Wednesday, January 21, 2004

It’s time to switch from sheriff to county police

I am shocked over the pompous attitude of Sheriff Randall Johnson. Sheriff Johnson is fully aware of the fact that the Fayette County Marshals Department was created in 1983 and certified in 1989 by Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council as a state law enforcement agency, before the 1992 law, because his top deputy at the time became the chief of the newly formed agency.

Sheriff Johnson is also aware that the marshals department has arrest powers because he has been accepting individuals arrested by the marshals department for many years.

Sheriff Johnson trusted the ability of Chief Butch Hall to make wise decisions based on his very extensive training while Chief Hall was Sheriff Johnson’s top deputy at the Sheriff’s Department. Therefore, he should still consider Chief Hall very knowledgeable concerning law enforcement.

There appear to be underlying issues as to why Sheriff Johnson has suddenly decided to show his dislike of the marshals department. Could it be that Sheriff Johnson is worried about the possibility of the marshals department becoming a county police department, thus removing a lot of power from Sheriff Johnson and his deputies?

I believe it is time for Fayette County to do as many surrounding counties have done and create a county police department to patrol the streets and investigate crimes within the county. Most large counties have a sheriff’s department to perform court services and jail operations, while the county police handle all law enforcement duties.

Now is the time to make this transformation while the marshals department is small in number, therefore, keeping the cost of such conversion to a very minimum expense to the taxpayers.

Chief Butch Hall is very capable of heading up the county police department and laying a foundation for a respectable law enforcement agency to be built upon. Again, now is the time and I ask the county commission to consider this option. Fayette County is in the middle of enormous growth and we need a county police department.

Ashley Layne Watson

Fayette

[Watson is the daughter of Jim Watson, currently serving a life term in prison for the murder of his wife Beverley, who was Ashley’s mother.]