MCP Second District Commander Promoted to Assistant Chief

Second District Commander Russell Hamill was appointed Assistant Chief of the Montgomery County Police Department Tuesday and will head the Investigative Services Bureau, MCP said.

Hamill headed up the Second District, which includes Bethesda, for four years.

“I’m looking forward to the new challenge and moving back to the investigative services bureau, and continuing to serve the community – including Bethesda, but all of Montgomery County," Hamill said.

But Hamill will miss his post in Bethesda.

“I loved it,” Hamill said of heading up the second district. “I loved working down there, and I’ll always look at it as one of the high points of my career.”

Community partnerships -- including those with the the and the residents, and others were highlights of the job, Hamill said.

The community banded together in the wake of several tragedies during Hamill's time as commander. He recalled working closely with the Glen Echo Heights and Mohican Hills communities in the wake of the

“They were a scared community at the time – they were really looking to us for comfort and security, and we were looking to them to report suspicious activity. Even though the case that still doesn’t take away from the way the community and the police department and government leaders worked together.”

Hamill joined MCP in 1986 as a patrol officer in the First District and in 1994 was promoted to Sargeant in the Investigative Services Bureau, the Special Investigations Division, the Office of the Chief and the Public Safety Training Academy. 

In November 2001, Hamill was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. He became deputy commander of the First District and then the Deputy Director of the Special Investigations Division.

Continuing through the ranks, Hamill became a captain in 2004 and then in 2007 took over command of the Second District.

Hamill, a lifelong county resident, lives in Germantown. He is married and has five children.

In the second district, Lt. Thomas Jacocks, a second district deputy commander, will serve in the interim until a new commander is appointed, a police spokeswoman said. It's not yet known who the new commander will be.

Hamill will begin his new post Wednesday.