During the 2024 election campaign, incumbent, now former, Sheriff Richard Roundtree warned that his challenger Eugene “Gino Rock” Brantley lacked the experience to handle the job of Augusta’s chief law enforcement officer.
Now, three months into Brantley’s tenure, it has become abundantly clear that voters made the right decision in voting for the “rookie.”
Police presence on the streets seems to have tripled, the environment at the Webster Detention Center has improved markedly and, for a rookie, Brantley seems to have a better understanding of the Open Records laws than his seasoned counterparts a few miles away in the Harlem Police Department.
Brantley was quick to hand over to the public the body camera footage showing the encounter between Deputy David Hopkins and Brandon Pierre Hill that left Hill hospitalized after being shot by the deputy.
This act of transparency prevented any claims of police brutality that might have led to riot conditions on the streets as it did 17 years ago, when police were forced to shoot and kill Justin Elmore, a felon attempted to run over officers with his vehicle.
Meanwhile, as reported by The Augusta Press on March 25, residents in Harlem are complaining about the lack of cooperation in obtaining documents from the Harlem Police Department, saying the department sat on records for months and twisted semantics like taffy while attempting to explain their non-compliance.
Officials in Harlem are likely going to learn their lesson the hard way as resident Lauren McCord and other taxpayers are growing more and more vocal, stating publicly that the government must be compelled to follow the law. Small city governments, such as that of Harlem, continue to see themselves as islands unto themselves; however, this 1960s small town America mentality no longer works in the digital age where social media has become a tool, if nothing else, for the public to shame officials into obeying the law.
Perhaps the officials in Harlem can reach out to Augusta’s “rookie” sheriff and allow him to educate them on how to run a transparent police force.
