Lieutenant Colonel Bobby Albert never joined the South Carolina Highway Patrol with his sights set on becoming a deputy commander. He focused on saving lives, educating drivers, and treating people the way he’d want his own family treated. The rest just fell into place.
“It was a calling. I knew it was what I wanted to do,” said Albert, who retires June 30 after 32 years with the Highway Patrol and nearly 36 years in law enforcement. “I had no idea I’d make it this far. I thought if I got to be a sergeant over a county that I will have made it to the top.”
A native of Fairfield County, Albert joined the sheriff’s office as a deputy in 1990. With just over three years of experience under his belt, he found himself drawn to the Highway Patrol’s focus that aims to prevent injuries and death through education and roadside enforcement.
“It was the proactive nature and the emphasis on prevention, instead of waiting for something to happen, that drew me to the patrol,” Albert said. He joined the patrol in 1994 and was first assigned to Laurens County. In those days, troopers only learned their assignment on the day of graduation. “You had two weeks to find a place to live,” he recalled.
After a few months in Laurens, Albert and his family relocated back to Fairfield County. In the years that followed, he climbed the ranks as a supervisor, learning the importance of leading by example and “management by walking around.”
“You have to get out there with the troopers, have meal breaks with them, do road checks with them, run lidar and work collisions with them,” he said. “Be out there with them in their element. They see you as one of them. It doesn’t matter what rank you have on your collar or your sleeve.”
As Albert became a Lieutenant in Troop 1, then a Captain and Troop 4 commander, then a Major in Blythewood Headquarters, followed by Lieutenant Colonel in 2021, there was less time on the road and more time behind a desk. He received a tragic reminder of how precious time is, with the deaths of both his parents and his only sibling — all in the span of 2.5 years.
“That really put life in perspective for me,” he said. “You can’t take money or possessions with you. The only thing you have is time. I want to go out and enjoy a little bit of life.”
It’s been a good ride, Albert said. But after years of being away from his family on nights, weekends, and holidays to help other people get safely to their own families — and two year-long military deployments — he’s looking forward to spending time with his children and grandchildren.
“I’ve already retired one time from the National Guard, and I enjoyed wearing that uniform,” he said. “But my heart will always be out on the road, interacting with citizens and making a difference that way.”
Given his preference to working on the roads, it’s fitting that one of Albert’s last arrests in his career came in his final weeks with the patrol. While off duty and driving on Interstate 77 after leaving a meeting, a vehicle approached quickly from behind and passed Albert, drifting dangerously across the lanes. With the nearest trooper several miles away, Albert initiated the traffic stop wearing civilian clothes, body armor and his TROOPER vest.
The driver, who was arrested for DUI after other troopers arrived, had at least five controlled substances in his system, toxicology tests showed.
“We get stats every day of how many people have died on the highways, but we’ll never know how many we saved,” Albert said. “I know I prevented a wreck that night. And that’s how you make a difference as a trooper — one traffic stop at a time.”
