AUGUSTA, Ga (WJBF)- The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office is finding another way to connect with the community. It’s a podcast that anyone can listen to, called “On Scene with RCSO”.

It launched 9 weeks ago. And so far, the hosts say it’s been a great way to engage with the community.

“One of the things that Chief Clayton and Sheriff Roundtree wanted to do was kind of figure out how to tell our story here at the sheriff’s office,” said podcast co-host Lieutenant Kimberly Lee.

A call went out to the command staff at the Sheriff’s Office for ideas on how the community can learn about who all works for the Sheriff’s Office. Lt. Lee submitted her idea for a podcast.

“I told you I’m a fan of crime shows. And there’s one episode where they’re looking for a homicide suspect that was kind of three of four steps ahead of them. And someone from their actual sheriff’s office was like- let’s do a podcast,” she explained.

“On Scene with RCSO” isn’t just about introducing the public to members of the office. Co-host Lieutenant Lucas Grant said there are other benefits as well.

“Our goal is definitely to make sure the community is getting the information that we’re trying to put out to them, because we want them to be informed. We want this to be another platform for us to be able to reach them and engage with them,” he stated.

Over the last few months, several guests have joined the two lieutenants, and both said it’s hard to choose their favorites so far.

“And we had Sheriff Roundtree. He came to speak about the vision of the sheriff’s office and what the podcast was to him and to the show and some issues that were going on,” said Lt. Lee.

“Our recruiter, Mark Chestang. When I first got on the road, he was my sergeant on the road and he taught me a lot,” smiled LT. Grant. “He’s a fun loving guy. He brings out so much energy to where he brings out energy to us when we’re doing the podcast.”

“On Scene with RCSO” is a chance to create more transparency, something these officers feel is already happening.

“This is us. This is the sheriff’s Office. This is the citizen’s of Richmond County’s podcast,” said Lt. Grant.

The co-hosts say they have a lot of fun and that the podcast is a team effort. They agree that they couldn’t do it without producer, Deputy Joseph Hawk.

New episodes of the podcast are dropped every Monday.

Photojournalist: Will Baker.