On-duty police officers routinely chauffeur Fulton County commissioners around town in apparent violation of the board’s own policy prohibiting the practice.
Commissioners have asked officers to drive them to the airport, to concerts and to scores of other public events in recent years, even though county rules prohibit using police officers to transport elected officials, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation has found.
Commissioners are entitled to “executive protection” from police - including police drivers - if there’s a documented threat to their safety, and some commissioners say they’ve been threatened. But commissioners haven’t filed police reports to justify protection, as required by their own rules. Requests for protection reviewed by the AJC suggest many of the rides commissioners get have little to do with safety.
Fulton Police Chief Cassandra Jones defended the practice. She said such rides happen infrequently and costs little in time or money. She said commissioners face serious threats to their safety from angry or disturbed individuals.
But the practice strikes some taxpayers and commissioners as a perk, rather than protection.
“It seems to me if there are valid threats against the commissioners that a police report ought to be filed,” said Jim Honkisz, president of the Fulton County Taxpayers Association. “Unless a police report is filed, it seems to me what they’re doing is a misuse of a public asset.”
Read more Sunday at MyAJC.com.
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