Sumter County Sgt. Sharron Johnson lost more than a son last Thursday. She also lost a colleague, the seventh law enforcement officer shot and killed in Georgia this year.
On Wednesday, nearly 2,000 mourners — most in uniform — filled the basketball arena at Georgia Southwestern State University to pay their respects to Johnson's only son, Jody Smith, a 25-year-old campus police officer shot and killed while providing backup to his best friend, Americus Police Officer Nicholas Smarr. Both men were fatally shot in the head by a career criminal who later took his own life.
Four other Georgia cops survived gunshot wounds within a week of the Americus shootings, continuing a nationwide trend that has made 2016 one of the most dangerous for law enforcement this century. Firearms-related fatalities are up 68 percent from this same time a year ago, leading many, including President-Elect Donald Trump, to claim there's a war on cops that's being driven largely by criticism from activists and politicians following a string of incidents in which unarmed suspects, mostly African-Americans, died at the hands of police. Protests followed, and so did shootings that targeted law enforcement.
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
No doubt a majority of officers feel underappreciated, if not under siege. But as one eulogist detailed Wednesday in a fiery speech that drew a rousing ovation from the men and women in uniform seemingly thankful to hear their frustrations vocalized, it's violent criminals, not provocative protesters, that have them on edge.
“Miss Sharron (Johnson) wanted fire. Y’all going to get some fire,” Buddy Johnson, commander of the local Georgia State Patrol Post, warned before delivering unsparing remarks directed not only at police critics but at commanding officers, prosecutors, judges and the public at large.
“It is our responsibility to become aggressive and attack the criminal element that is destroying our cities and towns,” Buddy Johnson said. “It is up to us, in positions of leadership, to provide the tools to get the job done. We must do our jobs.”
He challenged chiefs of police and sheriffs to ignore the “political atmosphere and false rhetoric that is out there, but rather focus on the criminal acts that need to be addressed in your community.”
“I realize in your positions you may be faced with the accusation of racism and targeting,” he said. “I can only say this to that: Go where the 911 calls lead you and do your job to protect those who called 911.”
The state patrolman then turned his ire to ineffectual prosecutors who fail to keep dangerous criminals off the street, a nod to Smith and Smarr's killer, Minquell Lembrick, wanted for kidnapping and other charges with a rap sheet 32 pages long, according to GBI Director Vernon Keenan.
“If you’re a solicitor and DA only because you’re a defense attorney that clearly wasn’t worth your salt … then let me be the first to say on behalf of every cop in this room, this family — go to your office, get your stuff together, resign from your position … because we don’t need you,” Johnson said.
Judges, he said, need to stop being soft in sentencing, urging them “to remember Nick and Jody.”
He urged the public to do more, beginning with reporting for jury duty when called. “At least let’s have people on a jury who care and will actively listen and weigh the evidence,” Johnson said.
Former cop turned lawyer and author Lance LoRusso said most officers feel vulnerable when dealing with increasingly brazen suspects.
“There are violent people out there on the streets and that violence is being condoned,” LoRusso said. “And the officers feel like every time they have to use force they’re nitpicked to death.”
While the debate over what constitutes a threat to officers’ safety will no doubt continue, the rise in fatal shootings this year shows just how dangerous the job has become, said DeKalb County Police Maj. Stephen Fore.
“Each incident had a set of circumstances that made each one very different,” said Fore, who added that he doesn’t believe most officers feel under attack. “Officers handle domestics, serve search warrants and conduct felony traffic stops daily and realize the dangers of each of these type incidents. Domestics are very unpredictable and probably one of the most dangerous calls officers respond to. … Entry on a search warrant also poses significant dangers. And when conducting a felony traffic stop you never really know how bad the suspect wants to get away until you make contact.”
Smith and Smarr relished those challenges and provided an example not just for their fellow officers but for the community as a whole, said Lakeview Baptist Church pastor Brian Bentley, who was going to marry Smith and his fiancée this coming May. Smarr was to be best man.
Backup officers arrived at the Americus apartment where the best friends were shot to find Smarr slumped over his best friend. Smarr had rolled Smith over and tried to perform CPR before dying himself. Smith died the following day at a Macon hospital.
“Jody wanted to make the world a better place and he did. He did,” Bentley said.
Smith’s fiancée, Sarah-Kathryn Smarr (no relation to the late Officer Smarr), was among those who listened as one speaker after another extolled the man she loved.
Yet Smith chafed working as a campus police officer, Miss Smarr said. He wanted more.
"It's ironic," she said. "He said there wasn't enough action being on the university police department."
So there was added irony in Americus Police Chief Mark Scott disclosing Wednesday that he had hired Smith two days before his death.
Scott said everyone should remember how the two officers brought Americus together.
Scott shared how, after Officer Smarr's funeral on Sunday, volunteers who had organized a dinner for law enforcement asked if it would be OK to send the leftovers to Lembrick's family.
"(Lembrick's) mama was so overcome she started sobbing," the chief said. A day later, she contacted Scott and asked if it would be OK if she sent her condolences to Smarr and Smith's loved ones.
“That’s our community,” he said. “That’s what we’re all about.”
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