Midlands city taps new police chief after predecessor left in less than 3 months
The city of Cayce has tapped a new police chief three months after its former chief resigned in December amid complaints from staff that he created a hostile work environment.
The city of more than 13,000 chose Bruce Wade — the assistant police chief for West Columbia who’d been serving in an advisory role for Cayce as it searched for a new chief — to lead its department of more than 70 employees. Wade had been with West Columbia since 2005 and was given the assistant police chief title in 2021.
“We are thankful for Asst. Chief Wade’s diligence at the advisory level ... through his time with us in this role, he has a keen understanding of the needs of our community,” Cayce City Manager Jim Crosland said in a Friday press release.
Wade, who’d been in the advisory role since mid-January, will officially become chief on April 15, according to the release.
The announcement comes three months after the city’s former police chief, Herbert Blake, resigned abruptly in December. Blake, who’d come to Cayce from the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department in Asheville, N.C., received multiple complaints from police department staff alleging that he excluded certain staff members from meetings and created a hostile work environment.
It’s unclear whether the complaints are what led to Blake’s resignation. In a brief, three-sentence letter, he thanked the city for the opportunity.
Since the middle of January, West Columbia’s Wade had been serving in what the city of Cayce called an advisory role. That basically meant he could offer guidance and support for the department, but didn’t have decision-making power.
Wade’s consulting was part of a deal Cayce and West Columbia entered into in January, which required Cayce to pay its sister city for his services to the tune of around $11,000 each month, equivalent to about $132,000 annually. It wasn’t immediately clear what Wade will make as the new leader, but The State has filed a public records request for the information.
Cayce could be on the hook to pay West Columbia an additional $66,000, or six months of the fees for Wade’s services, as a result of his departure from West Columbia, according to a clause in the contract, obtained through a public records request, signed by both cities.
“Our citizens want to know that when they call for help that someone will be there,” Cayce Mayor Elise Partin said in the Friday release. “They want to know that their Police Department is focused on crime prevention and citizen safety. Our team does that, but they do it best when they are supported with great leadership.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 3:54 PM.
