By By LYDIA GRIMES-Features writer
B.C. Cooper is the new police chief in East Brewton, but he is not new to the area. His knowledge of Escambia County comes from his stint as a narcotics enforcement agent from 1996 to 1999 with the Escambia County Sheriff's Department. Those years spent here gave him the incentive to want to come back to serve as police chief.
Cooper was one of nine applicants for the job of East Brewton Police Chief after the retirement of Chief Wilson Mallard and the city council's unanimous choice for the job. He began work almost immediately and has big plans for the City of East Brewton.
The East Brewton Police Department has five officers at this time and Chief Cooper has plans to make them more visible within the community.
Cooper comes from a large farming family and grew up in Pike County.
He was born and raised in a small community called Ebenezer near Josey and Banks. He attended school in Brundidge but did not graduate.
He joined the U.S. Army in 1970 hoping to get away from farm life.
Cooper served in the military for the next 20 years, retiring in 1990. His service carried him to Korea and Germany and while he was in this country he was stationed at Fort Bragg, Fort Gordon and Fort Ord. He also served at White Sands Missile Range in Alamogordo, New Mexico; Fort Lewis, Washington; Fort Benning, Georgia; and Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
He worked as a telephone installer and lineman, in supply and as an instructor for the last 15 years of his service and attained the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6).
He also got in 80 hours of college while he was in the military and while he was at White Sands he worked in security.
His experience working in security and supervising personnel served him well. He worked for a year in Clio as a narcotics investigator where he met someone who had a great influence on his life.
He worked in several places, including Headland, Opp, and Brundidge, before coming to Escambia County in 1996 to work with the sheriff's office for four years. He left here and went to Silas as the chief of police for a few months and then to Hayneville where he served as chief of police for five years before hearing about and applying for the job in East Brewton.
Although Cooper is now single, he was married and has two children, a daughter who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, and a son who is a student at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
While working in Hayneville, Cooper also worked in security at the Hyundai plant nearby. He says he is looking forward to having only one job.
His cars are his three classic cars which he has entered in several car shows.
Cooper seems very much as if he is looking forward to his new job of running the East Brewton Police Department and hopes to make a difference in the community serving as police chief.