Colonel Bill Hitchens, Commissioner (Biography)

William "Bill" Hitchens' career spans forty-five years of government service in the military and state law enforcement. He served four years in the Marine Corps, which included a thirteen month stint in Vietnam, and twenty-eight years on the Georgia State Patrol prior to his retirement in 1997. During his career with the GSP he was stationed in Savannah, Americus, Statesboro and Atlanta. At the time of his retirement from the GSP he held the rank of major and was the South Division Adjutant. In that position he was responsible for all State Patrol law enforcement activities in the southern half of the state and he reported directly to the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety. During the 1996 Olympic Games, he was a Law Enforcement Shift Commander responsible for all state law enforcement personnel at the many venues in Atlanta and across the state. On one memorable night, he was called to the scene of a "suspicious package" in Centennial Park, which culminated with him being about thirty-five to forty feet from "the bomb" when it detonated.

After retiring from the GSP, he worked three years with the Governor's Criminal Justice Coordinating Council as a law enforcement consultant, where his primary responsibility was working with the thirty federally funded multi-jurisdictional drug task forces in Georgia.

Throughout most of his career with the GSP, Colonel Hitchens maintained a parallel career with the Coast Guard Reserve. Although primarily involved with Readiness and Port Contingency Planning, he also served two tours as the Executive Officer of Coast Guard Reserve Unit Air Station Savannah. During the Muriel boatlift in 1980 he was called to active duty and worked in the Coast Guard's Communications Center in Miami. He was later activated twice for Operation Desert Storm. He also served two tours in Readiness Planning assignments, one in Savannah writing the Coast Guard's Maritime Defense Zone 9700 OPLAN and then another working on the joint Navy/Coast Guard COMARDEZSECSIX OPLAN, both of which were plans for the Coastal Defense of Georgia and South Carolina. In 1994 he turned down an opportunity to be the Commanding Officer of Coast Guard Reserve Unit Savannah in order to accept an assignment as the senior planner for the Coast Guard's Olympic Task Force in preparation for the yachting venue in Savannah. Colonel Hitchens retired from the Coast Guard Reserve with the rank of commander (0-5).

In January of 2003, Governor Perdue selected Bill Hitchens to be the first director of the Georgia Office of Homeland Security. In a realignment of the State's law enforcement agencies, Hitchens' role was to serve as the point person for all homeland security issues in the state of Georgia. His position was one of six that reported directly to the Governor. In May 2004, via an Executive Order by Governor Perdue, Bill Hitchens was named Executive Commander of the G-8 Public Safety Command. Reporting directly to the Governor, he was placed in charge of all state efforts to coordinate law enforcement and public safety operations for the Group of Eight Summit (G-8) held June 8-10, 2004 on Sea Island, GA. Coordinated by then Director Hitchens, the state effort included over 11,000 public safety and Georgia National Guard personnel from across the state. In total, seventy-seven law enforcement agencies within the state and several agencies from South Carolina and Florida participated in the G-8 effort. An unprecedented success, the G-8 event produced no fatalities, no injuries and only 18 arrests of protestors.

In December 2004 Governor Perdue nominated Bill Hitchens to be the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety and the Colonel of the State Patrol. The Georgia Board of Public Safety unanimously approved his appointment with an effective date of December 16, 2004.

A graduate of Georgia Southern University and the 130^th Session of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA, Colonel Hitchens has also accumulated hundreds of specialized training hours in the military, in law enforcement and in homeland security.

An active member of his community, Colonel Hitchens has coached numerous little league baseball, softball and basketball teams, served as the president of his hometown Jaycee organization and three terms as president of the Effingham County High School Booster Club. He also served a year as the state president of the Georgia Chapter of the FBI National Academy Associates and two years as the state president of the Peace Officers' Association of Georgia.

For his civic, military and law enforcement efforts through the years, Colonel Hitchens has received several awards, including: Savannah Metropolitan Police Officer of the Year in 1978, Effingham County Police Officer of the Year in 1978, The T. Malone Sharpe Memorial Award as the Outstanding Local Chapter President in the Georgia Jaycees in 1979, Outstanding Military Citizen of Georgia Award in 1988, the Georgia State Patrol's Meritorious Service Award for his actions in Centennial Park immediately after the bombing in1996, the Arthur Hutchins Memorial Award as the Georgia Peace Officer of the Year for Meritorious Service in 2004, and the Governor's Customer Service Award for Leadership in 2009.

Colonel Hitchens has been married to his wife Norma for forty-two years and they have four children and ten grandchildren. Norma and Bill are members of the Baptist Church at Ebenezer.