Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree has taken refuge in his bunker as his last remaining bits of support have fallen away and a recall petition is circulating throughout the community.
The fact that it was the husband of the Richmond County solicitor general who filed the recall application underscores the fact that Roundtree has lost the faith of the community and should retire from his position.
There is only so much arrogant ineptitude the public can stomach.
The latest shoe to drop happened last week when it was reported the veteran investigator Brian Manecke was found dead by suicide in Lincoln County. Manecke had been allowed to keep his badge and gun amid an investigation that he had shared photos of his colleagues’ minor children on a pro-pedophilia website.
When officers within the department were accused of doping, using illegal steroids that is, Roundtree defiantly refused to act, and that was just the first of the scandals to come.
It is rare to see patrol units on the streets because so many deputies have quit, and those who are left are being forced to work in an unsafe, mold-ridden jail that has been neglected to the point that the Georgia attorney general may have to become involved.
Roundtree made national news after 33 of his officers were arrested across three years for assault, sexual misconduct and passing along contraband to inmates. Roundtree is not rounding up criminals; he is hiring them.
When pressed by NBC News, Roundtree’s response was: “We ask ourselves, ‘What are we doing wrong? What more can we be doing?’”
It is amazing that Roundtree even gave NBC News a statement as he has developed the reputation as being the least transparent public official since former Mayor Hardie Davis Jr.
In 2012, voters eagerly elected Roundtree based on his reputation as a streetwise cop who wanted to herald in “community policing” and modernize the police force. Voters thought they were electing the cop whose street name was “Tree” only to find out they elected a branchless stump.
Those same voters ignored the fact that, when working as an investigator, Roundtree vacated an apartment and left behind sensitive open murder case-files to be thrown in the trash. Those files were recovered, and one murder case was actually solved, no thanks to Roundtree.
It is time for the sheriff to quietly retire and fade off into the sunset; however, we hold no illusions that Roundtree will do the right thing and step down. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the citizens of Richmond County to sign the petition to have him recalled from office.
