Chief Johnson, who will retire from his post in March 2007, is the first African-American in this position for the city. A native of Laurens, SC, he attended high school at Sanders High. He furthered his education with an associate degree in criminal justice from Greenville Technical College and a B.S. degree from Southern Wesleyan University.

Johnson enhanced his career in law enforcement by graduating from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy and the FBI National Academy. He also studied criminal justice at the American Baptist Theological Center, now known as the Martin Webb Learning Center.

He feels that there has been a reduction in crime in the city, although he still sees people who do bad things. Regardless, Johnson credits the reduced crime statistics to much advancement for his department since becoming Chief in 2000. Among these are advances in crime scene investigations, the switch to a radio system that integrates access with other police, a national integrated ballistics network to connect crime through the tracking of weapons, an automated palm and finger computer that compares all prints, a forensics investigator on staff and laptop computers in the more than 125 squad cars.

One of his efforts to reach out to youth in the Upstate is as the vice president of the Scout Reach Program, a program designed to teach inner-city kids to become part of the Boys Scouts. In his component, Johnson reaches out to kids at area schools. So far, the organization has helped more than 1,000 children become involved.

For Johnson, community and board work, past and present, includes the Greenville Downtown Rotary board, the Greenville Urban League of the Upstate board, Save our Sons, the Phillis Wheatley Association, Boy Scouts of America, the Greenville YMCA, the American Legion VFW Post 6734, Greenville Crimestoppers, COGNIS Chemical Corporation Advisory Board and as the City of Mauldin Election Commissioner.

Moving forward, Johnson expects challenges for the city because of the large amount of new growth. He says that the Greenville Transit Authority is looking for ways to put more mobility into place so that citizens can easily get around the city.

However, he explains that traffic is found to be a higher concern than crime for residents, according to a recent survey conducted. This survey, conducted by Furman University, is required every three years so that the Greenville City Police Department remains nationally accredited.

Johnson, who is married with two grown children, looks forward to taking time off to spend time with his family. He states that education is the key to any and all successes in life.