County PD Chief, Sheriff make peace in meeting

By KEVIN MYRICK Editor

The summer of controversy between administrators in the Polk County Sheriff's Office and the Polk County Police Department is done, at least according to the Sheriff and the County Manager.

Polk County Sheriff Johnny Moats said on Friday last week that he met with County Manager Matt Denton, Assistant County Manager Barry Akinson and Polk County Police Chief Johnny Moats to work out their differences following several months of investigation following allegations made by 18 anonymous officers that Moats posted in a letter to the County Commission.

Moats said in a follow-up interview on the issue that he had no further interest in pursuing the allegations with the Polk County Police Department he heard from those officers in the letter he sent on May 5.

Subsequently, the County Commission voted to look into the claims during a audit of the Polk County Police Department conducted by Brad McFall. The county had also previously sent a letter back to Moats requesting that if he had specific evidence of criminal activity in the department - one of the allegations made against the department in the letter via the anonymous complaints - Moats should seek the assistance of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on his own.

Moats added that he hoped that with a new start to the relationship between the two command staffs, they would begin to work anew on the public safety issues facing Polk County.

An official written statement about his current position on the Polk County Police Department was asked for, but was not forthcoming by press time.

Previously on July 31, Moats came before the Polk County Commission to address complaints made about his budget b y C o mmi ss i o n Ch a i r Marshelle Thaxton, and during his time before the board re- quested that a ballot measure be put before voters throughout the county to ask whether they felt the Polk County Police Department was needed.

No action has thus far been taken on that request as of press time that the Standard Journal is aware of as far as the ballot measure is concerned.

County Manager Matt Denton's only comment on the meeting was that it was productive, and that "they ( the command staffs) are committed to working together and moving forward to provide good effective policing for the citizens of Polk County."

Neither Denton or Moats provided any further information about what happened during the meeting.

We reached out to Dodd for comment on this meeting and other issues but did not receive a return call by press time over the weekend.

The meeting came in the aftermath of questions being raised last week about a letter provided to the Standard Journal from the Sheriff's Office that back in April requested help in serving a Animal Control warrant.

Animal Control Director Jeff Crawford, Denton and Moats all stated after questions were raised about the letter from the Standard Journal the situ-

Peace