Rod Ellis was just 20 years old when he began his law enforcement career, admittedly an age that may have been a bit too young in retrospect.
“That’s really young when you consider all the things you face in law enforcement,” he said Tuesday.
But Ellis proved to have the attitude and the mentality for the job. Today, after 36 years as a peace officer in Georgia, Ellis is planning for his retirement, capping a career in Coastal Georgia that sent Ellis onto the streets, into the woods and ultimately back to school.
Ellis has served as the Glynn County Schools Police Chief since 2010. His last day on the job overseeing the 28-person police department will be Sept. 29.
There are plenty of memories and achievements for Ellis to reflect on through his nearly four decades in law enforcement. Among them is a sense of pride in the network of partnerships he helped build with other agencies like the Glynn County and Brunswick police departments, the Glynn County Sheriff’s Office, the fire departments and the Emergency Management Agency.
“When things happen, we all have worked together to address them, whether it was a big event held on school property, threats to schools or natural hazards like hurricanes,” Ellis said.
He also worked over the past 13 years to improve overall school safety through policies and training. Ellis began active-shooter training and other school protection training before state and federal standards made it mandatory. He pushed the board of education to ensure every school had secured vestibules and to build a fence around the college-like campus of Glynn Academy in downtown Brunswick.
Ellis’ work and dedication to school safety earned him a spot on the Georgia Emergency Management Agency’s Local School Safety Advisory Committee.
When he began working for the school police department in 2008, Ellis wasn’t sure what to expect. Prior to that he had worked for the Department of Natural Resources as a game warden for nearly 20 years. In that capacity, he had been part of water rescues, busting poachers and other law enforcement activities that seemed more exciting than serving and protecting schools.
Prior to his nearly two decades at DNR, Ellis had served with the Glynn County Police Department, where he started as the fresh-faced 20-year-old.
After a few weeks in the schools, Ellis realized he had made the right decision.
“I found out I liked it a lot more than I thought I would,” he said.
Part of that was because of the opportunity to dive into a holistic approach to school safety, a new and emerging topic law enforcement agents around the world were researching at the time in the wake of a rising tide of violence that remains an everyday threat.
Being a school resource officer and later the school system’s police chief gave Ellis the chance to be a community police officer at its most fundamental level.
“Out of everything I’ve done as a law enforcement officer, you have the biggest chance to make a difference here,” Ellis said. “It’s all about public service. It’s community policing at the grassroots level.”
A young local law enforcement officer recently sent Ellis a message thanking him for his influence on the officer while he was still in high school.
“You just don’t get the opportunity to have an impact like that anywhere else,” Ellis said.
Of all the memories of things like water rescues with DNR or a training trip to Israel, one incident stands out in Ellis’ mind he will never forget. Ellis was a School Resource Officer at Glynn Academy in 2009 when he pulled over on the side of Altama Avenue to check on what appeared to be a woman in distress. He discovered the woman’s 10-month-old baby was choking. An ambulance was on the way, but Ellis used his first-aid training and wasted little time freeing the baby’s airway so it could breathe again.
Ellis insisted then and now that he is no hero, but that doesn’t stop him from thinking about that child being nearly old enough to drive today.
Scott Spence, Glynn County Schools Superintendent, was a principal when Ellis started as a resource officer and said Ellis has done a lot to improve the department.
“His dedication to our system and his constant efforts to improve the professionalism of the officers in our force has helped us develop one of if not the best School Resource Officer departments in the state of Georgia,” Spence said. “I have worked closely with Rod for nearly 20 years and I’ve always known I could count on him when it came to the safety of our students and staff. It goes without saying that he will be missed by all in the Glynn County School System.”
The school system is actively seeking a replacement for Ellis. The job was posted on the Glynn County Schools’ website Aug. 11.
As for what’s next for Ellis, he wants to remain involved with school safety initiatives however possible. He also has some other plans but isn’t ready to go into details about them yet.
“I’ve got some things up my sleeve,” he said.