State Hall of Fame to honor Chief Robin Morse for 44 years of service to Laurens County
October 12, 2026
Chief Robin Morse, who spent 44 years protecting the people of Laurens County, will be inducted posthumously into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame for Meritorious Service.
The induction ceremony will be held Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 2 p.m. at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy in Columbia.
Morse died Aug. 8, 2024, at the age of 71 after a battle with cancer. His career took him through nearly every level of local law enforcement. He served with the South Carolina Highway Patrol and the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office before becoming chief of the Laurens Police Department. He later served as director of the Clinton Department of Public Safety and as a Laurens County deputy coroner. Even in retirement, he continued to serve as a volunteer firefighter with the Mountville Fire Department.
Morse graduated from the FBI National Academy and served as president of the South Carolina Police Chiefs’ Association. In 2011, he received the Purple Heart, 36 years after he was shot in the line of duty as a young sheriff’s deputy.
He was also among the first group of first responders inducted into the Laurens County Hall of Heroes, an honor that had previously been reserved for military veterans.
In June 2024, as Morse’s health declined, first responders from across Laurens County organized a parade in his honor outside Prisma Health Laurens County Hospital with less than a day’s notice. Morse watched from a hospital recliner as fire trucks and police vehicles passed beneath an American flag suspended between two ladder trucks. Video of the parade is available on the Laurens County Buzz at https://whosonthemove.com/honoring-robin-morse-celebrating-a-life-of-service-and-dedication/
Morse was known among his peers as someone who answered the call whenever a neighboring agency needed him. That reputation was tested during two of the hardest chapters in the county’s law enforcement history. Deputy Scott Quarles was killed in 2003, and Deputy Roger Rice was shot and killed in July 2011 while deputies were working to arrest a murder suspect near Clinton. As the sheriff’s office mourned and laid its own to rest, Morse and his officers stepped forward to help keep Laurens County safe.
Laurens County Sheriff Don Reynolds said the induction is a fitting tribute to a man who shaped law enforcement across the county.
“Chief Morse set the standard for what it means to serve,” Reynolds said. “He gave more than four decades to the people of Laurens County, and he did it with integrity and a servant’s heart. So many of the officers working in this county today learned from his example. This honor is well deserved, and we are proud to see him recognized among the best South Carolina has ever had.”
Morse is survived by his wife, Barbara. The community is asked to keep her and the Morse family in their prayers as the state honors a career that left a lasting mark on Laurens County.
