*The Glynn County Police Department is facing calls to be disbanded over the mishandling of the Ahmaud Arbery case, where an unarmed Black man was shot by two suspected white supremacists on February 23 while jogging, but his murderers weren’t arrested until over two months later.
The arrest only came after video of the shooting was released to the public earlier this month.
The Glynn County Commission has defended the police department’s handling of the shooting, blaming the decision not to arrest Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael, 34, on district attorneys Jackie Johnson and George Barnhill.
As noted by the Daily Mail, the department has a history of and scandals, including tampering with crime scenes and retaliation against whistleblowers. In 2019, a grand jury accused the department of having a culture of cover ups. A year prior, the department lost its certifications with the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police and the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement, the report states. In 2017, an officer in a narcotics unit was accused of having a sexual relationship with an informant.
Now, Glynn County residents will have a referendum to vote on whether to disband the department for looking the other way after Ahmaud was gunned down.
OTHER NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: Father and Son ‘Had Confrontation’ with Ahmaud Arbery Two Weeks Before Killing Him
Georgia state lawmakers will decide next month on a measure (Senate Bill 504) that would allow voters to decide whether county leaders should curb the Glynn County Police department and merge resources with the county sheriff’s office, per msn.com.
The bill was introduced by Republican Sen. Bill Ligon earlier this year before Arbery’s February 23 shooting, and was in direct response to the scandals surrounding the police force, per foxnews.com.
A vote on the measure was initially scheduled for earlier this year but was pushed back due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The new vote is set for June.
News of the bill proposal comes as more details about the Arbery case emerge, including Text messages that suggest police “informally deputized” one of the suspects in the shooting.
Text messages, first obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, show an exchange between a Glynn County police officer to Larry English, a private citizen who owns the construction site where Arbery was seen on surveillance footage before his death.
English reached out to police in December concerning trespassers on the property. A motion-activated camera system sent him alerts whenever the cameras activated.
One text sent from “Officer Rash” told English that his neighbors, Gregory McMichaels, was a retired cop who could help handle trespassers.
“Greg is retired Law Enforcement and also a Retired Investigator from the DA’s office. He said please call him day or night when you get action on your camera,” the text from Officer Rash read.
As it turns out, the security camera captured several visitors on the construction site, but for some curious reason, McMichaels was only triggered by the presence of Arbery.
English’s attorney, Elizabeth Graddy, said when she saw the text to her client, she “immediately understood that an organization had been developing in that neighborhood at least since December. It appears that Gregory McMichael had been informally “deputized” by the Glynn County Police Department.”
McMichael reportedly retired last year as an investigator with the Brunswick District Attorney’s office.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
