Gwinnett police plan draws local officials’ ire

Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway calls the county’s plan to expand its full police services into cities “a terrible mistake.”

“We have nine city police departments with well-trained officers comparable to county police officers,” Conway said. “I think that’s a terrible mistake on Gwinnett’s part.”

The county announced Monday it is revamping its emergency services operations to include municipalities. The move was coupled with a proposal to raise the county property tax rate by 25 to 30 percent.

It also enables the county to maintain its flow of tax revenue from city residents.

The cities contend their residents for years have been paying county taxes for undelivered services, a claim they took into negotiations last month on a new service agreement with the county. Those talks soured last week, but the cities filed a motion Wednesday to compel the county back to the negotiating table.

Gwinnett County Police spokesman Cpl. David Schiralli said that depending on passage of the tax rate increase, the department is preparing to expand to meet the additional need.

City leaders were holding one of their regular conference calls Wednesday night to discuss legal options.

Nine of Gwinnett’s 15 cities have their own police forces. Lawrenceville Police Chief Randy Johnson, head of the largest city police force with 72 officers, is put off by the county’s proposal.

“I think it’s pretty arrogant of the county to say, ‘OK, we’re going to take over policing in the cities,’ ” Johnson said. “As far as I know, nobody’s asked for them to do that.”

Suwanee Mayor Dave Williams said it’s hard to assess the county’s plan without financial information, including millage rate adjustments and police and fire service areas.

“Frankly, we don’t know what they’re proposing,” said Williams, who is also chairman of the Gwinnett Municipal Association. He said the cities have asked the county for data, but that Gwinnett has “willfully concealed it from us. We have asked repeatedly from Day 1 for them to provide financial information.”

District Attorney Danny Porter said he recognizes how cities may feel threatened by the county’s action, but the county police do and always have had jurisdiction in the cities.

The county police, he said, have always been active investigating major crimes within cities. This plan, he said, saves cities the expense of staffing a full-service police department.

Porter said the measure could be a good thing.

“I would hope leaders can work together so it could actually increase police presence,” he said.

Sugar Hill Mayor Gary Pirkle said his city spent months last year setting up an agreement with the sheriff’s office to replace the county police in providing additional patrols. The County Commission nixed that plan.

Residents complained they were inadequately covered by county police without paying for extra patrols, the mayor said. The city has since contracted with a private security firm.

“Now, according to the county’s latest proposal,” Pirkle said, “they’re going to increase our taxes by 30 percent to hire more officers that they’re still not going to send to us.”