A Brookhaven police officer has become the first Puerto Rican-born law enforcement agency head in the state after he was selected to become the top cop for a Clayton County city.
Police Maj. Renan Lopez de Azua was sworn in as Morrow’s new police chief Wednesday, according to a news release by Brookhaven police. Lopez will be returning to his hometown, where he grew up and graduated high school after moving to the mainland U.S. from Puerto Rico.
“I am humbled and grateful for the opportunity to serve my hometown as their chief of police, and look forward to the opportunity to be part of the growth of the city” Lopez said in the release.
He began his law enforcement career with the Clayton County Police Department in 2003. In Brookhaven, he most recently served as the division commander of the department’s patrol division, which is “the largest and most visible group of officers in the agency,” the release said.
Lopez has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Miami. He was recently accepted into the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville and expects to attend in the fall of 2022, the release said.
“Lopez has been instrumental in the development of the Brookhaven Police Department and committed to our principles of community involvement and professional development,” Brookhaven police Chief Gary Yandura said in the release. “We wish him success as chief in Morrow.”
James Callaway, Morrow’s former police chief, resigned near the end of 2020 to take a position as deputy chief of investigations for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office.
He’s the second Brookhaven police officer to be chosen as a different department’s police chief since 2016, when Lt. Tyrone Oliver was tapped as Social Circle’s chief of police. In 2019, Oliver was chosen to lead the Georgia’s Department of Juvenile Justice.
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