A recently sworn-in Dalton police officer is off the job following his arrest Thursday on a child molestation charge.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested Officer Daniel Tolbert just after 5 p.m., Dalton police spokesman Bruce Frazier said Thursday night. The arrest came nine days after the department placed Tolbert on administrative leave immediately after being informed by the GBI and the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office that he was under investigation on suspicion of child molestation.
“I am very disappointed to hear about this allegation, and upset about the discredit this will surely bring on our department and officers,” Dalton Police Chief Jason Parker said in a news release Thursday. “We would never condone or support the kind of behavior that would warrant this charge. The men and women of this department hold ourselves to a very high standard of behavior, and we know the community we serve expects our behavior to be beyond reproach.”
Though police officials did not have specifics on the allegations against Tolbert, Frazier said the alleged incident did not occur while Tolbert was on the job. At the time of his suspension, he was in the department’s field training program, and as a trainee, he was never unsupervised or alone while on duty. Probationary trainees, Frazier added, ride with an experienced training officer for at least four months after completing the police academy.
Tolbert, 32, completed the police academy in September and was sworn in as an officer on Sept. 16. Though Tolbert is currently on administrative leave, the city will begin the termination process immediately, Frazier said.
Prior to joining Dalton’s police force, Tolbert served in the U.S. Army, the U.S. Border Patrol in California and was a jail deputy with the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office, according to the police department’s blog.
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