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LJ Roscoe (January of 1970 - Present) was born in Frankfurt, Germany, initially living in New Jersey upon returning to the states, and then moved to Greenville, South Carolina in 1977. LJ Roscoe came to be the first female Chief of Police for the City of Goose Creek, South Carolina on January 18th of 2019. Chief Roscoe accepted a position with the City of Goose Creek after faithfully serving the citizens of Georgia at the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office for over twenty-eight years.

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Family History, Background and Personal Life

Roscoe is the daughter and oldest child of Joy and Larry Roscoe, Jr. Her father was a US Army Door Gunner who served in Vietnam during his enlistment. Upon completion of his term of service, he moved his family from Frankfurt, Germany, back to New Jersey briefly until they moved south to Greenville, South Carolina in 1977. From there he moved the family to Florence, South Carolina in 1983 where Roscoe attended West Florence High School. Roscoe is extremely competitive and was a member of the West Florence High School Cross Country and Track Teams. That competitive nature also spilled over to her relationship with her younger brother Larry who was constantly striving to exceed his sister academically.

Roscoe went on to earn both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in law enforcement management from Madison University in Mississippi. She then completed a Bachelor of Business Administration from Columbia Southern University in Alabama, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2014. In 2016 Roscoe graduated the Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command. Roscoe is a graduate of the Leadership DeKalb Class of 2016 and a member of the Justice Day Committee. She went on to receive a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership, from Waldorf University in Iowa, graduating “With Distinction” in 2017. And in 2022 Roscoe graduated from the Local Government Leadership Institute through Francis Marion University in South Carolina.

Law Enforcement Career

Roscoe began her career in law enforcement in 1991 when she joined the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office as a detention officer. She was promoted to deputy sheriff in 1994 and continued to receive promotions and assignments of increasing responsibility in various agency divisions. In 2014, she was promoted to the rank of Major and was assigned to the position of Field Division Commander where she led 150 officers and managed a $12 million budget until her retirement from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office in January of 2019.

During her career with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, Roscoe never saw a barrier that she did not want to break. She was the first female to work night shift within the field division. She was the first and only female to ride motors for the Sheriff’s Office. Roscoe became the first female Training Director, and ultimately became the first female Field Division Commander.

As the Field Division Commander, she was responsible for the agencies Patrol Operations, the Fugitive Task Force, Warrants Unit, Sex Offender Unit, Gang Unit, Domestic Violence Unit, Fraud Unit, S.W.A.T., and Communications. She also established the first formalized Canine Unit within her division. As the Field Division Commander, Roscoe took a no-nonsense approach to crime reduction. She oversaw an annual operation referred to as Operation Safe Streets, which was a multijurisdictional effort to reduce crime by putting over 700 officers on the streets during the seven-day event that continued twenty-four hours a day to conduct warrants sweeps and traffic operations.

Roscoe also played many integral roles within the Sheriff’s Office. In 2018 Roscoe acted as the Commission for the Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) accreditation manager, successfully bringing the agency into compliance with their accreditation. Roscoe also played an intricate role in assisting the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office in obtaining their first American Correctional Association (ACA) accreditation for their jail that can house up to 3,800 inmates in its maximum-security facility. Roscoe oversaw the incarceration of Brian Gene Nichols after his escape from Fulton County where he had killed the presiding judge, a court reporter, a Sheriff’s Deputy, and later a Federal Agent.

Although Roscoe had a stellar career with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, she still desired to break one more barrier, to become a Chief of Police. On January 18th of 2019, Roscoe broke that barrier when she became the first female Chief of Police for the City of Goose Creek, in South Carolina. The Goose Creek Police Department had 71 sworn officers and 27 civilian employees when Chief Roscoe took over the department. The agency quickly grew under her command to meet the city’s growth. As of June 2022, the agency had 81 sworn officers and 30 civilian support staff who are committed to serving the City of Goose Creek with excellence. The agencies’ goal is to provide a safe and friendly community for all. The agency maintains its dedication to Community Oriented Policing.

The Goose Creek Police Department remained stagnant in their Community Oriented Policing events for years prior to the arrival of Chief Roscoe. Under her direction many new, innovative, Community Oriented Policing programs were implemented.

• On June 15th, 2019, the Chief introduced the first annual Hot Pursuit 5K race. All proceeds from the race go to fund the Shop with a Badge event (also introduced by Chief Roscoe). The Shop

with a Badge event allows for less fortunate children to have the opportunity to shop with a police officer for Christmas presents. The proceeds from the first Hot Pursuit 5K aided twenty-one underprivileged youth (ages six to eleven) and quickly grew to assist fifty-two children by 2021. Any residual proceeds were then utilized for Operation Christmas Joy, where the agency was able to help underprivileged families enjoy the Christmas season by offering them a Christmas meal, providing each family member with Christmas presents and helped meet some of their needs to pay bills and feed their families.

• Under Chief Roscoe, the agency participated in the National Night Out event, where the police department interacted with the community under positive circumstances in an effort to enhance the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community.

• The police department began hosting numerous Coffee with a Cop events within the community, where the citizens are encouraged to come and interact with law enforcement under positive

circumstances to help build a relationship with the citizens the agency serves.

• Chief Roscoe implemented a new program for NARCAN and Overdose Prevention where the citizens who participated in a class could receive NARCAN to protect their family members.

• The police department began an event where the community was invited out to meet the police department K9s. During the event a K9 demonstration was performed.

• The police department participated in the DEA’s Drug Take-back Day event.

• The police department became an active participant in the Greg’s Groceries program, where the department would assist in putting together boxes of food, that would ultimately be distributed to

citizens in need of assistance. Each box of food can feed a family of four for up to a week.

• Chief Roscoe implemented a new program referred to as the Cops Community Cookout where officers go to one of the city’s lower income apartment complexes and play games, music and provide the

citizens with hotdogs, chips, and drinks in an effort to bring difficult to reach communities together with the police under positive circumstances.

• The police department held an annual Trunk or Treat event where the police department along with city hall and other valuable community members provided a safe environment for the community to

bring their children to trick-or-treat.

• The police department gave away Thanksgiving meals to families in need of assistance.

• The police department has assisted the Special Olympics annually by participating in the Cops on the Coop fundraiser at Chic-fil-a, as well as raising money and participating in the annual Polar

Plunge event.

• In December of 2020, the police department began escorting Santa Clause around the city in the police department’s MRAP to bring Christmas Joy to the city’s residents.

As the Chief of Police, Roscoe is dedicated to excellence. She has continued to promote the police department, its officers, and the agencies community efforts through its Facebook page and through the department’s Tik Tok account. Her goal is to continually build the police department to meet the communities needs and to utilize new and existing technologies to aid in the agencies policing efforts.

Roscoe is a self-professed workaholic who has no off button. She is regularly found working late and taking work home with her. Roscoe is a consummate professional who is readily available to assist others in achieving their career goals and objectives.