Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Major Tommy Sims celebrated his retirement as the Warden, of the Chambers County Detention Facility, on Thursday. The long-time law enforcement officer was greeted by a crowd of coworkers, family and friends at the Chambers County courthouse outside the Sheriff’s Office with cake, food, and speeches.

Sims started as an officer in 1990 working for Valley Police Department. After six years, he moved to Lanett PD. There he was one of the founding members of the Chambers County Multi-jurisdiction Drug Task Force and the community police, two programs he is most proud of. 

He also worked for the Sheriff’s Office doing investigations, before becoming Captain then Major and working in the Jail, where he would become the Warden. 

Now he moves on, making way for his second-in-command to be promoted to Warden, Captain Cassie Tomczek. In her place, Captain Justin Burns will be the new Jail Administrator.

A quiet man, Sims didn’t say much, just thanked everyone for coming. Jeff Nelson, the County Sheriff, had plenty to say. The Sheriff met Sims when Nelson was a city cop in Roanoke.  

“He has worked in every department in this county, from patrols to narcotics to investigations, running the jail, he’s done it all,” Nelson said. “He has a wealth of knowledge.”

Nelson also announced that after his retirement, Sims will be coming to work part-time in the Sheriff’s Office as a cold case investigator, looking in too older, unsolved cases. 

“His passion was investigation. He’s always loved working investigation and he had come to me and asked me about cold cases. Because we have several of them in this county,” 

Nelson said. He added Sims announcing his retirement from the jail was a loss. After Sims expressed interest in going back to investigating cold cases, his leaving was a “blessing in disguise” with him being able to stay on to look into these unsolved cases. 

“A good supervisor you know, surround yourself with great people,” Nelson said to the crowd. “They don’t come any better than Tommy.”