Meet Richmond County sheriff candidate Eugene ‘Gino’ Brantley
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - While there’s a lot of focus on Georgia’s presidential primary on Tuesday, we also now know who will be on the ballot in the May election.
One of the big races in Richmond County is the sheriff’s race.
Three people are running for the Democrat spot.
Every Monday, News 12 will profile a different candidate for Richmond County sheriff. This week, we sat down with Eugene “Gino” Brantley.
Brantley is no stranger to serving Richmond County.
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW BELOW:
He started working for the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office in 2000 and went to work for the Marshal’s Office in 2016. He’s now a sergeant who oversees evictions.
From his point of view, he says the standard has dropped.
“The state of the sheriff’s office is in a bit of disarray and the citizens of the county deserve better service from the sheriff’s office,” said Brantley.
He cites poor response times to emergencies, a lack of morale, and a need for more deputies to be active in the community as reasons to run for office.
He also wants to take on a unique approach to solve overcrowding at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center.
“How many of the inmates in the jail are in there because of mental health problems and probably should be in the hospital or some mental health institution and not the jail? And we probably have 20 to 25 percent I would think,” he said.
Brantley says the root of solving these issues is retaining more officers. Fewer officers leaving for nearby counties would lead to more interest in ing the Richmond County cause.
“I want to improve the morale of the sheriff’s office, right now the deputies don’t feel as if they’re valued and they’re under-appreciated and if you could fix that, you could encourage more people to the sheriff’s office,” he said.
He says if elected he’s going to focus his first six months in office getting firsthand perspective to understanding which issues need his attention the most.
There are no Republican candidates, and just one Independent who qualified as a candidate, but is still working to get the 6,700 signatures needed by July 1 to run in November.
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