Robert Humphrey has seen and done a little bit of everything during his extensive tenure with Bainbridge Public Safety.

He surpassed the 30-year mark before he decided to retire as a city employee and pursue a “second career” with the Decatur County Sheriff’s Office.

An Albany native, Humphrey moved to Bainbridge in 1984 after a three-year stint in the U.S. Army, part of which was served in Germany.

The majority of his police career was served as a detective or investigator in some capacity, including a few years as part of a multi-agency drug task force. He was part of the team during the late 80s and early 90s when the national crack-cocaine epidemic seeped into Southwest Georgia.

Humphrey said that out of everything in his 30-plus years in law enforcement, that sticks out because the group worked long hours, six-to-seven days a week, to really clean up the streets and stop the spread of narcotics.

“I think out of everything I ever worked, probably undercover narcotics, working criminal drug investigations, was the highlight of my career,” Humphrey said. “It just made you feel good knowing you were trying to take those drugs off of the street to keep our children, the adults, from being involved with it.”

Growing up in the 1970s, Humphrey and a friend loved to watch “Starsky and Hutch,” the buddy cop show that first aired in ‘75, which sparked interest in law enforcement for both.

“That was all cool, it was neat getting to bust people and be in a cool car,” Humphrey said. “We had this dream, and we both fulfilled it. He’s got 33, 34 years with the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office. He got a few years on me because I joined the Army.”

Over the years, Humphrey attended countless classes and training courses on everything from narcotics and criminal investigations to administration training. He even took some classes at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia and also went back to school to get a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice while working as part of the BPS Criminal Investigations Division.

That training, combined with the experience and heart he puts into the job, is what give Humphrey confidence in the new position.

“There are so many helpless people out there who don’t know what to do, how to do, or why it should be done, so you have the opportunity of doing that, knowing that’s what you’re trained to do,” Humphrey said of helping people on the job. “It’s amazing that what you do everyday, what you think is just your job, people really appreciate it. I want to express that to the community. That’s what we’re here for, that’s what we do.”

Humphrey said that the job is so much more than “just a paycheck,” and that if an officer doesn’t have their heart in it, they’re in the wrong field. You have to want to help people, all people from all walks of life, he said.

“If you’re not a people person, if you don’t have the right attitude, you’re not going to succeed in this job,” Humphrey said. “You’ve got to be compassionate, with a good attitude and understanding.”

Humphrey plans to bring that mentality to his investigative position with DCSO, serving the people of Bainbridge and Decatur County.

“I’d like the citizens of Bainbridge to know that I’m still in a law enforcement capacity. I work for a different agency, but I’m still available for the citizens of Bainbridge as well as Decatur County.