New police chief arrives May 20
Garden City's newest employee, David L. Lyons, will take over as Chief of Police on May 20.
Chief Lyons, who is currently head of the Zebulon Police Department, said his first order of business that day will be a staff meeting with every member of the force not out patrolling the streets.
"I know there's a lot of anticipation," he said," and people are wondering who I am and what I'm like."
At that first meeting, the Chief plans to talk to the officers about what he expects them to do for him, and what he expects to do for them. "This is a two-way street," he said. "One of my strong points is I support my officers. One of my main jobs is to act as a buffer for them. If they're right, I'll go to the wall for them. If they're wrong and it was a mistake, I'll go as far as I can with them."
Chief Lyons said he wants a fresh start for the department, both within its ranks and within the community. "My first objective is to put everything that's taken place in the past in the past," he said. "I think as a whole, the department wants to be back in full swing, back doing what they were hired to do. The past is the past. Let's focus on being a team and going out and doing what the public expects us to do."
Chief Lyons says he is very community oriented and plans to get out into the community to reassure residents that "the department is there for them."
Accreditation for the department is also on the new chief's menu. He said he will talk to the mayor, council and city administrator about working first on state accreditation and then possibly national accreditation. "Accreditation is good for the department and it's good for the community," he said.
The next time someone says, "I think his first name is…", I'm going to stick my fingers in my ears and hum. Loudly. I
know Pooler Officer Aanerud's first name is Damon, yet I still managed to take it as "Mark" from my notes. My apologies. With a name like mine, you'd think I'd be more likely to get other peoples' names right!Anyway, this is from the May 2, 2002, issue of the Spirit
Armed robbers come up empty-handed—well, almost
Two armed robberies in Garden City in one day is something of a record, but the two robbers who plied their trade in separate incidents Wednesday wound up 0 for 2.
At around 1:30 p.m., a man described as black and 5'6" tall, fired his pistol inside the Cellular Center on Highway 80 when he was told there was no money at the business to steal.
Frustrated and angry, the penniless suspect fled the scene in an older model, white Oldsmobile with a blue top. Detective Steve Stratman of the Garden City Police Department said he hopes to make an arrest soon in that case.
The second robber got the cash--and a beer--but all he had time to enjoy was the brew.
Shortly after 3 p.m., the South Carolina man demanded money from the cashier at Chu's on Highway 80. He fled in a blue Chrysler with $120, and headed for Pooler, beer in hand.
Garden City Police Officer Sal Mulgrav spotted the suspect at Dean Forest Road and Highway 80, and went after him. Pooler Police Officer Damon Aanerud joined Officer Mulgrav as the suspect turned north on I-95.
While Patrol Sgt. Brian Hood, Forensics Unit Corporal Chris Findley, and Officer Lawrence Martin handled the scene at Chu's, Sgt. Stratman and Det. Jim Griner met up with Port Wentworth Police Sgt. Jack Caldwell, Cpl. Loren R. Scholes, and Officer Steve Holmes on I-95, just north of Highway 21. They held traffic back, out of harm's way, and waited for the fleeing suspect to arrive.
The suspect kept going towards South Carolina, perhaps intending to squeeze between all those police cars and make it to the border.
Cpl. Scholes put the kibosh on those plans a few seconds later with the PIT (Precision Immobilization Technique) maneuver. With his specially designed bumper, Cpl. Scholes sent the fleeing Chrysler into a spin. The car slewed around a couple of times before stopping on the shoulder of the interstate, where the other officers quickly surrounded it.
The suspect then made his first wise move of the day--he quickly raised both hands in surrender. He hadn't spilled any of the beer, and the Chrysler sustained barely susceptible damage from the maneuver.
Alas, the police were too late to rescue the purloined beer. They did recover all of the money, though. The suspect, on probation from a federal bank robbery charge, is currently at the Chatham County Detention Center.
From the April 11, 2002, issue of the Spirit:
Bloomingdale PD to be subject of survey
On March 28, Bloomingdale’s mayor and council held a special called meeting to discuss problems a portion of the public apparently believes currently exist in the police department.
"The whole thing started because of scuttlebutt that went on for years and years," said Councilman Ferman Tyler, who is a member of Bloomingdale’s Public Safety Committee. Complaints and questions about the department’s "ins and outs, pros and cons" prompted Council to hire a professional study group from the University of South Carolina, The Lambries Pierce Tomes Group, to take a close look at the police department.
"This was one way of spending not a lot of money and settle it once and for all, if there is a problem or if there is not a problem," Councilman Tyler said.
The group studied Garden City’s Police Department last year, comparing various aspects of the department to departments in South Carolina cities which it felt were comparable. Among the topics analyzed were the department’s written procedures (Standard Operating Procedures or SOP), supervisory structure, court structure, and leadership.
Bloomingdale Mayor Ben Rozier and some of the Council members consulted with Garden City officials about their experience with the study group, Councilman Tyler said. He said that since the group is from out of state and not connected with law enforcement, they are completely independent and impartial. Plus, he said, the study will not be prohibitively expensive—around $6000.
"We wanted to go ahead and put the questions to rest one way or another," Councilman Tyler said. He said the city has received complaints from "all over," not just from Bloomingdale residents. The council wants the study to determine the department’s strengths and weaknesses and where the department needs improvement, he said.
"This is what they do, it isn’t a sideline for them. They’ll interview everyone, including the chief, and talk to outside citizens to find out what they perceive. Then they’ll come back with pros and cons and a recommendation.
We’ve received a lot of inquiries about the police department, their actions and the way they work. The Council as a whole deemed it prudent that we get an independent study. If the independent group says the complaints are not valid, then that’s it, we’ll move on."
Because Bloomingdale is considering annexing nearby areas, Councilman Tyler said, "We wanted to make sure our houses were clean. I know it’s a touchy situation. That’s why we, as a council, want to get it studied through an independent and put these issues to rest."
Mayor Rozier said rumors began when he was elected that he intended to fire Chief Anderson. He denies this adamantly. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Chief Anderson was at the called meeting. I told him that at no time was firing him a topic of discussion. The only negatives I’ve heard as far as the annexation is concerned is our police department is out of control. I’ve had letters, I’ve had people call me. Every complaint I have taken to chief Anderson since January has been taken care of by him."
Some of the complaints were that some officers are over-zealous, Mayor Rozier said, and stop the same drivers repeatedly. "If you’ve got one or two officers that are causing problems," Mayor Rozier said, "it looks bad on everybody. Your police department is going to get bad press before any other part of your city, because the police department takes money from people, it takes property from people."
Mayor Rozier said the council’s intent was to bring professionals in "before any problems get serious, and tell us what we need to do. If we fall behind in some areas, tell us what to do to bring it up to speed."
Another problem is more than half a million dollars in uncollected fines, Mayor Rozier said, and the problem dates back far longer than he’s been in office. "If there was a problem with the bookkeeping not getting done properly, they should have hired some help," he said.
Some states do not honor the compact agreeing to suspend the licenses of violators who do not show up in out of state courts, or who are convicted of breaking laws in Georgia. Violators can go home and forget about their court date here without worrying they’ll get into hot water on their own turf. This is why some cities impose cash bonds.
Mayor Rozier, who is a former policeman himself, but, he says, he doesn’t know what the duties of police chief entrails. But with the chief, a captain and a lieutenant working days, Mayor Rozier feels the department is not only "top-heavy," but supervisory duties are not distributed as effectively as they could be. "Rather than take my personal opinion of it, I’d rather have the professional opinion of the study group," Mayor Rozier said.
He hopes to have a public forum on April 24, he said, "so people can come in and share their complaints or kudos. It’s my duty as the mayor of this city to answer these complaints."
He said the complaints, questions and issues surrounding the department vary widely, making any underlying problems that might exist more difficult to pinpoint. "I do think we need an unbiased agency to come in and take a look at our department and tell us what are our strengths, what are our weaknesses and where do we go from here," Mayor Rozier said.
The study should begin April 24, Mayor Rozier said, and will take about a month to complete. In the case of Garden City’s department, the group made recommendations to redesign the court structure and command structures, not due to any mismanagement or misdeeds, but merely to provide, in its opinion, a more efficient operation.
Another suggestion made by the group was to update and revise the SOP manual to clarify officer duties and responsibilities.
Because of the vast differences between Garden City and Bloomingdale—not only in size but in population and geographic position—the group’s scrutiny of Bloomingdale may not cover these topics the same way, if at all. We mention it only to give readers an idea of what the Lambries Pierce Tomes Group does.
view my guestbook | sign my guestbook | get your free guestbook
