A metro Atlanta police chief’s guns, ammunition and other items were stolen from his police vehicle while he was away at a training conference late last month, according to the Newton Citizen.
Covington police Chief Stacey Cotton’s two department-issued guns and ammunition valued at $600 each, some cash, a chief’s badge and a badge wallet, a magazine holster, miscellaneous keys and checks were all stolen, the newspaper reported.
On April 24, Cotton parked his department-issued Chevrolet Tahoe in his driveway before leaving for the conference. In a hurry to catch a flight, he didn’t pause to check if his doors were fully closed and locked, according to a Newton County Sheriff’s Office incident report obtained by the Citizen. Cotton told deputies he was rushing to remove two bags of clothes from the vehicle, and with his hands full, he pushed the door closed with his shoulder or hip.
Thinking the door had fully closed, he closed the garage door and pushed the lock button on the patrol vehicle’s key fob, the newspaper reported. But the noise from the garage door likely prevented him from hearing the beep confirming that the vehicle was locked.
Two days later, a passerby noticed a small black bag discarded on Elks Club Road and found the chief’s badge in the bag, according to the paper. The person turned the bag over to Covington police, and the sheriff’s office was called to investigate. Inside the bag were the checks and keys. The other items were not recovered.
Both guns were listed as stolen in the state’s crime information database.
There were no other car break-ins in Cotton’s neighborhood at the time of the theft, according to Newton County sheriff’s spokesperson Cailtin Jett. In fact, only one other car break-in has occurred in that neighborhood over the past six months, and it happened on another street.
Jett said the Newton agency has investigated 16 car break-ins in the past two weeks in the surrounding areas.
The police department regularly reminds citizens to “remove it, lock it, check it” as part of their 9 p.m. routine public safety announcements. The campaign, which is a nightly reminder to residents to remove valuables from their vehicles and lock their cars and homes, aims to deter crime.
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