GOOSE CREEK, S.C. — After more than two decades of rising through the ranks of the Goose Creek Police Department, Tom Hill has been named the city’s permanent police chief.
Hill, who has served as interim chief for the past five months, was promoted following a unanimous vote by Goose Creek City Council on Tuesday. Mayor Greg Habib administered the oath of office after the vote.
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Hill joined the department in 2005 and has served in positions spanning patrol, internal affairs, administration and investigations during his 21-year career with the city.
Habib said Hill’s five months leading the department on an interim basis gave city officials an opportunity to see firsthand how he would handle the permanent role.
“These months have allowed us to watch him on the job,” Habib said. “He has shown, without question, an ability to lead with confidence and enthusiasm, and handle a crisis.”
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Habib said Hill has also earned the trust and respect of the officers he will now permanently lead.
“He’s going to be a great police chief for Goose Creek,” the mayor said.
‘The honor of my life’
For Hill, the promotion marks the culmination of a career inspired by two of his uncles, who were police officers.
“This is the honor of my life, and the opportunity of a lifetime,” Hill said. “Both of my uncles were police officers, and since I was a child I dreamed of following in their footsteps.”
Hill said Goose Creek gave him the opportunity to fulfill that childhood ambition when the city hired him in 2005.
“To now be named Goose Creek’s police chief is an incredible honor,” he said.
Hill began his career as a patrol officer before being promoted to corporal in 2007 and sergeant the following year. He later became a lieutenant in the department’s Patrol Division.
Over the years, Hill has served as a SWAT team member, crisis negotiator, firearms instructor, ethics instructor and polygraph examiner.
He later moved from patrol to Internal Affairs and was promoted to captain over the Administrative Services Division in 2019. In 2020, he became captain over Field Services, and in 2022, he was named captain over the department’s Support Services unit, which oversees investigations.
Training, accountability and community engagement
As chief, Hill said his priorities will include training, accountability, cooperation with other law enforcement agencies and maintaining strong relationships with the community.
“This Police Department will do our part to keep Goose Creek the best place to raise a family,” Hill said. “We will emphasize training and accountability, for our police officers and for me.”
Hill also pledged to work closely with other law enforcement agencies throughout the region.
Community engagement, he said, will remain a top priority.
“Nothing is more important than an open line of communication between residents and their police department,” Hill said.
A longtime Goose Creek connection
Hill moved to Goose Creek from North Carolina when he was 14 after his father, who served in the U.S. Navy, relocated the family.
He attended Sedgefield Middle School and Goose Creek High School before eventually beginning his law enforcement career in the same community.
While working for the city, Hill used Goose Creek’s tuition reimbursement program to continue his education outside of work. He earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Limestone College and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Charleston Southern University.
Hill’s wife, Kristy, and the couple’s three children attended Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony.
Now, after five months serving in the position on an interim basis, Hill officially takes over the department he joined more than two decades ago.
