New Madison County Sheriff Kip Thomas (left) is sworn into office Dec. 19 by retiring Probate Judge Donald “Hoppy” Royston.
New sheriff takes office, talks of plans
For incoming Sheriff Kip Thomas, this New Year’s Eve was no time for a party, not on a work night. Once the clock struck midnight, the change of administrations was official. The transition came on the biggest “party night” of the year, when the flashing blue lights are out in force. And with calls coming in, Thomas would have to be on hand to see the office locks changed and to swear in deputies.
“I’ll probably be there for a couple of days straight,” said the 33-year-old Thomas of his first hours in office.
Thomas, who narrowly defeated long-time Sheriff Clayton Lowe Nov. 4, has spent the past two months preparing for New Year’s Day, his first day on the job. He completed 160 hours of sheriff’s elect training at the Georgia Public Safety Center in Forsyth.
“We went over all kinds of stuff, budgets, the jail, integrity, ethics, just a lot of stuff you deal with,” said Thomas. “It was a really good class, just a lot of stuff thrown at you really quick. They try to jam everything into four weeks.”
PERSONNEL CHANGES
While Thomas has focused on his own training, he turned his attention to the sheriff’s department staff, too, assessing who he felt needed to stay and who needed to go.
Lowe, who leaves the department after 12 years in office, is not alone in his departure. Sheriff’s department staff members who are leaving include Captain Mike Benner, Christy Cross, Lt. Henry Hicks, Investigator Buck Scoggins, Investigator Tony Coyne, Tim Nix, Mark Jerome, Lt. Steve Gary, Lt. David Larkins, Mandy Kelly and Lona Davis. Those employees have a combined 218 years of experience, according to Benner.
The emotions ran deep with the big changes in personnel. For instance, Larkins submitted a letter to the editor last week, expressing disappointment in the new sheriff’s decisions. He said Thomas called him the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to tell him he would no longer be employed as of January 1. Larkins said he wasn’t given a reason, but was told that the decision was not based on his job performance, nor for his support of Sheriff Lowe.
“I was extremely disappointed to be let go,” said Larkins. “No explanation was given, only notice that I would have to seek employment elsewhere.”
In a recent interview with The Journal, the new sheriff didn’t discuss the particulars about why individual employees were let go but said that his time as a deputy in Madison County helped him determine what employees he wanted to keep.
“The good thing for me was I worked there previously,” said Thomas. “So I kind of knew how people worked. That helped because I’m not walking in blind with the personnel.”
Thomas said he is bringing in a good group of employees. New faces at the sheriff’s department include Captain Shawn Burns, Rex Matthews, Jeff Vaughn, Dennis Harbison, James Reavis and Chad Parr.
The new sheriff noted that his captain, Shawn Burns, is an example of a good “people person,” who has got about 16 years of public safety experience. The new sheriff said the law officers he’s bringing in have a little over 90 years of experience combined.
“Most of them I’ve known for a few years here,” said Thomas. “Everybody I’m bringing in has 10 years or more experience. I’ve worked with them. They’re good people, good as far as dealing with the public. And they know how to do their job, not saying that the people I let go didn’t. I think they’ll be a good mix. Bring in some new people to see things at a different angle.”
Apart from the sheriff’s and jail staff, Thomas also looked at the 911 office, informing long-time leaders David Camp and Ricky Hix two days after the November election that they would be replaced at the first of the year. Thomas said he had his own person in mind to head the 911 office, but he quickly reversed that decision, saying that he recognized that he “jumped the gun” and “made a mistake.”
“With all the other things I have to worry about, I realized that (replacing 911 leadership) wouldn’t be a good thing to do,” said Thomas.
Lowe recently asked the BOC to shift authority of the 911 staff from the sheriff to the commissioners. And the board agreed, with BOC members saying that they value Camp’s service and don’t want to see him leave.
Thomas, who expressed disappointment with the BOC’s action, met recently with Camp, new BOC chairman Anthony Dove and county attorney Mike Pruett. And the new sheriff said he believes the situation has been resolved.
PROGRAM CHANGES
While personnel changes have been a focus of the new sheriff, Thomas said he’s planning program changes, too. For instance, he plans to disband the recently created Special Reaction Team (SRT), which is composed of officers with specialized training to deal with a variety of situations, such as hostage situations and armed barricaded suspects. Thomas said there is neither the personnel nor the money to maintain such a program in Madison County, particularly during a budget crunch.
“It’s a good idea if you’ve got the people who can do it,” said Thomas. “It’s one of those things where if you’re going to have an SRT team and have it done right, everything I’ve read, and the classes I’ve been in, you’re talking about 17 people. And a lot of it should be full time. Out here, we haven’t got the personnel and we haven’t got the budget to do something like that.”
While SRT will be disbanded, Thomas said his staff will have SWAT training, with an emphasis on teamwork among fellow shift mates.
“What I’m going to do is a lot of guys (at the department) have had SWAT class, and the guys that don’t have it are going to it,” said Thomas. “Each shift, in and of itself, would actually be a team. These guys will train together as a shift. And that will work out better than trying to pull a guy from this shift and a guy from this shift.”
Thomas said he is planning a class for his department to help prepare for special response situations, such as an “active shooter” scenario.
“I’ve made arrangements for some guys to come in and do that class in February and March, which your school type stuff, like if there was a school shooting or that type of situation,” said Thomas.
REPLACING DARE WITH CHAMPS
The new sheriff is also replacing the long-time DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program with the Choosing Healthy Activities and Promoting Safety (CHAMPS) program, which is a schedule of 12 to 20 safety classes, formed by the Georgia Sheriffs Association and given by local sheriff’s offices to schools in their communities. CHAMPS also focuses on drug resistance but addresses other safety matters as well, such as Internet use, hunting, ATV and boat safety. Thomas said long-time DARE officer David Patton will be in charge of CHAMPS.
“This just gives schools more things they can do,” said Thomas. “David can sit down with the schools and they can see what’s best.”
Thomas also said he plans to establish a two-to-three person “traffic unit,” with those deputies focusing exclusively on accidents, speeders and other road issues.
“People complain about traffic in certain areas,” he said. “This way, you can get these guys in that area. And we’ll get them to rotate around the county.”
NOT CONCERNED WITH BLOGS
While the transition has included plenty of training and personnel decisions, many in Madison County have anonymously voiced their views of both the new and outgoing sheriffs on local newspaper blog sites. There have been plenty of blessings and bile for both. Thomas said he isn’t bothered by what people say on the sites.
“If they don’t have enough guts to ask me or confront me, then I’m not worried about it,” said Thomas.
The new sheriff urged citizens with concerns to meet directly with him, noting that he has an “open door” policy.
He said he’s confident that he will prove himself as a dependable sheriff.
“Give me a little time,” said Thomas. “Give me a few months to get things settled down and running straight and I think people will be really glad they elected me sheriff.”
— Margie Richards contributed to this story.
Thomas, who narrowly defeated long-time Sheriff Clayton Lowe Nov. 4, has spent the past two months preparing for New Year’s Day, his first day on the job. He completed 160 hours of sheriff’s elect training at the Georgia Public Safety Center in Forsyth.
“We went over all kinds of stuff, budgets, the jail, integrity, ethics, just a lot of stuff you deal with,” said Thomas. “It was a really good class, just a lot of stuff thrown at you really quick. They try to jam everything into four weeks.”
PERSONNEL CHANGES
While Thomas has focused on his own training, he turned his attention to the sheriff’s department staff, too, assessing who he felt needed to stay and who needed to go.
Lowe, who leaves the department after 12 years in office, is not alone in his departure. Sheriff’s department staff members who are leaving include Captain Mike Benner, Christy Cross, Lt. Henry Hicks, Investigator Buck Scoggins, Investigator Tony Coyne, Tim Nix, Mark Jerome, Lt. Steve Gary, Lt. David Larkins, Mandy Kelly and Lona Davis. Those employees have a combined 218 years of experience, according to Benner.
The emotions ran deep with the big changes in personnel. For instance, Larkins submitted a letter to the editor last week, expressing disappointment in the new sheriff’s decisions. He said Thomas called him the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to tell him he would no longer be employed as of January 1. Larkins said he wasn’t given a reason, but was told that the decision was not based on his job performance, nor for his support of Sheriff Lowe.
“I was extremely disappointed to be let go,” said Larkins. “No explanation was given, only notice that I would have to seek employment elsewhere.”
In a recent interview with The Journal, the new sheriff didn’t discuss the particulars about why individual employees were let go but said that his time as a deputy in Madison County helped him determine what employees he wanted to keep.
“The good thing for me was I worked there previously,” said Thomas. “So I kind of knew how people worked. That helped because I’m not walking in blind with the personnel.”
Thomas said he is bringing in a good group of employees. New faces at the sheriff’s department include Captain Shawn Burns, Rex Matthews, Jeff Vaughn, Dennis Harbison, James Reavis and Chad Parr.
The new sheriff noted that his captain, Shawn Burns, is an example of a good “people person,” who has got about 16 years of public safety experience. The new sheriff said the law officers he’s bringing in have a little over 90 years of experience combined.
“Most of them I’ve known for a few years here,” said Thomas. “Everybody I’m bringing in has 10 years or more experience. I’ve worked with them. They’re good people, good as far as dealing with the public. And they know how to do their job, not saying that the people I let go didn’t. I think they’ll be a good mix. Bring in some new people to see things at a different angle.”
Apart from the sheriff’s and jail staff, Thomas also looked at the 911 office, informing long-time leaders David Camp and Ricky Hix two days after the November election that they would be replaced at the first of the year. Thomas said he had his own person in mind to head the 911 office, but he quickly reversed that decision, saying that he recognized that he “jumped the gun” and “made a mistake.”
“With all the other things I have to worry about, I realized that (replacing 911 leadership) wouldn’t be a good thing to do,” said Thomas.
Lowe recently asked the BOC to shift authority of the 911 staff from the sheriff to the commissioners. And the board agreed, with BOC members saying that they value Camp’s service and don’t want to see him leave.
Thomas, who expressed disappointment with the BOC’s action, met recently with Camp, new BOC chairman Anthony Dove and county attorney Mike Pruett. And the new sheriff said he believes the situation has been resolved.
PROGRAM CHANGES
While personnel changes have been a focus of the new sheriff, Thomas said he’s planning program changes, too. For instance, he plans to disband the recently created Special Reaction Team (SRT), which is composed of officers with specialized training to deal with a variety of situations, such as hostage situations and armed barricaded suspects. Thomas said there is neither the personnel nor the money to maintain such a program in Madison County, particularly during a budget crunch.
“It’s a good idea if you’ve got the people who can do it,” said Thomas. “It’s one of those things where if you’re going to have an SRT team and have it done right, everything I’ve read, and the classes I’ve been in, you’re talking about 17 people. And a lot of it should be full time. Out here, we haven’t got the personnel and we haven’t got the budget to do something like that.”
While SRT will be disbanded, Thomas said his staff will have SWAT training, with an emphasis on teamwork among fellow shift mates.
“What I’m going to do is a lot of guys (at the department) have had SWAT class, and the guys that don’t have it are going to it,” said Thomas. “Each shift, in and of itself, would actually be a team. These guys will train together as a shift. And that will work out better than trying to pull a guy from this shift and a guy from this shift.”
Thomas said he is planning a class for his department to help prepare for special response situations, such as an “active shooter” scenario.
“I’ve made arrangements for some guys to come in and do that class in February and March, which your school type stuff, like if there was a school shooting or that type of situation,” said Thomas.
REPLACING DARE WITH CHAMPS
The new sheriff is also replacing the long-time DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program with the Choosing Healthy Activities and Promoting Safety (CHAMPS) program, which is a schedule of 12 to 20 safety classes, formed by the Georgia Sheriffs Association and given by local sheriff’s offices to schools in their communities. CHAMPS also focuses on drug resistance but addresses other safety matters as well, such as Internet use, hunting, ATV and boat safety. Thomas said long-time DARE officer David Patton will be in charge of CHAMPS.
“This just gives schools more things they can do,” said Thomas. “David can sit down with the schools and they can see what’s best.”
Thomas also said he plans to establish a two-to-three person “traffic unit,” with those deputies focusing exclusively on accidents, speeders and other road issues.
“People complain about traffic in certain areas,” he said. “This way, you can get these guys in that area. And we’ll get them to rotate around the county.”
NOT CONCERNED WITH BLOGS
While the transition has included plenty of training and personnel decisions, many in Madison County have anonymously voiced their views of both the new and outgoing sheriffs on local newspaper blog sites. There have been plenty of blessings and bile for both. Thomas said he isn’t bothered by what people say on the sites.
“If they don’t have enough guts to ask me or confront me, then I’m not worried about it,” said Thomas.
The new sheriff urged citizens with concerns to meet directly with him, noting that he has an “open door” policy.
He said he’s confident that he will prove himself as a dependable sheriff.
“Give me a little time,” said Thomas. “Give me a few months to get things settled down and running straight and I think people will be really glad they elected me sheriff.”
— Margie Richards contributed to this story.
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Change is hard and for a lot of people it is scary, but Sheriff Thomas was elected and I support him in his position and I urge others to do so as well. I'm sorry there are people leaving but I am glad new people are coming. In my opinion, change is often a very good thing. Especially after a long, entrenched period of no change.