Chickamauga Police Chief Ronald Roach is settling into his new role in the historic city.
“I’m excited and enthusiastic to be the new police chief,” said Roach. “It’s a dream come true for me. My lifelong goal was to be a police chief.”
After serving at the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office for 26 years, he returned to work in Chickamauga three days later. He has 35 years total of law enforcement experience.
Approximately 3,100 residents live within the city limits of Chickamauga under his watch.
“I’m one minute away from the Chickamauga Police Department,” said Roach, adding it is much closer than his former job at the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department. “This job became available and it was a chance to come back home to Chickamauga. I’ve lived in Chickamauga my whole life.”
His first patrol job occurred in 1978 at Chickamauga Police Department, so he has come full circle.
“I am humbled that I got to come back to this city,” said Roach. “It’s time for me to give back to them because they gave to me.”
Roach said he is impressed with the technology advancements that occurred under former police chief now City Manager Micheal Haney’s watch.
“Micheal Haney took us from the Dark Ages up to the current technology ages,” said Roach. “I was impressed with the video cameras installed in the cars. We do not hand write tickets anymore. You get a typed printed ticket from inside the car. It’s automatically uploaded to the court clerk.”
In-car computers that generate reports also impressed him, he said. The department also recently added a new Ford patrol car and a new Dodge Charger.
“I’ve always wanted to be a police officer,” said Roach. “Being a public servant is what I wanted to do. It was a basic need to see if I could help people. It’s a big difference going from a county law enforcement to a city. At the county level you deal with a lot of calls. I was part of the investigation team in Catoosa County. We did everything from homicide to shoplifting. We had special folks that handled narcotics and child crimes division.”
Roach said it’s quite different to go from serving 68,000 people in Catoosa County to serving 3,100 in Chickamauga.
He will work with five part-time fill-in officers and five full-time officers. The officers work 12 hour shifts and then rotate. Each person gets every other weekend off. The officers work for three months on day shift and shift back to nights for the next three months, he said.
He anticipates his officers will assist in local wrecks, especially during snow.
“If we have emergency personnel that need a ride, we go pick them up,” said Roach, referring to inclement weather times. “Our four wheel drives help them get to work.”
About Ronald Roach
Roach remembers serving as a volunteer firefighter under Mayor Ray Crowder, who at the time served as the local fire chief. They now work together again at city hall.
His law enforcement background is in road patrol and in the Criminal Investigative Division. He is a graduate of the Floyd College Police Academy.
Roach’s favorite sports team is the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team. He also likes to ride his black Harley Davidson on spring rides for 4,000 miles out West.
In his spare time he likes to grow vegetables in his home garden including tomatoes, peppers and corn.