After announcing his retirement on May 23, Greenville Police Chief J.H. “Howie” Thompson’s last day as chief of police will be June 30. Thompson says he feels blessed when reflecting on his 29-year career in law enforcement.
“My career — it’s been great,” Thompson said. “I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Luckily, I was at the right place at the right time to get some (of the) opportunities that I got.”
Thompson first put on a police badge while volunteering as a reserve officer for the Mauldin Police Department in 1993. During that time, he was also a manager at McDonald’s, where he had worked for nine years throughout high school and college.
“McDonald’s taught me a lot,” Thompson said. “That customer service, customer interaction — you wouldn’t believe how much that helps you when you are a police officer. You would think it’s two totally separate things, but it really goes hand in hand.”
Volunteering as a reserve officer and working with fully certified officers helped open Thompson’s eyes to the career he wanted to pursue.
“If you think about, working somewhere and earning your wage, and then you can’t wait to get off of work — your paid job — to go volunteer. That was me,” Thompson said. “I couldn’t wait to go home, take a shower, put on a uniform, and get in a police car and be a police officer.”
Thompson became a full-time police officer for Mauldin in 1994 after spending a year volunteering at the police department. He joined the Greenville Police Department in 1997.
“Mauldin was (a) very small, very easy going town. It was a great place to start because you could learn and it wasn’t fast paced,” Thompson said. “I got my feet wet down there and then came up (to Greenville) and really got to do a lot.”
The Greenville Police Department offered Thompson many opportunities to serve within the department’s various special units. Over the years, he served as a:
- Field-training officer
- Vice and narcotics detective
- SWAT team commander
- Lieutenant of special operations/vice and narcotics
- Lieutenant over uniform patrol
- Captain of the support division
- Captain of the operations division
- Captain of investigations division
- Deputy police chief
After climbing the ranks, Thompson was selected to be the chief of police in 2020.
“I always said, ‘I wish I was in that position. What is so hard about making the right decision? We need to do this,’ and I was so glad to get the opportunity,” Thompson said.
His main goals as police chief were to strengthen community relationships and establish transparency between the police department and Greenville residents.
“Transparency is huge,” Thompson said. “People nowadays want to know more about what’s going on inside the police department (more) than ever. They want to deep dive into the statistics, the data — they want to see it. So we’ve really tried to improve that.”
For the past three years, Thompson has led the Greenville Police Department through a worldwide pandemic and a time when public mistrust of police was at an all-time high.
Despite these unique circumstances, the city’s police department reported an almost 20% decrease in violent crimes in 2022. Thompson credits this decline to the work and dedication of the city’s police officers.
“It was a great teamwork,” Thompson said. “We were successful because of the great teamwork of the police department and (the) fellow agencies that (worked) side by side with us too.”
He says working with the men and women who serve within the GPD has been his favorite part of the job.
“Obviously, I wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for all of them and their hard work,” Thompson said. “I’m really proud of them and I could not say enough good things about them.”
Thompson said he decided it was time to retire because both he and the police department are in “a good place.” He hopes to see the GPD and its various units continue to grow to coincide with the city’s growth.
“I think it should be an easy transition to get somebody here,” Thompson said. “Crime is low. (There is) good teamwork with other agencies. I’ve done my time and now (the department is) ready for somebody else to come in and continue leading it.”
The city of Greenville uploaded a job posting online for the Greenville Police chief position on June 5.
Fast facts
- Thompson moved to Upstate South Carolina, specifically Mauldin, 43 years ago.
- He graduated from Mauldin High School in 1986.
- Thompson received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of South Carolina in 1990.
- He graduated from the FBI National Academy in 2014.
- Thompson received a master’s in criminal justice from Anderson University in 2019.
- He graduated from the Police Executive Research Forum’s Senior Management Institute for Police.
