Cobb County’s Public Safety Director Randy Crider announced his retirement at the December Board of Commissioners meeting, marking the end of his 32-year career in Cobb.
As Chairwoman Lisa Cupid recognized Crider and thanked him for his service, Crider received a standing ovation from county staff and members of the public.
“For the time that I’ve been here, for the past 10 years, you have been a steady hand here at the county, a steady head and a steady heart,” Cupid said.
Crider thanked the commissioners for their support over the years and for the opportunities he has had to serve the county.
“There are some unbelievable people here in public safety and I give them all the credit,” Crider said to commissioners. “No one has what we have here in Cobb.”
County Manager Jackie McMorris also recognized Crider’s leadership and said he is valued as “an inspiration, an advisor, as someone who has the institutional and historical knowledge of Cobb.”
A lifelong Cobb resident, Crider started as a firefighter in 1990, working his way up to fire chief in 2014 and public safety director in 2020.
As the public safety director, Crider oversaw a tumultuous time for the county’s public safety departments during a staffing crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. He helped implement a new compensation plan in 2020 for public safety employees and, more recently, advocated for federal funding to go toward recruitment and retention efforts for police, fire, 911 and sheriff’s office employees.
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