HANCEVILLE — The Hanceville police department officially is patrolling under new leadership, after new chief of police Josh Howell took his oath this week as the successor to outgoing police chief Bob Long.

Howell, a longtime Hanceville officer, accepted his new role at Thursday’s meeting of the Hanceville City Council, with municipal judge Steven Gravlee administering Howell’s oath. Most recently a Hanceville police lieutenant, Howell was recognized alongside Long, who announced his retirement earlier this year, with a city hall reception at the meeting’s end.

An Etowah County native, Howell originally joined the Hanceville police department on a part-time basis while training at Wallace State in computer forensic sciences. Bringing 16 overall years in law enforcement to his new chief’s position, Howell joked that he never thought he’d remain in law enforcement long enough to oversee an entire department.

“I came to Hanceville to go to school, and I really thought that I was going to get out of policing altogether,” he said. “But I wanted to keep my certification up, so I talked to Hanceville about doing part-time work, and from there, Chief Long kept on asking me if I’d like to come on full time — so I finally did.

“From there, I ended up working my way through every position — except for assistant chief — in the department: corporal, sergeant, revenue officer, investigator and finally, lieutenant. I’ve always been interested in the more technical aspect of investigations — internet crimes and computer-related crime — but I ended up doing just about every job, at one time or another, in the whole department.”

Howell has been an officer with the Hanceville police department for the past seven years, all of which were served under outgoing chief Long. Long retires this year from the position after having served as Hanceville’s chief of police for the past 12 years.