DEMOREST GA— Chief Jim Andrews is hoping to break stereotypes of police officers.

“Officers get a title of all they want to do is write tickets and lock up everyone that passes their path, but for me it’s the lifelong lessons and connections that make the job well worth it when you lay your head on your pillow at night,” said Andrews. For nearly three decades, Andrews has been making those connections.

He started his career working at a prison then vastly earned his way up to a K-9 handler, which then led to bigger and better opportunities in his career. In 1993, he joined GSP (Georgia State Patrol) as a radio operator and took that challenge on for roughly a year. Shortly after in 1994, he went to Trooper School and worked his way up quickly in rankings to a Buck Sargent. In 2010, he was given the opportunity to work with Gov.Nathan Deal during his campaign. During that time, he got to travel to Canada, Israel, China, Japan and Korea. 

“My most valuable lesson during my career was when I was in the small town called Madison, Georgia. I was just in training to become a trooper and I’m not sure if the officer I was with was trying to impress me or what, but there was this African male who was just trying to make a living hauling wood and he wrote him a ticket. Still to this day I don’t understand why that man got a ticket and that one will forever stick with me,” said the Georgia native.

Andrews made life-long connections with people throughout his career. Still to this day he catches up with Gov. Deal and his wife Sandra. The most touching connections he made throughout his lifetime were the families of loved ones that has passed away in a crash scene he had to attended. 

“ This may seem a little weird, but the most rewarding and most joy I got out of my job was working fatal crashes and then sitting down to talk to the family and friends listening to all the stories about the loved one who had just passed,” said Andrews.