“It’s been an honor, a joy and a pleasure. I just can’t tell you how much I’ve been blessed,” Johnny Scearce said as he looked back over some 38 years he has spent in law enforcement.
Scearce will retire January 1, 2023, as chief of the Blue Ridge Police Department, having served almost 32 years with the department in that leadership role.
Scearce knew his retirement would come some day, but “not this fast,” he said as he looked back on how a battle with COVID-19 that started in August 2020 changed his plans and his perspective. Though recovered in many ways from the illness that left hims hospitalized for almost four months, his stamina is not what it was before COVID-19 struck.
Though he could probably spend several years working behind a desk, “I’m not that kind of cop,” he said. He then retraced his law enforcement steps that began in McCaysville.
Scearce was quick to credit Buster Fowler for getting him his start. “Buster went to bat for me. I was the youngest cop ever hired in McCaysville,” Scearce said.
In those days, an officer could work a year before being certified. “It was a year of probation. They wouldn’t even let me drive the car,” Scearce said.
He started in McCaysville in 1984 and was certified the next year. It was not long until he experienced, “Politics was rough back in those days.”
Leonard Turner, a veteran of the McCaysville Police Department, ran afoul of the city’s police commissioner, was demoted, and Scearce was named chief.
A new administration took over in McCaysville a few years later and Scearce was out of job.
He and James “Hen” Ellis went to work for the City of Copperhill and Mayor Bobby Barclay. Scearce still speaks highly of Ellis. “That was a good man,” Scearce said.
The two had started to work as an election neared. Again, a change in administration left Scearce looking for work.
He did a brief stint with the Fannin County Fire Department. “Richard Stanley gave me a job, but fire fighting wasn’t for me. I was a cop,” Scearce said.
Scearce’s next stop proved to be his last, the one that would see the start of 32 years of service in Blue Ridge.
Blue Ridge Mayor Robert Green hired Scearce in 1991. The city council members were James Phillips, Helen Wilson, James Panter, Brenda Queen and Tony Lindsey.
Scearce was working for Leeman Henry, “Only the second chief I had worked for,” Scearce said.
Then there was a sweeping change in the police force and Scearce was the lone survivor, along two Ford Crown Victoria police cars. He was named chief. “The council worked with me and gave me everything I needed. Robert Green and that council, they were good people to serve under,” Scearce said.
From those beginnings, Scearce looks on today’s department as “the best police department in all of North Georgia.” He takes pride in the changes that have come along.
Scearce sees what was perhaps his greatest accomplishment as “cleaning up” the Valley Village parking lot. “I stopped the cruising,” he said with a chuckle.
Before being annexed into the city, it was the site of numerous fights and one man was beaten to death. Scearce remembers Green asking him, “Can you clean it up?” Scearce said yes, even though he admits, “I don’t know why I said that.”
With that task at hand, he was allowed to hire a second officer, Greg Arp, and the work began and ended with Scearce keeping his promise to the mayor. The cruising, fighting and assorted trouble was finally stopped and the shopping center returned to its previous status as a good place to do business.
Just like there are highs and accomplishments, there are lows that leave scars that never go away.
Scearce’s is the death of Lew Crawford. “Losing somebody like that was really hard,” Scearce said. “Mentally, it never goes away.”
Through the years, the department has grown to ten full time and six part time officers, “and we’re still two short,” Scearce said.
Scearce began his career with a six-shot .357 magnum, a D cell Maglight flashlight, and a car shared by officers – the extent of his equipment.
Then, one Christmas, his wife, Brenda, bought him a Beretta 92F, 9mm pistol, just like the one Mel Gibson used in the movie Lethal Weapon. “I saw the movie and I just had to have one,” Scearce said. It was his first real equipment upgrade.
Today’s officers are equipped with automatic pistols, tasers, pepper spray, bullet proof vests that have evolved into outer case carriers, body cameras, and individual cars with computers and tag readers.
“I’m leaving it better than I found it,” Scearce said of the department.
He is especially proud of the many law enforcement officers who have passed through the doors of the Blue Ridge Police Department. The names are a Who’s Who of law enforcement, including some who continue their careers with the department, newly named Chief Robbie Stuart and Captain Gary Huffman. Scearce remembers how Huffman was the city’s first certified jailer. Recently retired Assistant Chief Mike Presswood started and ended his career in Blue Ridge. Among others are McCaysville Police Chief Michael Earley and Mark Joffre who is with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
Scearce is the third generation of his family to serve in law enforcement. Two family members were killed in the line of duty, his grandfather, William T. “Boss” Mull in McCaysville, and his uncle, Dan Mull.
But the tradition of service does not end. Scearce’s son, Shawn, is a corporal with the Blue Ridge department.
Listening to Scearce as he looks back on his career leaves the obvious impression his decision to “turn the page” on his life, as he calls it, has not been easy.
Thinking of the rock building that houses the department, one of the oldest buildings in the city, he talks of how “that’s been my home for 32 years.”
But his thoughts are more about people than buildings, equipment and politics.
More than once he thanks all the people who helped him and prayed for him during his COVID-19 battle. Remembering all of them – there are so many – would be impossible, he said. So he said, “Thanks from the bottom of my heart. You know who you are.”
He does single out his wife, Brenda. “Being a cop’s wife ain’t easy. COVID-19 wasn’t easy. She’s a rock,” he said.
Scearce appreciates how the current mayor and council have stood behind him. “They’ve been very supportive, and that means a lot,” he said.
“Most of all I want to thank my Lord and Savior for keeping me safe, allowing me the many friendships I’ve had over the years, and bringing my health back,” Scearce said.
“I love my job. I’ll miss it. I’ll miss the people,” Scearce said.