First female chief takes charge of Tybee Island Police Department

TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (WTOC) - Tybee Island has a new police chief.

Tiffany Hayes, previously the assistant police chief, was promoted to chief at the start of 2023.

She is Tybee Island’s first female police chief. She takes over after Bob Bryson retired after 23 years of service to the city.

Chief Hayes said she’s proud to take on this leadership role and keep moving the department forward.

Chief Hayes began her career 26 years ago with the Tybee Island Police Department as a dispatcher. She quickly moved up the ranks becoming the island’s first-ever assistant police chief and now first-ever female police chief.

“She knows Tybee. She knows its history, she knows our needs and she knows our challenges,” Tybee Island Mayor Shirley Sessions said.

Bryson said Chief Hayes is an exceptional officer with a strong work ethic. He says the way she runs her own household speaks volumes of how she will run the department.

“Being the police chief is a very paternal aspect and now they get to have the maternal aspect and so she’s going to do an amazing job,” Bryson said.

Chief Hayes had her two sons there to pin her and a community to cheer for her.

“It’s been a pleasure to know her, see her working capabilities and the fact that she’s extremely effective and efficient,” Tybee resident Demery Bishop said.

In addition to being honored locally, she has gotten some national credentials as well, recently graduating from the FBI National Academy.

“That was the best training I’ve ever received in my whole law enforcement career,” Chief Hayes said.

Chief Hayes said she’s ready to take on the responsibility and already has some ideas to maintain and recruit officers.

“I hope to work with the guys closer to see what their needs are and try to meet their needs. Maybe look for some pay increases because we have a great department, we’re very educated, very trained, and I believe that we need to bring that up,” Chief Hayes said.

Now that history has been made, Chief Hayes said she hopes more women will feel inspired to get into law enforcement.

“I hope that there are little girls watching this that say ‘you know, that could be me one day.’ It absolutely, 100%, could be you one day,” she said.

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