General Forums >> General Law Enforcement >> Unadilla Disbands Police Department
Unadilla Disbands Police Department
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Posted 2 months ago I would like to get other officers and law enforcement supporters opinion on the City Council shutting down the Unadilla Police Department. |
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| Posted 2 months ago is this the dept. in ga? |
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| Posted 2 months ago This is the department in Dooly County Georgia. |
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| Posted 2 months ago ddowdey says ...
Did they offer any valid reasons for shutting your department down? |
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| Posted 2 months ago http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local_story.aspx?storyid=52092 Unadilla Disbands Police Department Last Update: 5/7/2008 3:01:06 PM
Author: Bernie O'Donnell Web Editor: Kate Harrison A little more than 2,700 people live in the city of Unadilla. That's according to Unadilla Councilman Dexter Whittaker. As of Tuesday, Whittaker says, those people are without a police department. City council voted to ask the Dooly County Sheriff's Office to take over. For three years, Councilman Dexter Whittaker and the Unadilla Police department worked together. As of Tuesday, that agreement is no more. "These officers have been faithful. When it got down to two, they worked overtime and didn't complain. We had the meeting Friday, they voted to temporarily to disband the police department." According to Whittaker, the decision was to temporarily shut down the police department, but when some officers came to work Tuesday, they got more than just an honest day's pay. "These are the officers' separation notices. It says, the reason for them not working here anymore, is that the city of Unadilla Police Department was abolished." The decision stunned Michael Thomas, who spent two years on the force. "We could have had more officers if they would have went through the applications, and hired some more officers," he said. "We were begging for officers, begging for them to go through the applications. They were the city manager, the mayor, and some of the council." We tried to talk to City Manager Ronnie Brand, but he refused an on camera interview. He did say the city is still trying to come up with a solution. Sheriff Van Peavy is part of that solution. The city wants his department to take over the police department for a 6 month trial period. "We have given them a contract to take over the police department, and give them a good police department with the man power they need" he said. "But doing it on a temporary basis, there's nothing we can do, except go through and patrol on our regular rounds." "The people in Unadilla deserve a police department, and we're going to do the best that we can with what we got, to make sure they have protection" says Peavy. The Dooly County Sheriff's Office and Unadilla city leaders will meet later to discuss a further agreement. "Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch out after you wear them awhile." |
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| Posted 2 months ago They say it was due to the lack of manpower and the response times of the officers. They failed to mentioned that they had an officer, which was hired just as part time who was requesting to go full time to help during the day hours. They also failed to mention that the police department was requesting for officers to be hired in order for the department to run efficiently. If they would have hired additional officers, the ones that were there were more than capable of taking own the responsibilty of Chief. |
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| Posted 2 months ago What was the PD's average responce time?. Will the SO have a faster time?. Were those items addressed by the city fathers? |
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| Posted 2 months ago Good luck to you guys. If y'all want to move closer to Altlanta we are currently hiring deputies at the Coweta Co. SO.
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| Posted 2 months ago Our response time was less than five minutes if we were not already on a call. The sheriff's department response time will be determined by where they are at the time of the call. I have been told by several citizens that the sheriff's department said they were not responding to any calls in Unadilla so I guess any response time by the police department would be better than no help at all. |
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| Posted 2 months ago How many officers did the department have before all this began and why did the Chief leave? |
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| Posted 2 months ago At the time this began, there were two full time officers and 4 part time officers. The last official Chief was sentenced to five years for double dipping. The acting Chief left for reasons that I am not aware of at this time. |
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| Posted 2 months ago The reason was a little unclear. Were they disbanded because there was not enough or because of the Chief getting into trouble or what? PAIN IS WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY! |
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| Posted 2 months ago I have seen something similar before where a PD shut down for a couple weeks because the city could not settle on a budget and the county and state had to pick up the slack. PAIN IS WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY! |
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| Posted 2 months ago That is just it the reason is unclear to the officers that were still working there. The Chief that got into trouble was sentenced in September of last year, so that should not have anything to do with it. I know one of the reasons to disband was because of manpower issues but that could have been cleared up if they would allow us to hire some officers and try to rebuild the department like we trying to do. |
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| Posted 2 months ago That's gotta really suck! Go to work & find out the hard way that you are now unemployed. |
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| Posted 2 months ago Bad news. However, the good news is that police officers are in demand everywhere. Small towns and cities disbanding their PD's will continue as the economy slides downward and the tax base shrinks. |
