One of HCSO’s finest retires

“We’re going to keep fighting crime.” That was Captain Ronnie Harlowe’s response when The Journal asked him what Houston County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) was going to do without him.

Harlowe is a man of few words of his own, but the people he has worked for, with and alongside for 30 years had plenty to say about him. His mentor and the man who has served as Houston County Sheriff for all Harlowe’s career admitted to trying to convince him to stay.

“He knows my feelings, and he knows the chief’s feelings,” Sheriff Talton said, referring to Chief Billy Rape. “We’ve tried our best to talk him out of it, but we can’t get anywhere.”

Talton recalled Harlowe’s start with HCSO and his climb up the ladder. “He started off at the jail, then he was a patrolman,” Talton said. “He worked in investigations for 10 years, and then he was made head of the patrol division, and he’s been doing that for 10 years.”

The sheriff said that it was a shock when Harlowe informed him that he was retiring. At first, he thought it was a joke, but it didn’t take long for him to realize that Harlowe’s announcement was a serious one. The captain’s last day on the force is May 21.

“He’s still got time to change his mind, but he’d better hurry up,” Talton said through a shared laugh with Harlowe. “He’s been important to the sheriff’s office and to the community,” the sheriff continued. “He’s important to the people of Houston County. The way he handles things—he takes a load off me and the chief.”

The sheriff and captain are far more than boss and employee—they are friends who have shared lunch on an almost daily basis. When asked how he would go about replacing someone who had not only served so well for such a long time period, but also someone with whom he’d built such a strong bond, Talton answered honestly.

“We’re all replaceable, but to get somebody that does it his way is hard to do. It’s hard to replace a person like Ronnie with the personality and the skills that he’s got.”

“Thirty years is a long time,” Harlowe said of his career. “I’ll miss everybody, the job, the people. But I’m not moving off. I’ll still be here. We’ve made a lot of friends. I’m sure that I’ll still be in communication with everyone.”

Talton, who has spent the last 48 years serving as Houston County Sheriff, said, “I was hoping he’d stay and run for sheriff when I retire.” Despite wishing Harlowe would remain, Talton understood why he’s leaving. “He’s a dedicated man. He’s dedicated to his job and he’s dedicated to his family. But family comes first, and with all that’s going on with his family—especially with his grandson who plays soccer—I think it finally got to him, and he decided to leave so he could be with them more.”

Harlowe and his wife have raised seven children, and they share 13 grandchildren. The soccer player is a 14-year-old who is displaying outstanding skills on the field. According to Talton, Harlow travels to Atlanta at least three nights a week to be there with his grandson for soccer practice, and then he turns around and goes again on weekends.

As it turns out, law enforcement runs in Harlowe’s family. Not only is his older brother, Captain Ricky Harlowe, also a part of the Houston County law enforcement family, but his father, Lieutenant Ralph Harlowe, was a police officer with the city of Warner Robins, serving in the late 60s and early 70s.

“There’s a whole lot I can say about my brother,” Harlowe’s brother, Ricky, stated with a lighthearted laugh, “but I’m just going to say that I’m happy for him. He’s done a great job. He’s worked hard, and I wish him the best in his retirement. It’s well deserved.”

“The funny thing is that his father worked for my father,” Chief Billy Rape revealed. “Ronnie’s dad was a lieutenant, and my dad [William “Pip” Rape] was the chief of police at the same time.”

Rape has served as a member of HCSO for 48 years just like the sheriff. He, too, was there when Harlowe came aboard, and like Talton, Rape hates to see him leave.

“Ronnie is a real diligent person. He takes his work serious, and he has the ability to get the job done,” Rape explained. “He knows, not only how to communicate with employees, but with civilians. If they have a complaint or request, Ronnie gets it done. Whoever takes his place is going to have some [big] shoes to fill. I’m not even sure they can do that, but they’ll make a good effort at it. He’s going to be hard to replace.”

Chief Administrator Tommy Jackson echoed Harlowe’s work ethics. According to Jackson, he can never recall a challenge handed to Harlowe that he didn’t champion.

“When Captain Harlowe came back to the patrol division from investigations, he was my right hand. I was captain and he was lieutenant,” Jackson expressed. “I gave a lot of things to him and showed him a lot of things, and he picked up on all of it. When he got to be the captain, he took it and ran with it. He did a lot of improvements to the patrol division. He’s that person that when you give him a task to do, he’s going to do it, and he’s going to do it well.”

Jackson believes that because of the way Harlowe has performed his job, filling his role with someone else may not turn out to be as hard as they all feel it will be. “You know, normally, something like that would be difficult. But the way Ronnie works, I just think that the person who works under him is going to be prepared. He does them like I did him. He shows them the right and correct things to do. He has two lieutenants that work under him, and he shares his knowledge with them. Continuity is one of the good things that he does. If he can share it with them, he shares it with them. So, I believe that while it won’t be an easy transition, it’ll be a smooth one.”

HCSO Administrative Secretary Brandi Clifton has worked directly with Harlowe for the past five years. She describes her relationship with the captain as that of siblings, but Clifton also described him as one of the most dedicated people—both professionally and personally—that she’s ever met.

“He’s a very hard worker. He’s very dedicated and loyal to this office. We always cut up and pick at each other. I think the world of him and his wife and family. They’ll fill his spot, but he can’t be replaced,” she pointed out. “We’re going to miss him, but he deserves this. He deserves to spend time with his family because his family means everything to him—his wife, children and all his grandkids. I’m happy and proud of that for him, but we’re going to miss having him here.”

The more Clifton talked about Harlowe, the more emotional she became. “It’s going to be different—especially in the beginning. All of us here work well with each other, so we’ll eventually adapt. But it won’t be Harlowe.”

Lt. Brian Blanton has had the pleasure of working for Harlowe twice in his career—first as a patrol deputy, and again when Harlowe was promoted and became Blanton’s corporal. Blanton said he has learned a lot from Harlowe.

“Later, after we had both been promoted a couple of times, I was fortunate enough to become his lieutenant in the patrol division,” Blanton said. “I’ve worked for him for four and a half years. He has taught me even more, and I’ve had the chance to see him interact with the public and with other members of the sheriff’s office. Professionally, he has always had the sheriff’s office as his main priority with the patrol division being his focus.”

Blanton described Harlowe as one who cares for the deputies assigned to his division more than almost any other supervisor he’s ever been around. “I’ve seen him personally take food and supplies to deputies that were quarantined because of COVID, give money out of his pocket to deputies he found out were in need, and there are many other examples of his caring nature. He has been instrumental in the sheriff’s office involvement in the Toys for Tots, coat drive where we participate providing coats, shoes and socks to communities in need during our Christmas Eve tour. These are just a couple examples of the type of person Ronnie Harlowe is,” Blanton concluded. “There could be several volumes written about his law Enforcement career.”

After 30 years of law enforcement experience, Harlowe said it’s time for him to take his leave, but he had these words for anyone who desires to pursue the profession: “Come in, get all the training that you can and do the best job that you can do. Learn as much as you can. Knowledge is power when you’re in a position. Treat people the way you want to be treated. If you’re a law enforcement officer, you have to put yourself in the position to think, that person that you’re having an encounter with—what if that were your mother, your father, your brother or your sister? How would you want them to be treated by a law enforcement officer? You have to have that mentality and think like that.”

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