The City of Austell has a new police chief, one who has already been serving in that role.

In a social media post,  Austell officials announced that the city council voted 6-0 Monday night to appoint Shameta Jones-Harrell as the new, permanent police chief. She’d been in that role on an interim basis following the February resignation of Orrin Scott Hamilton. The post says that she thus becomes the first female police chief in the history of Cobb County.

Hamilton was appointed chief in August of 2022 after retiring from the Cobb County Police Department with 27 years of service. He was the first Black police chief in the city’s history.

Jones-Harrell previously served in law enforcement as part of the College Park Police Department and then with the City of Brookhaven’s Police Department, where she rose to command the Support Services Division, according to the Austell and Brookhaven websites.