Rock Hill Police assign officer to patrol downtown

Officer Wayne Maury smiles or waves to each person he sees as he walks into his new office in downtown Rock Hill.

“Y’all doing OK today?” he asks several men sitting outside Synergy.

Some construction workers are taking a break near Main Street on a warm September afternoon.

“Y’all make sure you’re drinking some water,” he says. “It’s hot out here.”

Maury’s new office isn’t just located downtown – the streets of downtown are his office. He’s the new Rock Hill Police community service officer assigned to the downtown area.

“I’m tasked to basically develop good community relationships in the area and problem solve,” he said. Those relationships help him address issues from small matters such as repainting crosswalks to larger problems such as vagrants, vandalism or shoplifting.

Maury, who has been on the Rock Hill police force for several years, started the new downtown beat in June. He said the police department typically approaches city administrators about additional manpower and makes its pitch, but in this case, the city approached the police department about adding a position devoted to downtown.

“Just the few months I’ve been doing the job, the response from the business people as well as the residents we have down here has been pretty well received,” Maury said. “They really enjoy the fact that there’s someone down here during the day, as well as someone that can focus on the issues downtown and follow up with them on these issues.”

To find out what issues are on the minds of downtown business owners and residents, Maury patrols the area each day on foot.

“Once that initial olive branch is extended, that leaves room for coming back in the next day or the next week and being able to just chit-chat. That’s my favorite part,” he said. “We just chit-chat about whatever – politics, life, events goings on in the city, personal type things – just extending a relationship. I get to know the people down here, they get to know me.”

While some people may be hesitant to call police about an issue, or think it’s not important enough, Maury said, they may be more willing to mention it to him casually.

“I don’t know how you couldn’t be happy about having that sort of presence that’s out there shaking hands and popping in to check on us,” said Aaron Klingenschmidt, co-owner of Main St. Bottle Shop which opened downtown a month ago. “It’s good for the community to have that police presence that’s not the reactionary force coming because you’re in trouble, but it’s proactive and it’s out there building trust in the community.”

Betsy Rock, owner of Overhead Station, said crime hasn’t been a serious problem downtown, but the constant police presence is an added comfort.

“With Christmas coming, when we have a lot more foot traffic, I’m going to feel even more confident because I know he’ll be even more visible,” she said.

The Flipside Restaurant is one of several new businesses that have opened in downtown recently. Owners Jon and Amy Fortes say they’re pleased not only with the police presence so far, but the added focus on keeping downtown safe.

“They’re not intimidating,” Amy said. “You want to feel safe with the police, but you don’t want to have a lot of, ‘Oh my God, the cops!’ He’s very approachable.”

Jon said they’ve had issues with people soliciting money from their guests, but Rock Hill officers have been prompt to respond, and they’ve noticed a reduction in the months since they’ve opened. He added that keeping the streets clean and the crime low are important to making sure downtown continues to prosper.

“Rock Hill is growing,” he said. “The growth in Rock Hill, Fort Mill, York County is huge, and that’s why we’re here. One of the reasons the growth is so great is because of how safe they’ve been able to keep the streets.”

This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 8:21 PM with the headline "Rock Hill Police assign officer to patrol downtown."