranks, had gotten married, his son was doing well, and he was satisfied with life.

“I felt like I was doing more here than I could do somewhere else,” he said. “Yeah, I had opportunities to leave and go make more money but that just wasn’t for me.”

However, there was one opportunity waiting in the wings, which he did accept in 2005 when he pinned on a chief’s badge.

“Now that I’m in this position, I can do a lot more as far as helping people,” he said. “I can steer the department the way I want to steer it.”

Inside and outside of the department walls, his officers will, “Treat people the way you want to be treated,” he said. “We have a better relationship with our citizens than normal. I honestly think it’s because of the community policing and the way we treat people.”

It doesn’t matter if the person is high on drugs or just tried to fight an officer, once the cuffs are on, “That’s it,” he said. “You make sure they are okay, you still treat them with respect, and you don’t talk down to them. I don’t put up with talking down to people.”

That philosophy spills over into the department. Having a positive work environment based on mutual respect helps Wynn combat one of the biggest challenges facing law enforcement across the country—recruitment and retention.

“Nobody wants to be in law enforcement,” he said “We’re having to fight with every agency within 50 miles.”

Despite the difficulty in getting applicants, Wynn said he would never trade quality and integrity for a body to fill a position.

“We don’t do that,” he said. “There are agencies that do but that’s not us. Liability-wise, since I’ve been here, we’ve only had one lawsuit and that was because of an accident.”

He has worked too long and too hard to build and maintain a department that he said enjoys a high level of respect from the community.

“Our standards are higher than normal and recruitment has a lot to do with that,” he said. “We get a lot of applications that we turned down. It’s a lot less headaches, a lot less liability money, and it’s a lot less people getting hurt if you just hire the right ones to begin with.”

Once they are hired, it takes about eight months from the time they don the uniform to when Wynn said he feels comfortable turning them loose. If they are not already state-certified they have to go to the academy, which is 400 hours long; and then ride with a field training officer before going through a shadowing phase.

“We want to make sure they’re doing everything the department wants them to do as far as treating people the way we want them treated,” Wynn said.

For the most part, if an officer makes it two years, they are there to stay, Wynn said. He attributes the high retention to the support the city government and the community give them as well as the opportunities they have within the department.

“I try to build every one of them,” he said. “I try to I try to teach them to do the next one’s job. And they know that we actually care. Our morale is a lot higher than other agencies and it’s because everybody’s got everybody’s back.”

Within the building and on the street, Wynn has pride in the integrity and reputation of the Springfield Police Department.

A Good Man

The way he approaches law enforcement hasn’t gone unnoticed by Superior Court Judge Ronnie Thompson. The two have known each other since the early days of their respective careers.

“I was an attorney and he was a young officer with the Springfield Police Department,” Thompson said. “He’s a good officer. He’s a good man.”

Because of the changes in each of their jobs, they don’t see each other as often as they used to but their friendship grew over the years and the respect Thomson has for Wynn has not lessened.

He added loyal, trustworthy, honest, and humble in describing his friend.

“It’s a pleasure working with people like Paul,” he said. “He doesn’t think he’s better than anybody else. He doesn’t look down on people and he’s very knowledgeable and understanding about the human condition.”  ■