He leaves the cameras but keeps the Live PD love. Richland deputy moves on from show
Richland County Deputy Garo Brown has advice for young cops — try to shed the gear you strap on each day.
“In police work we always say the less equipment you wear the higher you’re going,” Brown said.
Sheriff Leon Lott has promoted Brown off the streets and to a desk. He’ll be a plain-clothes investigator without all the straps, vests and belts that weigh down a beat cop. Though he’s not sure what he’ll be investigating yet, Brown said he’s “looking forward to the new challenge.”
While Brown is losing all that gear, Live PD also is losing one of its stars. The deputy known for torturing shirt sleeves with his monster biceps and the rest of his muscular frame had his final television appearance with the Dec. 13 episode of the popular A&E show, which follows police departments across the United States as the officers work in real time.
Brown began working as a deputy in 2000 with the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office. He moved to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department in 2007. Live PD fans first got a glimpse of him during the second season of the show. But when he started in law enforcement he never imagined he’d be on a show like Live PD.
Brown was on other shows that depicted police in action but Live PD was unique.
“I never thought I’d be on something where they follow you live with cameras,” he said.
The fame he found was also unpredictable, he said. It may have started with the first episode in which he appeared and delivered a zinger that’s still talked about.
When the cameramen first followed him, he ran after a person suspected of holding drugs. During the chase, the person dropped a gun and a little something else, Brown said.
“After I caught him he said ‘that’s my licensed gun,’” Brown remembered. “I said ‘is that your licensed crack also?’”
The one liner sent Brown into the hearts of Live PD fans, #LivePDnation as they’re often called.
With the fame came the aspect of being on Live PD that impacted Brown the most — the appreciation he heard from across the world.
“Just the outreach of people that contact you and say ‘thank you for your service,’” Brown said.
People from Portugal, South Africa and Australia sent Brown their appreciation, he said.
From his Live PD tenure, he also gained a closer connection from people who call Richland County home. That connection gave him a new view of his career.
“It’s changed my life to have more contact with people you normally wouldn’t,” he said. People who didn’t like police, didn’t trust them or are normally uncomfortable with officers now “come up and start a conversation.”
Even if he’s not on the streets, he said those close connections to communities he patrolled are ties he’ll always keep.
A last piece of gear he won’t keep though — the well-recognized department Camaro he drove while on Live P&D. The 6-foot-4-inch deputy will get a larger department-issued vehicle. Unlike the show and the fans and the appreciation for being an officer, Brown won’t miss the car.
“They can keep that,” the big man said