1 month in, how is new Richmond County sheriff doing?
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - It’s been just over a month now since Richmond County’s newest sheriff took office.
Eugene Brantley campaigned on the belief that Richmond County’s standards have dropped, and morale is down.
And voters agreed, choosing him over former Sheriff Richard Roundtree.
Brantley faces plenty of challenges from shootings happening in broad daylight, to a drug and fentanyl epidemic, and overcrowding at the jail.
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He stepped into office and tackled a lot this month already.
Although he and his deputies have been working hard, he says there’s still more to be done.
“We want people to feel safe,” said Brantley.
Change doesn’t just happen overnight.
“it starts with having a sheriff’s office. You can trust one that’s transparent,” he said.
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The sheriff’s office’s intel room is one of the many places that monitors what’s happening in the community.
Deputies have also increased their presence, especially at night and downtown.
“I feel like once they start to see that we’re there and we’re starting to make these arrests and people not get away with any and everything, then I think things will start to slow down,” said Brantley.
The sheriff’s office says they have at least five deputies working crime suppression every day.
“Our crime suppression team that we’ve kind of reintroduced to the county by adding more officers to it and a hot team to kind of deal with the homeless population and now traffic,” he said.
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Brantley says they’re bringing more people in to work and discouraging as many as possible to go down the path that leads to being behind bars.
“It takes them a little longer to get bonded out than normal. Because of the amount of people that we’re bringing into jail and the amount of people that are here,” he said.
But he says the community has to step up too.
“We are doing more and it’s not going to just take us doing more. It’s going to take the public getting involved when they say when they see something, say something,” said Brantley.
He also says they’ve gotten a grant for three to four more traffic deputies, and more will be out as soon as they finish training.
He also has some ideas to help get more involved with the youth in our community, such as a midnight basketball program to help more kids get off the street.
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