Ben Robinson/Courier

Mayor David Owens swears in new police chief Travis Riggs during Monday night’s Pickens City Council meeting as Riggs’ wife, Amy, holds the Bible. Riggs said he will need to look at the department as a whole before deciding if an assistant chief is needed.

PICKENS — The City of Pickens has a new police chief and to many in the community he is a very familiar face.

On Friday, former assistant police chief Travis Riggs was notified via letter from Pickens city administrator Bruce Evilsizor that on behalf of Pickens mayor David Owens and the Pickens City Council, he had been appointed as the city’s new chief of police.

Riggs, 44, grew up in Pickens and was a 1989 graduate of Pickens High School. Riggs and his wife, Amy, have two sons, ages 24 and 20.

He joined the United States Army after high school and was stationed in Germany. He was later deployed to Saudi Arabia, then to Iraq for Desert Storm and later was part of the forces that secured Kuwait.

Riggs has been employed with the Pickens Police Department for the past 16 years. He began his police career with the Pickens Police Department in 1999. In 2002, Riggs was promoted to sergeant, and then to detective sergeant in 2006. In 2011, he earned a promotion to assistant chief.

Riggs was a 1999 honor graduate of the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy and a 2005 and 2008 officer of the year for the Pickens Police Department. In 2008, he earned a Law Enforcement Certificate of Commendation from the Pickens Post 11 American Legion, and in 2010 he garnered the Billy Wilkins Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement.