Richard Roundtree is spending time trying to become a YouTube star rather than providing the leadership the Sheriff’s Office needs.
Last month, Roundtree began releasing a series of highly edited and seemingly scripted videos that portray him as a traffic cop with the goal of raising awareness about the handsfree law.
MORE: Sheriff Roundtree Plans to Make Traffic Stops Himself & Post Video on YouTube
While the videos do contain actual body camera footage of patrol officers involved in chases and other dicey situations, which are in the public interest and fascinating to watch, the voters of Augusta-Richmond County did not elect Roundtree to produce videos. He was elected to keep the community safe.
Roundtree’s job, which pays $176,500 annually after a $50,000 per year salary bump in 2020, requires him to be the guiding hand over a department whose function is to solve crime, particularly serious crimes like murder.
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Roundtree was an investigator prior to being elected sheriff, and his bio on the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office website lists that he attended the FBI National Academy and has over 3,000 hours of training in topics that include Criminal investigations, Phycological Profiling, Behavioral Analysis, Firearms and Constitutional Law.
Roundtree has also been an instructor for local police academies and taught on topics such as homicides and violent crimes.
But rather than being the leader he was elected to be, and according to his bio, qualified to be, Roundtree prefers to pretend to be an entry-level traffic cop.
Augusta-Richmond County has 63 unsolved murders since 2001.
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The sad thing is that Roundtree was once considered a cunning and streetwise investigator before he got a cushy desk job and apparently became bored with routine police businesses.
There is no telling how many man hours have been wasted making videos of Roundtree playing a traffic cop who won’t even write a ticket. All this effort, which could have been spent making Augusta safer, has garnered only 443 subscribers to YouTube, and each of the videos fewer than 4,000 views.
MORE: News Analysis – Unsolved Murders Soar in Augusta-Richmond County
The YouTube videos may be Barney Fife-cute to some, but for the citizens of Augusta/Richmond County who expect the Sheriff’s Office to be actively solving crime, the videos are embarrassing evidence that depict Roundtree as being totally unaware of his job duties.
Rumors have swirled that Roundtree plans to retire when he is eligible for a city pension. We certainly support him in that endeavor. However, should he retire as sheriff and set his sights on any further office, the public needs to remember his actions while in office as sheriff.
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